Welcome to the Angelfish Micro Hatchery's introduction to Baby Brine Shrimp. This page will cover the essentials needed to hatch baby brine shrimp, a cost effective strategy and a list of the components needed. You will also find links to our detailed hatching guide and gallery of BBS hatcheries.

Freshly hatched Baby Brine Shrimp are the staple diet of free swimming Angelfish fry. Most hobbyist have found it difficult to raise fry from newly free swimming to the juvenile stage of development without feeding BBS. Most Angelfish breeders who obtain some level of success at raising a spawn of Angelfish to adulthood are also successful at hatching Baby Brine Shrimp consistently. There is not anything difficult or messy about it. However a thoughtful and well planned approach often prevent the frustration encountered when insufficient food is available to feed hungry baby Angelfish.

Here at the AMH we suggest learning as much about hatching Brine Shrimp before they are actually needed to sustain baby Angelfish if possible. It is better to be prepared to hatch BBS and not need them than to need them and not have them. If you have adult Angelfish that have formed a pair we suggest you become experienced in hatching BBS. Gather the few supplies needed and follow our easy step by step Guide to Hatching BBS. But first visit our link page called the AMH Links and research the links in the Baby Brine Shrimp section. Be sure to visit the AMH Gallery of BBS Hatcheries to see how others hatch BBS. Then hatch a few batches yourself as trial runs to prepare for the big day. Feed the resulting BBS to your smaller fish such as guppies. They will love them.

Essentials for Hatching BBS

Hatching Container

•  Round and Cone or "V" bottomed containers are best to insure that the cysts remain in suspension during hatching. Flat bottom hatching vessels should be avoided. Inverted soda bottles are also employed as hatching containers. Be sure to thoroughly wash the hatching containers with hot water and dry between uses.

• Maintain a salinity of 20 - 30 parts per thousand (ppt) salt solution or approximately 1-2 tablespoons of non iodized salt per quart or liter of water. This equates to around 1.015 - 1.020 specific gravity.

• A starting pH of 8.0 or higher is recommended. If pH drops below 7.5 during incubation, add sodium bicarbonate or some other pH buffer to raise it above 8.0. We recommend a 1/2 teaspoon per quart concentration of Epson salt or magnesium sulfate be added to buffer the hatching solution if your PH is lower than 8.0.

• Constant aeration is also necessary to provide sufficient oxygen levels for the cysts to metabolize and hatch. A minimum of 3 parts per million dissolved oxygen during the incubation is recommended. Strong aeration will not damage or hurt the brine shrimp cysts or nauplii. The cysts should remain in suspension at all times when not harvesting BBS.

• Illumination is necessary to trigger the hatching mechanism within the embryo the first few hours of incubation. Maintaining a light source during the entire incubation period is recommended for temperature control and to obtain optimum hatch results.

• Optimum temperature for a 24 hour complete hatch is 80-82° Fahrenheit or 26-28° Celsius. BBS will hatch at  room temperature however lower temperatures result in a longer hatching times. Do not exceed 30° C or 86° F.

• Two grams per quart or approximately one level tablespoon of cysts per quart is recommended as the highest hatching rate. A higher stocking density will result in a lower percentage of cysts hatching. It doesn't take a lot of cysts to get going, there are usually 200,000 to 300,000 nauplii per gram of cysts. A quarter to a half of a teaspoon of cyst per quart is more than enough for the typical aquarist if hatched efficiently.

You can buy brine shrimp cyst at your local LPS but the price per gram is expensive when you consider that you may be feeding baby brine shrimp for months. Feeding BBS is of such benefit to aquarist that many hobbyist never stop feeding BBS to all their fish. All types of tropical fish thrive on a diet that contains baby brine shrimp. We recommend that you purchase your brine shrimp cyst in bulk. Cysts may be purchased online from several venders. Visit our link page called the AMH Links and research the links in the Baby Brine Shrimp section. You will find links to several venders there. Often brine shrimp cyst are packaged in one pound vacuumed sealed cans that have a long shelf life. Opened cans can be stored under refrigeration for months. Often the most cost effective way to purchase BBS cyst is to purchase more than one can of "Breeders Grade" cyst to save on shipping and handling cost.

