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I have just had my first attempt at trying to hatch BBS for my cichlid fry.. and im not sure if im doing it right! Please bear with me!
I followed the instructions in the thread above re hatching bbs and setting it all up.. I so far have one bottle with just an air stone hanging in it and another one with the airstone threaded through the bottle lid. I added the correct amount of salt as stated and added a small amount of eggs. Some hatched but most didnt.. what did i do wrong?

Also they bbs that did hatch were so tiny they went straight through my net which has a very fine net and i havent seen a brine shrimp net in any stores.. any suggestions how i can get these out?

Thanks!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

To get the BBS out, use a cooking baster. Place the jar in a dimly lit or dark room, then take a flash light and shine it into the jar; the BBS will be drawn to the light source and you should be able to then draw them out with the baster. You can then squirt directly into the tank. The small amount of brine solution should not have any negative affect on your tank.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Thanks! i wasnt sure whether is was ok to put the bbs water into the tank...

Ive found the cooking baster a pretty useful tank tool!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Hi, to hatch and feed BBS i do the following,

*I use a glass hurricane lamp cover or similar 1.5L

*I put salt into the bottom of this about 3-4 tbl spns

*Then i put in brine shrimp eggs, fill 3/4 way with tap water

*I put this into my 2ft tank so it just floats

*Then i put an air stone into it with moderate bubble flow

*Leave for 24-36 hrs and get a huge hatch.

*The tank water is about 27c and has a fluro lamp on it 14hrs a day

*I usually have 2 of these going to feed my various fry.

To feed i take the glass lamp cover out of the tank, put it under a light for 5 mins, then using a small piece of airline tubing i siphon the BBS through a coffee filter into a small container, as the water is drained out of the coffee filter i use a small syringe to suck up the BBS, i feed the fry with this syringe, it makes it alot easier for the fry to get the BBS.

Just a note... that you may or may not know.
The floating eggs are the egg shells so it may look like they did not hatch?
The BBS eggs don't have a 100% hatch ratio so there will definitely be some that won't hatch.

Anyway if you knew that already... I would suggest taking out the air tube and let sit for a few minutes and syphon out the swimming BBS into a new container just slightly above the bottom of your current container. Most unhatched eggs will be sitting on the bottom so you would want to leave those there. Then I would just put the air tube back in and let it run for 6-12 hrs.

Pet stores will not carry those very fine nets, they carry one that says Brine Shrimp net which is not good for BBS. You can try a few fish stores. There are 8 LFS around here and only 1 store has the right one. If not, you can use a coffee filter. Now what I do is, I use rock salt to hatch my brine shrimps I would syphon out a good portion for feeding and add new water to dilute the salt a little. Then I just use a dropper and squirt into my tanks. Rock salt doesn't hurt and all tanks should have some anyway.

Just babbling cause it's early and I have nothing to do...

Thanks for your replies!
I have noticed alot of eggs floating on the surface but now that i know they're more likely shells i feel a bit better!
When you think you have got out all the brine shrimp do you clean out the container and start again?

i think i need to get my hands on an eyedropper!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them