# DIY brine shrimp hatchery



## emtbmike (Sep 30, 2005)

I made a home made brine shrimp hatchery today. The total cost $8 (excluding the PVC glue). I used 1/2 inch pvc because I had some extra pieces in my house. You can use bigger pvc but the cost will also increase. 
The supplies that you will need are:
1/2 inch pvc
(4) 1/2 inch pvc elbows
(4) 1/2 inch pvc T
(1) 4 inch toilet flange
(1) 2 liter soda bottle 
pvc glue

First cut of the bottom of the soda bottle.









Take the toilet flange and glue it to the soda bottle.

















Make a seven inch square using the 1/2 pvc. At the same time Adding the "T" to the middle of each side of the square. This will hold the legs.









Finally cut four seven inch legs. 









Finished brine shrimp hatchery.


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

> 1) 4 inch toilet flange
> (1) 2 liter soda bottle


Love this part...
all the pvc???...
just for a stand.
Like I said..just love the bottle & flange :thumb:


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## emtbmike (Sep 30, 2005)

You need a cone shaped container to hatch brine shrimp. I needed a stand to hold the soda bottle upside down. So I decided to build one and share the information with everyone. If you already have a air pump, tubing and air stone it is cheaper to built your own then buying one already made.

Here is a short video. I filled it up half way with water, added the air stone and 1/2 teaspoon of eggs. I am about to add 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt. I should have baby brine shrimp in 24-36 hours.


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## CSchmidt (Apr 15, 2004)

Video doesn't work.


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## gmaschke (Aug 23, 2008)

Actually you dont need a cone shaped container I hatch mine in mason jars. Just drill a small hole in the lid for the air line and attach an air stone an done. Been hatching shrimp this way for years nothing fancy. I use a baster to extract the shrimp once they settle for a few minutes.


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## con-man-dan (Aug 19, 2006)

the cone shape makes it easier to collect them at the bottom, especially if you shine a bright flashlight near the top (bottom) of the soda bottle. but, other containers work just fine too. mason jars are cheap, easy to work with and abundant.


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## padlock 08 (Jul 31, 2008)

could you not put the air stone through the cap and silicone it in place? also what temp. do brine shrimp need to hatch, how do you harvest them? sorry for the newb questions but i have never hatched brine shrimp before and would like to be able to for any fry i get in future :fish:


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

*padlock 08* all I do is take salt water, add eggs, wait three days... no bubbler, no light, nothing. I get about a 75% hatch rate. The above is a good way to crank the hatch rate up... way up most likely. So it's not that any of the above is needed... it's just the DIY way :thumb:

I say get hatching your brine shrimp any old way if you need to and then build the DIY hatchery once you have the time.

emtbmike, an alternative use for your stand that pops to mind... a DIY CO2 stand to prevent accidental tipping! 
just an idea... :thumb:


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## gmaschke (Aug 23, 2008)

Room temp is generally fine I fill a quart jar with a hole on top add a table spoon of coarse salt some dechlorinator and 1/2 teaspoon off eggs and get a great hatch with in 24 hours the air stone has to be set high enough to keep the eggs gently off the bottom but if its too high the eggs stick to the lid as the get bubbled out of the water. After a day or two I start another batch and when they hatch the 1st is about gone. I find that after three days they start to smell.

Oh yeah when I feed I just take the air stone out and after 3-5 minutes the shrimp settle to the bottom and the eggs to the top and I use a turkey type baster to extract the shrimp.


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## emtbmike (Sep 30, 2005)

I keep the water at room temp. I have almost a 90% hatch rate. The stand is sturdy. The other day my cat climbed up on top of the rack. He was hitting the bottle pretty hard. The stand and bottle did not budge.


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## padlock 08 (Jul 31, 2008)

ok im going to just get a jar for now and hatch them without any airstone, but then im going to build the DIY hatchery in two weeks on my mid-term break :thumb: thanks for the replies and sorry for thwe hi-jack


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

While I do use the inverted 2 l bottle I float mine in a small tank. If I need a lot, I float 3 in a 5 gal tank. One heater does tha job to keep the water at 80 F. Having all the eggs hatch within 24 hrs is important to me. Keeping hatched BBS over night seriuously reduces their food value. I decapsulate the cysts so none are wasted, and I believe the hacth rate is higher. Right now i am using cysts that are at least 10 years old and still getting a reasonable hatch rate. The unhatched cycsts are still edible so there is no waste.
I am curious to know how you people determine what your hatch rates are. I hear numbers like 90% but wonder how this is determined. The only way to know for sure would be to measure the amount of unhatched cycts. I don't see how this is possible unless you decapsulate first. You could then measur the cysts that are left including the floaters which won't hatch anyway.


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## gmaschke (Aug 23, 2008)

I have no idea of the percentage just that I get a good hatch. Curious though explain how you decapsilate your eggs


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

I decapsultae the cysts using a small clear fishfood container (the kind freeze dried foods like tubifex comes in ) . I put in about an inch or so of water and add about a tsp of cysts. I let it sit for an hour or two with occasional stiring, or you can aerate it to keep the cysts moving. The purpose of this is to hydrate them. This hydration time isn't critical. I add a little less than the same amount of bleach ( the recommended ratio is 60/40 water to bleach) and stir for 5 minutes. This melts the hulls off and then I rinse well in water and dip in water with a bit of vinegar and rinse again and add to the brine mixture in the hatcher. Larger amounts of eggs would require larger amounts of water and bleach. I try and use as little of each as possible. The cysts that are floating after the hydration will not hatch, but if they are decapsulated they can still be used as food withoutharm. When all is said and done, you can clearly see how many did not hatch, but it doesn't matter as they can be safely fed.


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