# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Invertebrates >  brine shrimp - where to buy & how to culture?

## justjoin

Hi bro

as above subject.

thanks

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## hwchoy

just saw Biotope selling Brine shrimp eggs, but the culturing process sounds rather complicated…

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## Sky Devil

Before buying Brine Shrimp Eggs, make sure its refrigerated or it might be spoiled.

Use spirulina to culture

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## theodore

Check out related websites such as the 1 below:
hatching bbs

If that's too hard to follow, this is what I did before:
1. Fill up (70-80%) a Nestle container (glass type) with tape water
2. Add a few tablespoon of kitchen salt and (optional) a pinch of baking soda
3. Throw in some brine shrimp eggs
4. Use an airpump to aerate the mixture (i.e. airpump -&amp;gt; airline tubing -&amp;gt; container)
(24hrs later)
6. Stop the airpump and wait for the shells to settle to the bottom
5. Use a touchlight to attract the newly hatched shrimps and net them

Sky Devil,

Most shops do not refrigerate their eggs in the 1st place (and even if they do, what abt the suppliers they got the eggs from?). Unless we are looking at a large quantity that is meant to last for years, the best way is enure an acceptable hatch rate is probably to buy enough for 2-3mths.

What's the spirulina used for?

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## kc

I think Timebomb will be posting a procedure on Brimeshrimp culture but the page is under construction.

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## turaco

Are you refering to baby brine shrimp(bbs) or adult you see in lfs selling at $2 or $3? Culture or hatching? You can buy eggs from Biotope as hwchoy suggested. See timebomb's website www.killies.com for know-how. Culturing is more like raising the bbs to adult. Nutrient value drops as they grow. It's quite pointless to feed your fish with adult BS.

Turaco.

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## kelstorm

adult BS is more like a snack than anything else...

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## Sky Devil

Petmart and Lam Hong Keeps their BB eggs in the fridge. They hav a high hatch rate. I bought mine frm Petmart and another bottle frm any LFS that sells BB eggs and do not keep fridge. The &amp;quot;do not keep in fridge&amp;quot; eggs hav a pathetic hatch rate compared to petmart's

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## theodore

Does Lam Hong keep their BB eggs in a fridge? I bought from them before and it didnt appear to be the case - I have to admit that the hatch rate of their BB eggs is excellent though. It is the 1s I got from Petmart were a letdown (almost zero).

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## justjoin

thks all fpr the info.

actually i am talking abt hatching.

need to do a life science experience for pri sch kids.

thks

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## Sky Devil

What kind of info do you need bout hatching?

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## kenny_G

if you are looking for high hatch rate type, try Nova temai from JBL, might be a bit expensive, $22 for 20g. it is very similar to brine shrimp but smaller i think, excellent for newly hatched fry. i bought mine from a aquarium in sims place.

ken

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## lorba

> ----------------
> On 4/7/2003 4:51:52 PM 
> 
> Petmart and Lam Hong Keeps their BB eggs in the fridge. They hav a high hatch rate. I bought mine frm Petmart and another bottle frm any LFS that sells BB eggs and do not keep fridge. The &amp;amp;amp;quot;do not keep in fridge&amp;amp;amp;quot; eggs hav a pathetic hatch rate compared to petmart's
> ----------------


Did you tried both types for a few times before coming up with this conclusion? Might just be sheer luck of one over the other.

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## timebomb

Did you tried both types for a few times before coming up with this conclusion? Might just be sheer luck of one over the other.
----------------
There are brine shrimp eggs and there are brine shrimp eggs but if you want them to hatch, keep them in your refrigerator. At normal room temperatures in Singapore, brine shrimp eggs will spoil. However, I'm not sure how long it will take before the eggs spoil. It could be a few weeks or a few months but I don't think its over a few days. 

Most local fish shops do not keep their shrimp eggs in the fridge. If you're lucky, you would buy a bottle that still has good eggs. If you're unlucky, however, you would end up with a bottle with eggs are already dead.
That's where the luck factor comes in.

Having said that, however, I would also point out that there are many different types of brine shrimp eggs. Top grade eggs cost more but have very high hatch rates, over 90%. Poor quality eggs can yield hatch rates of less than 10%. Always keep your eggs refrigerated but not freezed.

