To hatch brine shrimp eggs, all that you will need is a supply of good eggs and salt water. Aeration is only required if you require to hatch a lot of shrimp in a small volume.
My current brine shrimp hatchery, is basically a bathroom corner unit (that was in the house when we bought it and my wife wanted something different, so I kept it for the fishroom). I had to make a couple of alterations as originally the internal shelf was too high and had to be lowered, plus the shelf needed two holes drilling for the necks of the upturned bottles to sit. I also fitted an electrical socket (top back corner), with a 11 watt low energy bulb, that is on 24/7, as the light aids hatching.
I have used 1 litre fruit juice cordial bottles, as they fitted nicely inside my cabinet. The only alteration, is a rectangular hole cut near the base, and this is where I add the salt water. The caps were drilled and an airline connector was "hot-glued" in place. Then a small piece of airline was fitted to the connector and a clamp tightly fitted to stop any leakage.
Aeration is supplied from my main pump, and is controlled with two Algarde valves, then some flexible airline connected to a rigid plastic tube that goes down to the base of the hatchery (ie. the blue tops in the picture).
To harvest the shrimp, I turnoff the air, wait a few minutes for the shrimp to settle, then remove the clamp and pass the brine solution through a sieve specifically designed for collecting the shrimp. The shrimp is then rinsed with warm tapwater, and a syringe is used to feed the shrimp to the fry and some of my smaller adult killies.
My brine solution is very basic, I use 4 tablespoons of cheap Cooking Salt (Tesco, Spar etc.) into a clean 4 pint (2.27 litre) milk container. This holds sufficient for 3 fillings of the juice bottles. (2019) Update after a few discussions at the NEYG monthly meetings I have found that that I was using too much salt which might have been okay if I was planning to raise the shrimp to adults, so have now reduce to just 1 tablespoon in the 4 pint milk container and getting nearly 100% hatch with the eggs I use.
I only collect the shrimp once per day, so my hatching time is basically 48 hours, using the 2 bottles. (2019) Now using less salt and USA eggs I get an excellent hatch in 24 hours (or less), so only need 1 bottle in operation.
My current brine shrimp hatchery, is basically a bathroom corner unit (that was in the house when we bought it and my wife wanted something different, so I kept it for the fishroom). I had to make a couple of alterations as originally the internal shelf was too high and had to be lowered, plus the shelf needed two holes drilling for the necks of the upturned bottles to sit. I also fitted an electrical socket (top back corner), with a 11 watt low energy bulb, that is on 24/7, as the light aids hatching.
I have used 1 litre fruit juice cordial bottles, as they fitted nicely inside my cabinet. The only alteration, is a rectangular hole cut near the base, and this is where I add the salt water. The caps were drilled and an airline connector was "hot-glued" in place. Then a small piece of airline was fitted to the connector and a clamp tightly fitted to stop any leakage.
Aeration is supplied from my main pump, and is controlled with two Algarde valves, then some flexible airline connected to a rigid plastic tube that goes down to the base of the hatchery (ie. the blue tops in the picture).
To harvest the shrimp, I turnoff the air, wait a few minutes for the shrimp to settle, then remove the clamp and pass the brine solution through a sieve specifically designed for collecting the shrimp. The shrimp is then rinsed with warm tapwater, and a syringe is used to feed the shrimp to the fry and some of my smaller adult killies.
My brine solution is very basic, I use 4 tablespoons of cheap Cooking Salt (Tesco, Spar etc.) into a clean 4 pint (2.27 litre) milk container. This holds sufficient for 3 fillings of the juice bottles. (2019) Update after a few discussions at the NEYG monthly meetings I have found that that I was using too much salt which might have been okay if I was planning to raise the shrimp to adults, so have now reduce to just 1 tablespoon in the 4 pint milk container and getting nearly 100% hatch with the eggs I use.
I only collect the shrimp once per day, so my hatching time is basically 48 hours, using the 2 bottles. (2019) Now using less salt and USA eggs I get an excellent hatch in 24 hours (or less), so only need 1 bottle in operation.