Brine shrimp Hatchery
- Thread starter Dustin07
- Start date
Grin Reefer
New member
Yes, the above mentioned works well.
T Diddy
Happy to be here
Shut up and take my money!!
shred5
Premium Member
I have three of them: I refill one every 2 days for my pipefish.
I like them but a bottle works just fine if you do not want to spend the money.
They have rings inside and you put the eggs on the outside ring. The eggs float and can not cross the rings and the BBS go under the rings.
Honestly though You will need copepods to for good health. BBS are really like eating candy.
T Diddy
Happy to be here
I’m really digging your culture station! Very nice!
I ordered it, amazon just let me know it was delivered, ha
I completely forgot I had pipefish years ago until yesterday I found my login info for the old Seahorses forum. Apparently I had 2 pipefish LOL.
It does, that's what I did back in the day. But I sorta had ironically more space and less financial wherewithal back then. Of course everything is expensive now, but our house just isn't as equipped for a lot of fancy grow out accessories as well as I had done when I was younger so I'm trying to figure out ways to incorporate these types of items into everyday spots. I also know that if fish spread too far across the house my wife might go from loving it to irritated, ha. and she wants to try her hand at a few things... like the dwarf seahorses. I had so much success with them I'm for it, but I want her to set up her tank and practice the live food first.
I told her "pick a tank, learn the food, then we can do the horses".... I have plenty of other critters that would be happy to eat our brine shrimp and pods while we practice our hatcheries!
T Diddy
Happy to be here
I hear they’re viable for years…as much as ten years or more…I always used whatever was available at my lfs
shred5
Premium Member
Really depends on how they are stored. They should be refrigerated.
I buy from where ever. Last ones were from Aquatic everything and I also like Brineshrimp direct.
Brineshrimp direct also has hatching decapsulated EGGS which I like. No shells and better hatch rates with a little more nutrients.
Especially good if you are using bottles to hatch or any hatcher that does not separate. They do have a shorter shelf life though.
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Coming back to this post, would you give me a walkthrough on your copepod aquaculturing technique? I would like to set up a pod culture and drop maybe 2 of those pod hotels in it. I saw a lady on youtube who would pull out a pod house, drop it in her seahorse tank, then let the other pod house take on inhabitants in the culture while the first pod house was feeding. Seems like a great way to keep a semi steady stream of pods going to the pony tank while I'm supplementing with bbs, and a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a bottle of tiggerpods etc over and over.
do you refrigerate live bbs? I have so many more matching now than needed per day I am trying to figure out the best way to keep them alive, and nutritious. what if I were to run bbs in a jar/tank of phyto water, then net and rinse before feedings?
I posted an updated picture in my log of our current battle station. the upright tube hatchery right now is my favorite. I have found I can drain like 5 days worth of bbs through that tube, then just clear water comes out for a second or two, before the eggs even start to flow through. it's giving me really pure harvest without much egg residue.
you can see those little cones in the picture that are all filled with pure bbs down below. there are three filled in the pic with the tube water still 3/4 way full. I think I filled six overall last night. Fed one to the DT, and about a half one to the ponies, which still ended up being way more food than necessary...
I don't really want to pay $25ea for them but something like this I thought would be nice. just leave it in the pod culture for say a week at a time, drop in the pony tank:
shred5
Premium Member
Really depends on what you are wanting to culture. There are allot of different types of copepods some can be really hard while others not to bad..
Easiest to start with is Tigger pods. They just need Phyto and saltwater.
I was growing allot of phyto to feed them but it crashed because of some bad salt I purchased so I have been using RGcomplete in the mean time.. You can use any phyto to feed them really.
RGcomplete is what I suggest because of its good mix, shelf life, concentration, clean and has stuff in it to help with ammonia. Just super easy.
you could use spirulina powder too but it is easy to over feed..
It is a starting point. I just grow them in empty salt buckets filed half way with saltwater. Tiggers are not sensitive to salinity or temps like other pods which also makes them a good starter copepod. I do not give them any circulation or heat. Tiggers are that easy.
BBS need to be fed to fish right away they really can not be stored. They are the most nutritional right after hatch. I keep the eggs in the refrigerator so they last longer.
I just keep 3 cultures of BBS going. I start a new one every other day and rotate 3 cultures.
By the way I feed Pac-pods to my Pipefish and they love it. I am at the point it is so much easier to feed these that I am feeding less live food.
It takes a bit to get them to eat it because it is preserved and not live. I just fed it with my live food at first. Pipefish can be harder and more finicky than seahorses.
reefnutrition.com
Easiest to start with is Tigger pods. They just need Phyto and saltwater.
I was growing allot of phyto to feed them but it crashed because of some bad salt I purchased so I have been using RGcomplete in the mean time.. You can use any phyto to feed them really.
RGcomplete is what I suggest because of its good mix, shelf life, concentration, clean and has stuff in it to help with ammonia. Just super easy.
you could use spirulina powder too but it is easy to over feed..
It is a starting point. I just grow them in empty salt buckets filed half way with saltwater. Tiggers are not sensitive to salinity or temps like other pods which also makes them a good starter copepod. I do not give them any circulation or heat. Tiggers are that easy.
BBS need to be fed to fish right away they really can not be stored. They are the most nutritional right after hatch. I keep the eggs in the refrigerator so they last longer.
I just keep 3 cultures of BBS going. I start a new one every other day and rotate 3 cultures.
By the way I feed Pac-pods to my Pipefish and they love it. I am at the point it is so much easier to feed these that I am feeding less live food.
It takes a bit to get them to eat it because it is preserved and not live. I just fed it with my live food at first. Pipefish can be harder and more finicky than seahorses.
PAC-PODS®
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS PRODUCT IS NOT A LIVE FEED Pac-Pods™ are small, nutrition-packed North Pacific copepods (500-800 microns) harvested and freshly frozen at sea for maximum nutrition. In the ocean, copepods form the basis for much of the marine food web. Naturally rich in carotenoids...
reefnutrition.com
When I used to be in the hobby the consensus was of course immediately hatched bbs are best, but older ones would be gut loaded... is that not so much accepted anymore?
that's awesome, maybe I'll give that another go. When I first got this herd I had a bbs hatch crash, so I tried frozen and they DID take to it. But have seemed less interested ever since. Maybe I'll try again and see if they take to it. would make life simpler lol. I have the pac pods open now so i'll give it a look!
shred5
Premium Member
BBS need to be fed right away to what ever you are feeding them too yes. Nauplii do not eat and live off their yoke sack for so many days. As the yolk sac depletes they become less nutritional. Once they start eating you could feed and then gut load them but adults are less nutritional. I have raised adult Brine shrimp but rarely do. I am not sure Pipefish or seahorses would eat adults due to their size. I know mine didn't.
BBS really are more of a snack and should not be fed as a staple.
Rotifers I used to gut load when I was breeding clownfish. Rotifers are too small for anything other than larvae.
Paul B
Premium Member
When I used to raise seahorses I built this one. You put the eggs in the dark side with some air, when they hatch I put the cover on and open the sliding door in the center. All the shrimp swim to the clear part and the egg shells stay in the dark side.
I close the sliding door, open the valve on the bottom and just the shrimp come out.
I close the sliding door, open the valve on the bottom and just the shrimp come out.