To hatch brine shrimp eggs is easy. Take a look at how I do it on my website. To culture them is a bit harder but the process is not really complicated. The trick is to know what to feed them with. Spirulina is a good source of food. It's available in some fish shops in powder form. 

Loh K L

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## theodore

> ----------------
> On 4/7/2003 11:15:12 PM 
> Did you tried both types for a few times before coming up with this conclusion? Might just be sheer luck of one over the other.
> ----------------


It's likely to be sheer luck - I bred bettas for abt a year and only bought them on 2 occasions from Lam Hong and once from Petmart.

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## joe

hi timebomb, read your article on hatching brine shrimps ... however got stumped at the last part ... wat is a turkey baster???

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## Sky Devil

Its like a dropper, but very big and it can't be found in Singapore. Timebomb's Friend bought it for him in US

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## joe

sky devil, any pics to show how it looks like?

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## Sky Devil

No. I dun hav. Ask timebomb

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## kc

Hi Joe,
The dropper is shown in his website. Must read through all of it on how to keep killie fish.

Sound like i'm always advertising for him. (&amp;quot;,)

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## hwchoy

for the salt, if not kitchen salt what then to use? how about pan salt?

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## timebomb

hi timebomb, read your article on hatching brine shrimps ... however got stumped at the last part ... wat is a turkey baster???
----------------
Hi, Joe,

A turkey baster is something like a cross between an eyedropper and a syringe. In the west, women use it to baste turkeys during Christmas, hence the name. As far as I know, you won't find turkey basters for sale in Singapore but I was in my friend's house the other day and he showed me a tool which works just as well as a baster. It's made of plastic and my friend said he bought in from the fish shop at Clementi Block 328. It's part of a brine shrimp hatchery kit. The whole thing is made of rubber and works just like the device used for pumping balloons.

Turkey basters were originally meant for basting turkeys but some smart guy discovered that they are also very useful to fish breeders. They can be used for collecting baby brine shrimp and feeding them to the fish or for transferring fry and fish eggs. If you shuff it into the end of a tubing, it can also be used as a siphon. I also use my turkey baster as a pump to blow out the scum from my spiralling CO2 glass diffuser.

Besides basting turkeys, collecting brine shrimp and transferring fry, a turkey baster also has another very unusual application. In the west, some women use it to artificially inseminate themselves!! They keep the husband's sperm in the fridge and should he conk off before impregnating the wife, pump the sperm up &amp;quot;you-know-where&amp;quot;.

If you want to be sure that your genes can get passed on even after you are dead, refrigerate some of your sperm and get yourself a turkey baster [ :Grin: ] 

Loh K L

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## timebomb

The dropper is shown in his website. Must read through all of it on how to keep killie fish.

Sound like i'm always advertising for him. (&amp;amp;amp;quot;,)
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Heh Heh, KC, thanks. I appreciate the free advertising very much. The page where there's a picture of my turkey basters is at:

http://www.killies.com/hatching1.htm

Loh K L

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## timebomb

It's likely to be sheer luck - I bred bettas for abt a year and only bought them on 2 occasions from Lam Hong and once from Petmart.
----------------
Maybe I wasn't quite clear in my message about the luck factor so I will say it again in another way.

If you're lucky, you would have got a bottle that is relatively new stock and the eggs will hatch. If you're unlucky and got one that is old stock, the eggs will already be dead because the fish shop owner didn't keep them in a fridge. For that reason alone, you can buy the same brand of brine shrimp eggs from the same shop at different times and sometimes they hatch and sometimes they don't.

Kept in the right conditions, brine shrimp eggs last forever.

Loh K L

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## timebomb

for the salt, if not kitchen salt what then to use? how about pan salt?
----------------
Choy, I'm not sure about pan salt but I use marine salt. I buy premium grade brine shrimp eggs from brineshrimpdirect.com and they cost me a lot of money. It would be foolish if I use cheap salt to hatch top grade eggs.

Loh K L

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## turaco

... and we know timebomb have turkey baster[ :Grin: ] [ :Grin: ]
I'm using those disposable syringe you can get from Guardian. It comes with different sizes.. 
I mean I'm using it for the brine shrimps! [ :Grin: ]

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## hwchoy

Hi KL, thanx. Pan salt I think not cheap but not all NaCL, have to go and read the package. My wife is a no-salt nut, where might I find some good marine salt?

