DIY Brine shrimp (or Artemia) hatchery

Introduction
Brine shrimp (or Artemia salina) is a crustacean used as a food source for fry and fish. In a zebrafish facility, brine shrimp is used as a intermittent feed for the fry and adults. Shrimp hatchlings at less than two days old contain yolky reserve rich in nutrients for fry and adult fish (feeding them artemia increases better egg production in females).

Materials

• Brine shrimp eggs. Don't get those decapsulated eggs that will not hatch BUT used directly to feed fish instead. For bulk order, you can visit BrineShrimpDirect (I have not dealt with them so any question do contact them directly). In eBay, the cost is  about SGD 2.20 per 10 g of eggs. Normally, I will use 2 tbsp per 1 litre sea salt water and allow it to hatch overnight with aeration.

Brine shrimp eggs from eBay seller fishmanofrobertsbridge.

• Aquarium sea salt mixture (weighing 1.36 kg) available at eBay from timholliday at approx. SGD 36.00 (inclusive of shipment). About 20 to 30 g salt per liter of water is required to hatch brine shrimp (but best would be to follow the instruction from shrimp egg producer).

Sea salt from eBay seller timholliday.

• Shrimp hatchery set. You can DIY by using a Coca Cola 2 liter bottle, aquarium tubing, and plastic hollow balloon sticks (see fig below).

 

DIY brine shrimp hatchery. Instead of having a nozzle at the bottom to drain out the hatched shrimp, I prefer using the balloon stick connected to tubing to siphon off the shrimps from the vessel. That way, I will not be collecting unhatched eggs settled to the bottom as I would by using the bottom outlet (in commercial setting). 

Once the unhatched eggs are settled to the bottom and the empty cyst floating at the surface, I would usually use the hollow stick/straw connected to tubing to siphon out the shrimp (indicated red). A muslin cloth is normally used to net the shrimp and added back to fish water (at a reduced salt concentration) before feeding.

Different stages of maturity of the brine shrimps. New hatchlings are preferred due to their high yolk content, whereas older shrimps might have loss some yolky storage. The unhatched eggs are shown here.

 For commercial hatchery, you can search for them from eBay. Just key in brine shrimp hatchery and you will get returns.

Notes

• Hatching the eggs is good for maximum three days. After that, the shrimp will lose its yolk reserve and would also have lost their nutritious value. If you need to keep shrimp for more than three days, it is best to feed the brine shrimp in order to keep them alive.
• Don't feed too much shrimp to your fish because this food is considered fatty. Feed the fish once per day and add in dry food for the other two feeding per day (total 3 feeding).
• Fish will always be hungry. So, don't allow demand feeding because there will always be demand. Fish will die of obesity-related complications!

DIY material

Hollow balloon sticks (get white ones if preferred). Fig from www.balloonsandweights.com.

Muslin cloth or cloth coffee filter (you can get this from Aliexpress or shops)