Can someone plz tell me how i know my bbs are ready ?

hi there
I have posted before the problems I am having feeding my babies
I have read all the posts on how to set up the bbs hatchery and have followed all the
info , the thing is I cant see any bbs that have hatched they have been in warm heated water for 36 hours and according to the instructions at the heat i have them they should be ready
however they are so tiny to me they still all look like eggs
Is there a definate change in appearance when they hatch
my poor babies much be so hungy
I did try the frozen foods as well as cut up worms to tiny pieces and I put pond water
in so they may have been some tiny feed in there , but they must still need a good feed
and I cannot see any little shrinpy things just looks like heaps of eggs some sunken at the bottom and some floating
I have a torch at the side now seeing if any swim that direction
if anyone can advise I would be very grateful

thank you

I don't know if this will help, but I would shine a lamp or torch onto the side of the hatchery...after a few moments the shrimp would congregate there and I would use them to feed the larvae.

Brine shrimp are lighter in colour than eggs and they swim with these sort of jumpy/jerky little movements. I turn off my air pump and let the water settle for a minute or so then shine a light from behind the hatchery. If I can see little pale things moving against the direction of flow, I know they're ready.

The water looks sort of cloudier once they've hatched too, but I really only started to see that after I'd been hatching them for a couple of weeks.

Hope this helps.

There was a recent thread that may be helpful:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=62872
You should begin to suspect the same problem - the brine eggs may be dead and won't hatch. Fresh bbs eggs are really important (they don't have a long shelf life).

The water will also start looking more orangy than brown once they start hatching.
I turn the air off and let them settle and have a look to see if they are jumping around.
It usually takes between 1 and 3 days - 3 days being at colder times.

Mel

Thank you for all the helpful advice. :kiss:
I am begining to think I have wasted $20 on dead eggs as this is the 2nd lot that havnt hatched
it's been 3 days and the water temp is @ 28 I have checked them every cple hrs, turning off air and still no progress.
I bought them in a packet from the lfs
any good ideas where I can purchase fresh bbs or daphia ?
I am getting desparate and am suprised that I still have any babies left at all, they are now 2 weeks and all I have managed to feed them is pond water !
I spend hrs every day with my babies trying to do my best for them and so far we still have just over 100 !!! :happy:
I have chopped up balckworn very finely and some of my clever babies are eating them, one ate so much his tummy was distended !!

Once again thank you for all your help in this matter !

Lorraine

Since it looks like you have access to pond water I would just take a brine shrimp net and strain some daphnia out of it. If you don't have access to a brine shrimp net then some panty hose stretched over a regular fish net will work just as well.

Have you checked the PH of the water or the salinity? That could be a reason they are not hatching. Good luck.

Thanks and I bought the eggs pre prepared so sality should be right ... I'm guessing
I havn't checked though and not sure about ph levels I will go back through the links and
get the correct levels and then retest

Wow didnt realise they were gonna be more work than the axie babies lol !
On a brighter note :happy: the babies seem to be stating to eat the chopped up worms
some have quite rounded distended tummys so cute to see will try post a photo of the
little fatties !

once again thanks to all for your wonderful help and advice ! :smile:

Hi Lorraine, I to had trouble hatching bbs to begin with, I had dodgy eggs, but as it was my first time trying to hatch them, I experimented with different ways of hatching thinking that it was something that I was doing wrong, unfortunatly by the time I ordered some more eggs, my babies died the same day I had my first bbs hatching, after recieving the new eggs I popped them in under the same conditions as a batch of my old eggs and with in 24 hours I could see what it is ment to look like when you stop the air, little tiny bbs swimming about the place.
I use sea salt about 1 tablespoon per litre of water, I have 3 water bottles upside down, with there bottoms cut of, they are inserted through a piece of styrofoam and floating bottom down in a tank with an aqurium heater going at 28 deg. They each have an airtube in them going down into the lid, I put the salt water in each bottle, start the air tubes, then place a 1/4 of a teaspoon of eggs in one of the bottles, stir to mix eggs in and stop them from sticking to the side, then approx 24 hours later turn the air off, let settle, shine a light and use a turkey baster to suck up the bbs, I refill with salt water as some eggs may not have hatched yet and turn the air back on, start the process again in the next clean bottle. And so on, as I dont have any mouths to feed I am just getting in practice for when I do, so you can adjust how many bottles you have going depending on how much bbs you need, I find by having the three bottles going and starting a new batch every 24 hours you wil always have enough to feed your babies.
I hope this helps.
Cathy

Yes thank you Kathy that does help
I might try once again and put m eggs in a 2 or 3 bottles and that way increase my chances as you mentioned , I am lucky that my babies have started to eat the blackworm. They are now 2 weeks old and I have somewhere between 70-80 surviving at the moment ... no idea of how long they keep dying for as I am told the numbers can keep dwindling down, I am hopeful of raising at least a couple as I have 2 large protected ponds empty as well as a few tanks.
Crossing my fingers for a couple at least !



Lorraine

WOW I am so excited ..... I tried all the shops again in hope of buying live bbs and I got a contact so I am heading off to buy some yummy dinner for my babies ....
If anyone in Perth needs details plz ask and I will forward it on ....
soooo excited
(and no we still havnt had any success with our own)

That's great news you have found a supplier!

I hope your remaining babies continue to thrive, by the way, can't wait to see those photos you promised!