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## justjoin

hi bro

bought a btl of brine shrimp egg at LFS at Geyland, brand ocean free at $8 for 9gm but is not in fridge.

tried to hatch following the instruction on the package. Twice failure-NONE of the egg hatched.not even 1

1st try i used kitchen salt &amp;amp; 2nd try used aquarium salt.

my step following the instruction on the box ;
1] with 1 litre of water in a 2litre plastic bottle.
2] 2-3 spoonful(given in the package) of salt
3] shalk well to dissolve.
4] put air pump with air stone
5] put 1 spoonful of eggs
6] on pump for 24hrs


what is the problem??????

CAN ANYONE here got some brine shrimp eggs to sell me but must be confirm can hatch one ------ very urgent cos need to get it done by next wednesday for an experiment. 

if u have, pls PM me your contact &amp;amp; location to clt &amp;amp; how much. I don't need alot.

or any1 can advise me where to get locally or LFS tel that sell.

I don't need those to have a high hatch rate

really urgent. 

thks

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## turaco

Get from Biotope(check LFS list). They have it in film canister form. Hatch rate is ok. Try to dissolve the salt first(by bubbling) before putting in the eggs. Will hatch in 24hrs or more. Use rock salt, or better still, marine salt. It makes a different.

Turaco.

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## joopsg

u can get decapsulated BBS eggs from one of the guppy fanatics in Arofanatics.
Just hydrate n feed. Use it to feed my apistogramma fries. Quite gd. Save alot of trouble.

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## justjoin

thks all for yr fast respone.

now trying out the same btl of eggs with marine salt. if it doesn't hatch(will know be tomorrow noon)than confirm is the eggs spoilt liao.

does any1 have some confirm can hatch egg to sell me?pls PM me yr contact. thks alot.

thks

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## timebomb

A part of me wants to help you very much. But another part of me says I should ignore your post because I get very irritated when I read it. I consider it very rude when people ask for help and yet can't be bothered to spell properly.

Is our education system so bad that our young people these days can't spell anymore? 

Your brine shrimp eggs won't hatch, no matter what salt you use and how long you aerate them. I know because you indicated the brand.

If you want brine shrimp eggs that are guaranteed to hatch, write me again. But please spell properly this time.

Loh K L
(waging a private war against Singlish and sms language)

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## timebomb

Justjoin,

I think there's something wrong with your email address because I replied to your email but the message bounced. So I sent the message to you through pm. Please check.

Loh K L

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## hwchoy

I have been told that adult brine shrimps (like those sold at C32 :Cool:  are not nutritious, only the newly hatched babies are. Is this true? It is quite hard to hatch and feed bbs for the bigger fishes, those rasboras around 4-8 cm, and also the dwarf wild fighters (Betta coccina, B. livida). [ :Knockout: ]

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## timebomb

----------------
On 6/8/2003 2:36:30 PM 

I have been told that adult brine shrimps (like those sold at C32 :Cool:  are not nutritious, only the newly hatched babies are. Is this true? 
----------------
The answer to your question would be both yes and no. It is not true that adult brine shrimp are not nutritious. I'm sure that must be some nutrition even if it's just a shell. What is true is they are less nutritious than baby brine shrimp. The latter is more nutritious because their yolk sacs are still intact.

It's not difficult to hatch brine shrimp eggs. The difficult part is getting eggs that are not already spoilt.

Loh K L

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## surfsgan

Hi justjoin,
Just my 2cents,
If U R doing for life sciences, then U will need to get those adult brine shrimps.... Can get a pack with abt $3 .... Just get a 1ft tank and have strong aeration and marine/rock salt and mix it all into the tank. U will get all sizes and maybe a few to release eggs. 
These are more suitable for your experiement. Hatching the bbs eggs will take U forever for them to reach the size. These are more for fish fries.

Feed the adult with green water or micro-marine food that can be bought from most marine lfs or keepers. Life span can last long if taken care properly......

Hope it helps.... Hv fun .....

Thanks....
Shawn  :Smile:

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## loupgarou

http://www.ee.pdx.edu/~davidr/discus...s/artemia.html

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## andrewtyr

Hi,

read the whole thread already. About this baby brine shrimp, where can I buy some from fish shops other than Biotope?

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## stormhawk

C328 sells some on a regular basis. Just make sure you choose a fresh bag otherwise you're gonna bring home dead masses of BBS. They tend to die quickly in those bags.

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