Here at the Angelfish Micro Hatchery our need for Baby Brine Shrimp is not as great as a hobbyist who maintains a fish room. We may not need to operate our BBS hatchery year round or produce the quantities needed to feed several spawns at once. Some hobbyist who must produce large quantities of BBS setup two or more bottles or hatching containers. One started one day, the other the next day to insure a continuous supply of newly hatched artemia. Fortunately most AMH owners who husband one line of Angelfish at a time only need to maintain one hatching container if they incorporate the advantages that cold storage offer. Please visit our section about Cold Storage of BBS to read more.

Short term cold storage of freshly harvested BBS allows the hobbyist to supply their Angelfish fry continuous diet of both freshly harvested and live BBS. Each time a batch of BBS is harvested a portion may be fed live to fry and the remainder stored for use later. While relying on additional feedings of BBS from cold storage the hobbyist is free to began to incubate a new batch of BBS. Thus maintaining a continuous diet of both freshly harvested and live BBS.

Since most hobbyist use low stocking densities when hatching Artemia we are often able to extend the life of each culture several days. We recommend hatching BBS at 1/4 of the possible stocking density to produce a successful batch. This allows extra hatching time to occur which improves our harvest of BBS. This offers even more advantages when one considers the cost of Brine Shrimp cysts and the labor savings that can be realized from efficient hatching practices. Visit the BBS Hatching Guide to view our efficient method of hatching BBS.

Hatching Container and Accessories

 

	Here are most of the components needed to setup a Brine Shrimp Hatchery. Pictured from top right and clockwise are a fish bowl, top, thermometer, aerator, air line and lamp.
	Round and Cone or "V" bottomed containers are best to insure that the cysts remain in suspension during hatching. Flat bottom hatching vessels should be avoided.
	Tops covering the hatching container prevent messy spray from heavy aeration from dusting surrounding area with a salty film. Note that a hole has been cut in the top to accommodate an air line.
	Thermometers allow temperatures to be observed. Optimum temperature for a 24 hour complete hatch is 80-82° F or 26-28° C. Do not exceed 30°C or 86°F.
	Constant aeration is necessary to provide a minimum of 3 parts per million dissolved oxygen for the cysts to metabolize and hatch. The example pictured here is fashioned from  rigid airline tubing has a spiraled bottom to help disburse air bubbles. In a "V" shaped hatching container all that is needed is at straight length of rigid tubing to obtain better results. Avoid using air stones.
	Use flexible airline tubing to connect an air pump to the aerator which can made from a straight length of rigid airline tubing.
	Use an air pump capable supplying enough pressure to provide constant aeration and keep all cysts suspended in the moving water.
	Illumination is necessary to trigger the hatching mechanism within the embryo within the first few hours of incubation. Maintaining a light source during the entire incubation period is recommended for temperature control and to obtain optimum hatch results. Be careful not to place your light source too close to your hatching container and overheat your BBS hatchery.

Above we have listed most of the components that we recommend for hatching BBS at the AMH. Hobbyist have taken these same components and configured them in many different ways. Hatching containers used to hatch BBS come in all shapes and sizes. Some perform better than others. 

The range of setups used to hatch BBS is wide. We at the AMH urge some caution when setting up a BBS hatchery.  For safety's sake we recommend that your BBS hatchery be setup on a stable table or stand. We recommend that the hatching container sit solidly on it's stand and is braced if necessary to prevent falling and spilling. Containers with wide mouths are easier to clean and maintain an active culture. We prefer glass because it's easy to clean. There are many choices of materials, shapes and sizes from which to choose. But all BBS hatcheries share the same basic components.
 
 

We have created a gallery of images of Brine Shrimp hatcheries from pictures that have been submitted to us or collected by us from all over the internet. Some are BBS hatcheries which can be purchased online and in local pet stores while others were assembled in garage workshops, kitchens and utility rooms.  Click on the links below to view the AMH Gallery of BBS Hatcheries or continue on to the AMH BBS Hatching Guide.