Re: [Killietalk] RE: Killietalk Digest, Vol 5

["Erny May" <emay1 at wi_rr.com>]

David,

After reading this, anybody should be able to process cysts to bbs to
eventually feeding them to the fish; nice write-up.


Erny
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Koran, David HQ02" <David_Koran at HQ02.USACE.ARMY.MIL>
To: <killietalk at aka_org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2003 9:24 AM
Subject: [Killietalk] RE: Killietalk Digest, Vol 5


> Brine shrimp hatching made easy...
>
> After reading the exchanges for the last few days I just felt the need to
> bring the "cheap" back into the process.
>
> There is every suggestion for hatching shrimp from suspended cones to
> special plastic devices.  There are also discussions on using airstones,
> heating elements and the need for light.  Well, back to the basics.  As I
> have pointed out on several posts, I have been hatching brine shrimp daily
> for almost 30 years and it is the primary source of food for my killies.
If
> my brine shrimp ain't hatching, the fish aren't doing well.
>
> I have used one gallon pickle jars since 1974.  They work fine, they are
> cheap.  Although I set the jar up so it is slightly tipped to one side,
> leaving them flat doesn't reduce hatching.  The key to hatching shrimp is
> that they need constant movement in the hatching solution.  If you don't
> have this, the hatch will be poor.  You accomplish this movement
> inexpensively by vigorously bubbling air through the solution/cyst
> suspension.  You don't need an airstone to do this and you don't need to
> have the air tube go all of the way to the bottom if the "boil" you create
> with the air tube is sufficient to keep everything moving.  If it is too
> vigorous, once hatching commences you tend to kill the newly hatched
shrimp;
> however, this needs to be pretty vigorous in order to do in the shrimp.
> When you have the confined geometery of the cone, it is critical to make
> sure the airtube goes all of the way to the bottom to aggitate the build
up
> of eggs getting trapped there, in the jar there is almost no place for
eggs
> to accumulate under the moving current created by the "boil".
>
> I have been using a 1 liter separatory funnel for almost 30 years to
> separate nauplii from cyst casings and unhatched cysts but after posting
> another suggestion several weeks ago I constructed a makeshift sep funnel
> from a two liter plastic soda bottle by cutting off the bottom and
replacing
> the cap with a push-pull top you find on many of the bottled water
> containers.  I simply pour the contents of the hatching (pickle) jar into
> the funnel (actually two) that are inverted into two other pickle jars
> (improvised ring stands!) and allow the nauplii to separate.  At this
stage
> I slide open the top/cap of the inverted bottle and release the bottom
> contents of the separation into a plastic container stopping at a point
> where I think I have the majority of the shrimp captured.  I can slide the
> cap closed or simply place my finger over the opening (a little easier to
> do).  I usually drain a little more of the suspension into my brine shrimp
> net and then dump the remainder into the sink.  A quick water rinse and
the
> improvised separatory funnel is ready to use again.  If you are trying to
> conserve hatching solution (why, I don't know) you can drain solution
> through your filter and also return it to the top portion of your
suspension
> rather than pour it down the drain and try hatching things one more time
(I
> don't find this particularly fruitful but that is your decision).  The
> improvised sep funnel with its two liter capacity is speeding my workup
time
> but more critical is it is chepaer than fretting over breaking my one
liter
> glass sep funnel which has a replacement cost of about $100 plus you can
> simply disgard the plastic bottle if it gets gummed up.  After several
years
> you start getting algae growth on the inside of the separatory funnel and
it
> is difficult to clean it without introducing chemicals or special brushes.
>
> Fortunately I have stockpiled brine shrimp nets after haing difficulty
> finding them many years ago but as Erny points out, Bounty paper towels
make
> good cheap filters.  Simply fold the towel in half and then half it again.
> Open at one of the folds to form a cone and seat it inside of a plastic
> (cone filter) funnel.  It doesn't fit all around the inside of the funnel
> but that fold will form an air channel to allow pressure escape of air as
> the solution filters.  Whatever your filtering device, rinse the "cake" of
> nauplii into fresh water and feed with either a plastic dropper or glass
> pipette.  You can use a rinse bottle (fine tip) to rinse off the shrimp
from
> the filter material or use a sports bottle with the push-pull tops to
> accomplish the same thing.  And never did I mention a siphon in all of
this!
> Those paper towel filters work pretty good when you are out collecting
fish
> and you want to place the fish into a container of the water you just
> retrieved them in and it is pretty mucky.  Pour the contents through a net
> to hold the fish and then the water through a paper towel filter to remove
> most of the debris you don't want to take home!  (BTW, Uncle Scotty, my
> brine shrimp net sits in my sink inside of an inverted one quart plastic
> food container where I cut off the bottom to accept the net and then cut
> notches into the top (which is now on the bottom) so the water will drain
> out from the container).  The slight taper of the container in the
inverted
> position give the setup stability and the notches also allow water that
may
> back up in the sink to prevent the setup from floating and tipping over.)
> Cracked one gallon jars that don't hold water make great "ring stands" for
> your separatory funnels.  Use a coffe urn brush to clean out your hatching
> jars before each use.  Cycle a spare jar and make up the hatch solution
> after cleaning but don't start the jar for 24 hours.  Right now, at a room
> temperature of about 70-71oF, my premium grade Sanders cysts (Harvest
2002)
> are hatching in 40 hours.
>
> And about those concoctions you use to hatch the shrimp -- kosher salt,
> baking soda, hatching catalyst -- I use granular feed salt obtained in 80
lb
> bags from a decent farm products store.  If you are near an area where
they
> raise horses (you should see this outside of any metro area) then there
will
> be a feed store in the area that sells salt in this form.  You want
> crystaline salt without additives.  It should cost about $8-10 for a bag.
> That is about a 10 cents a pound.  This is evaporite salt and is probably
> produced from "feed" water from where you find shrimp in the first place.
>
> As for the need for light, that is grossly overrated.  You only need
enough
> light to be able to find your jars to work up.  While shrimp are
> photosensitive and swim toward the light, placing a light above your hatch
> container and thinking the shrimp will swim toward it when the solution is
> bubbling like mad is like thinking you are going to go for a stroll into a
> 120 mph wind, futile!
>
> Dave Koran
> To join the AKA see http://www.aka.org/pages/join.html
> Archives are at http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/
>



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