Brine shrimp.

I have now just started my 4th batch of shrimp, using various bottle shapes etc and now seem to be getting somewhere. I have two on the go approx 12-24 hours apart. I am a little concerned about just how well they seem to be going. They both have bubbles going from bottom to top, but when I switch of the bubbles and let it settle I have a large amount of tiny brown ish dots just floating about. If i am lucky and my eyes are co-operating I can just see tiny white dots moving which I take to be the shrimp. I do rinse the eggs/ shrimp through the very fine mesh net, but there are still lots of brownish dots. Is this normal..or should I leave them longer? It also seems that they like to hatch when its warmer and with light.. I am having more problems with trying to hatch these little beasties than I have had with the axolotl!!. Anyway the larvae dispite that appear to be thriving and have already doubled in size so may be I'm not starving/ poisening them after all ( begining to think parenting is so much easier!!)

If you turn the aeration off and the brine shrimp are relatively newly hatched given a few minutes they should settle towards the bottom of the container. This will allow you to insert a airline tube and siphon the brine shrimp out with few or little unhatched eggs or egg shells.
After about 24 hours the brine shrimp will congregate just under the surface and with a little care they can be siphoned away from the shells again with an airline tube.
I typically harvest from a hatch for two days and then discard the rest and set up a new hatch. I keep two hatcheries going alternating starting them. (I use a 2-liter soda bottle with the bottom cut off and stood upside down in a large yogurt container as a base (with the cap on the bottle of course). The neck and top of the bottle act as the narrow part of the culture allowing the aeration to keep the eggs in suspension).

Ed

Yep, you need to find a way to get the little hoppers without getting the "brown specks". The brown specks are egg shells, which can cause harm if ingested by the larvae.

Thanks for your replies..I have now sussed out whats going on..and this morning I have lovely shrimp.