Re: [Killietalk] brine shrimp eggs and floating shells

[Wright Huntley <whuntley at verizon_net>]

Some viable eggs may also float until they absorb enough moisture to 
sink. The reason for pre-wetting in soft or RO water is that the cysts 
do not wet as readily in either very hard or strong salt water.

I don't do it, because they wet fairly soon, anyway, and a few swirls of 
the inverted bottle will wash the few around the top back into the 
turbulence. With good cysts, I get nearly 100% hatch with no wetting 
beforehand. OTOH, I do use a lot lower salt concentration than many here 
to get quicker hatching. If I used sea-water or stronger saline 
solution, I would be tempted to pre-wet the cysts so they all hatch 
together..

My information came from the Chief Biologist at the SF Bay Brand plant 
in Newark, BTW.

Wright

R. Brice wrote:
> The floaters are shells.  Once the brine shrimp hatches, its shell will also 
> float.  It is noticeable when you hatch a table spoon or two at a time.
>
> Richard Brice


-- 
Wright Huntley - 805 Valley West Cir., Bishop CA 93514 
whuntley at verizon_net 760 872-3995. Cell 760 937-2276

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