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Photo: Brine shrimp hatching and harvesting tutorial

HarveyC

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Have any of you guys tried setting up a small holding tank for feeder shrimp? I was thinking I could buy them 40 or so at a time and put them in my axie tank when needed. Also, how long should that many last for an adult axie?


I'm new to the axolotl scene.
 

Petersgirl

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Great tutorial, Yellowpebble! Totally stopped me from freaking out when I first found eggs!

No offence, Smokey, but I'd just use table salt, it's much cheaper - as long as it's not iodised! Also, thanks for the heads-up about the net, Auntiejude! I've been turkey bastering my BBS and poop out by hand >.< It takes forever, and I always miss a bit!

Also, another breeder gave me a great tip for sieving out BBS - I use a clean J-Cloth (those blue and white cloths used for cleaning) and just turkey baster squirts of the water through it to catch the BBS. I also sieve tap water through it when I clean them.

I also found a way to use fewer eggs, although it may not be ideal. When I harvest my BBS, I take out and rinse all the BBS I can see, feed my babies, then I pour the entire hatchery's water through the J-Cloth. I hang on to unhatched eggs and put 100% fresh warm tap water in and mix with half a teaspoon of salt (I was using smaller bottles). I then just take the J Cloth and scrunch it so that it fits perfectly into the bottle, releasing all the eggs stored on it with minimum fuss. This means I am water changing the hatchery 100% every two days, which seems to increase my hatch rate. BBS seem surprisingly fussy about their water! Ooh, I also found, when using your turkey baster to squirt out BBS, be sure to take it apart and rinse thoroughly with warm tap water if you plan to use it to feed your babies or your other axolotls.

My hatchery is just half a small bottle with an airtube bubbling through it, pegged to the side and at the entrance to the air pump for fewer bubbles. I have two of these and they work quite well!

Dear Harvey, are you talking about brine shrimp for adult axolotls? Generally speaking, I have heard of keepers using brine shrimp as 'treats' and supplements for their amphibians, but personally I think it's better to feed much heartier foods like earthworms as staples for axolotls. Brine shrimp are generally used as food for newly hatched babies because they rely on the snap reflex when first hatched, and baby brine shrimp are small enough and wiggly enough to be snapped up when they are itty bitty!
That's not to say you couldn't raise brine shrimp, but since they're being used as treats you might need to feed lots to get them to fill your axolotls up, not to mention you'd have to clean them, since brine shrimp are saltwater and axolotls live in freshwater. Some owners do raise brine shrimp for their own sake. You could always try it and see how it works for you.
 

piaalexa

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Sorry if somebody has mentioned this before but I have been having issues with most of my eggs sinking when I need to collect the BBS for feeding? Is this because these eggs did not hatch?

Also once all the eggs have hatched into shrimp do you need to keep the aeration going?

But overall the tutorial was very helpful:happy:
 

natsharp14

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I have my brine shrimp in a small tank and I'm sure they have hatched but I can't see them how do I harvest them? I bought a small net sort of thing specially for the brine shrimp
 

layna

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Its easier to hatch bbs in 2L pop bottles then you can just use your net to scoop them out, rinse and pop in for the baby lottles :D You should only really feed BBS to your lottles in the first 24 hours they (the bbs) have hatched as they lose a lot of nutrients after this time.
Im not impressed, i spent £10 on BBS eggs off ebay, set them up and not one hatched, not one single bbs! :mad:
Ive ended up buying some microworms and ive given up on bbs haha
 

Rini

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This was really helpful. I will have to try this for my shrimp. Never thought to use a coffee filter!
 

Gail24

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Thanks so much I have a batch of Albino eggs about to hatch ,,you made harvesting my brine shrimp so easy to understand ,hopefull all goes well
Gail:D
 

Beardog1

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Thank you for posting this, very helpful.

I have actually found that putting a pop bottle inside another one, so the cap side is down and the straw is right at the bottom, really helps. This way no eggs can gather on the bottom.

Really good results:D
 

Jammer

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Thanks for the tutorial. I raised a batch of axolotls last year with moderate success. The weak link in the whole process was my method for hatching brine shrimp. Now that I see how you've been doing it I must say I'm a little relieved. This year is going to go much easier.:smile:
 

Jilldavidson

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Help!!!! I have tried 3 times to hatch brine shrimp and just can not get it to work. So frustrated. My babies have not eaten yet and they hatched a week ago. I have done everything. 2 Liter bottle. air pump salty water, etc.after 2 days just have a bunch of eggs floating to the bottom. I have a light source everything. Bought eggs from 3 different places in case they're bad and have even bought salt water from fish store to make sure right salt amount. What am i doing wrong???? Please help me before the babies start dying. Thank you
 

GazerOfStars

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I’ll be raising some eggs here soon and it’s been a number of years. This post has been a helpful refresher, thanks!
 
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