How to Hatch Brine Shrimp to Feed Newborn Fish

The Artemia Salina is an ocean crustacean, widely used and very important for raising and to help in reproducing some fish tank species.

They are very reproductive and the females can lay over 75 eggs per day. You can distinguish between a male and a female, since the last are bigger and carry their eggs and an adult brine shrimp is usually 8-10mm in length, reaching up to 15mm. They can be pale white, green pink or transparent and have a lifespan of a few months.

Again and in adults they are very difficult to maintain and store, as they require too much and difficult care. To be used as food for the fish fry, you should keep in mind the size of them, since most of the fish have to grow a little before they have a mouth big enough to swallow the shrimps.

There are four important elements for success while hatching Artemia Salina. They are:

1. Quality of Eggs
2. Water quality
3. Temperature
4. Water Salinity

The better is the quality of the eggs, the better will be the biggest cost of them, therefore you have to buy with confidence. Normally the cheapest ones are enough, but if you are willing to produce in large quantities the most expensive ones would be more effective.

You can hatch Artemia Salina in various types of containers. You can use a so called Brine Shrimp Hatchery or use a DIY type with home materials. The first has a greater chance of success but will cost you money, on the other hand the second has less chances of success but will cost you virtually nothing.

• No matter of what type of container that you will use for the hatching the procedure is almost the same:
  Fill the container with warm water, with temperature at 20 º C and 28 º C. 25 ° C is the ideal for this. If you are using an aquarium you can place a thermostat and a thermometer.
• For every two gallons of water put a tablespoon of salt (use only aquarium salt to avoid iodine.)

• Stir the mixture. If you have available, add a dessert spoon of sodium bicarbonate (NaCl), this will adjust the levels of pH and hardness of the water that should be near pH of 8.0 and have a density of 1030.
• Add a diffuser stone should be connected through a tube to the air pump, this should be changed after two months of use, so the water is always moving;
• With the temperature near 20 ° C the Arthemia will be moving too slowly and near the 30 º C there will be a reduction in the quantity of Arthemia available.
• Then leave the eggs for a period of 24h to 48h with the container maintained in the conditions described above.
• As soon as the Artemia hatches, they will fall to the bottom and leave the egg shell. Remove the shells to the trash. To do this, put a light source near the container as they will go near the light and that will help you to distinguish between the egg shells and the living little creatures.

Wash the Artemia with tap wash water and then you have a very rich and nutritious meal to give to your fry, so them can grow with health an fast.

As an alternative, there are other methods to hatch brine shrimp as you can see in the video below.