Mike De Soto
December 4th 03, 11:37 AM
Ok, so I'm trying to raise a few brine shrimp for my fish to munch down on,
but it seems I'm incompetent. I've got an air stone in a glass vase filled
with 750ML of water and 2 1/4 tsp non-iodized salt with just a touch of
sodium bi-carb to nudge the PH just over middle. I've got a 60w incandescent
lightbulb running approx. 8 inches from the vase 24/7. I put in an eye ball
estimate of 1/8-1/16 a tsp brine shrimp eggs because I don't want to grow a
million of them. But even if I did, I wouldn't be able to. What appears to
happen, and I say appears because the things are so damn small -- what
appears to happen is that a lot hatch and most die within 24-48 hours. I get
a few swimming around (about 3mm) but I can see many more motionless on the
bottom and sides of the glass. Furthermore, it appears that there are still
a good deal of eggs that don't go. I'm using "premium quality" Bio-Marine
Aquafauna cysts and they've been shipped from California all the way to the
other side of Australia, so I don't know how good they are. I doubt the
batch is bad or old though. I think its me. Is there anything glaring?
You should also know that I tried an earlier batch with less salt and I got
much better hatch to death rate, but not too much better hatch rate,
generally speaking. I used less eggs too, and as you can see, my figures
arn't going to win me a science award. But I did measure the salt and water
pretty carefully though.
And this is probably a good time to ask about the in tank brine shrimp
hatcher I wrote about in an earlier post. Has anyone used it? Is it any
good?
Anyway, thanks for the help.
but it seems I'm incompetent. I've got an air stone in a glass vase filled
with 750ML of water and 2 1/4 tsp non-iodized salt with just a touch of
sodium bi-carb to nudge the PH just over middle. I've got a 60w incandescent
lightbulb running approx. 8 inches from the vase 24/7. I put in an eye ball
estimate of 1/8-1/16 a tsp brine shrimp eggs because I don't want to grow a
million of them. But even if I did, I wouldn't be able to. What appears to
happen, and I say appears because the things are so damn small -- what
appears to happen is that a lot hatch and most die within 24-48 hours. I get
a few swimming around (about 3mm) but I can see many more motionless on the
bottom and sides of the glass. Furthermore, it appears that there are still
a good deal of eggs that don't go. I'm using "premium quality" Bio-Marine
Aquafauna cysts and they've been shipped from California all the way to the
other side of Australia, so I don't know how good they are. I doubt the
batch is bad or old though. I think its me. Is there anything glaring?
You should also know that I tried an earlier batch with less salt and I got
much better hatch to death rate, but not too much better hatch rate,
generally speaking. I used less eggs too, and as you can see, my figures
arn't going to win me a science award. But I did measure the salt and water
pretty carefully though.
And this is probably a good time to ask about the in tank brine shrimp
hatcher I wrote about in an earlier post. Has anyone used it? Is it any
good?
Anyway, thanks for the help.