Re: [Killietalk] photo BBS

[Barry Cooper <bjc3 at centurytel_net>]

I have not followed this thread closely as I have just got back from 
Australia and skimmed over 400 emails. However ....

Regarding hatch rates. I hatch in inverted pop bottles in which I have 
about 1 liter of aerated hatch water. I hatch two each day, one for the 
morning and one for the evening, hatching on a 24 hour cycle. I have a 
lamp in front of them and I have adjusted the proximity of the lamp to 
get a good hatch without too many molting at 24 hours. In my opinion, 
you can tell if a hatch is very recent because the newly hatched bs tend 
to sink readily. Later, after they molt, they tend to be suspended in 
the water (when not aerated). Very recently hatched bbs also are more a 
brown-orange color and after molting they are more of a bright orange. I 
use the high grade cysts from Jehmco. I highly recommend them. In my 
setup I do a double separation. I turn of the air to the hatcher, wait 
for the shells to float, them run off the shrimp/saline through the air 
line. Then I rinse them (in the handkerchief that I use as a sieve), 
then suspend them in about 50 ml water, which has a little salt, as for 
my tanks. After they settle, I carefully draw off the shrimp, leaving 
any unhatched cysts at the bottom. I sometimes even do this twice. I 
hate getting bbs shells in my tanks! The point is that at the bottom of 
the cup after drawing off the bbs there are hardly any unhatched cysts. 
In other words, I am getting almost 100% hatch.

As for photos of bbs, I am 100% sure that the ones shown as an immediate 
hatch on the web site (under Library/Fry Foods) have not molted. They 
were the very first shrimp to hatch in a batch. Note that all those 
images were taken at the same magnification on my microscope so the 
sizes can be compared. The microworms and vinegar eels are the smallest, 
in the sense that they have the smallest cross section. Fry will suck in 
small worms like spaghetti. I've watched fry only 1 cm long suck in 
grindal worms like that, so I suppose newly hatched fry can do the same 
for microworms and vinegar eels. I don't like microworms for Nothos, 
though, as they sink into the peat too quickly.

BC

Barry J. Cooper
Sweet Home, OR 97386


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