Brine Shrimp Protocol - kkacevas/Laskowski-Lab GitHub Wiki

Brine Shrimp Protocol

A) Starting a new batch of brine shrimp eggs~

This should be done EVERY DAY (including weekends)

  1. Clean the hatchery using hot water and a paper towel (to scrub off any remaining brine shrimp/eggs from the inside). It is okay to dump the brine shrimp water down the drain. Make sure to remove the 2L bottle from the hatchery stand and clean the inside of the hatchery as well. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT since we don't want brine shrimp gunk to build-up and clog the hatchery.

  2. Put the 2L bottle in the hatchery and make sure the air tubing is also in place (connected firmly below the hatchery).

  3. Plug the air pump into the wall and connect the air pump to the airline tubing of the hatchery (NOTE: make sure to do this BEFORE putting water in the hatchery).

  4. Fill the bottle up with warm tap water (about half way).

  5. Put 2 tiny scoops of brine shrimp eggs into the hatchery (scoop located inside brine shrimp egg can).

  6. Put 2 scoops of salt in the hatchery (using the scoopula as a measurement-- fill the entire triangle of the scoopula to the edge).

  7. Put 2 scoops of baking soda into the hatchery.

  8. Turn light on. The light does not have to remain on the entire night (you can turn it off before leaving and then turn it back on when you are back in the office). The brine shrimp eggs should hatch in about 18-24 hours!

B) Harvesting the brine shrimp and feeding the fish:

  1. Disconnect the airline tubing from the air pump (IMPORTANT: make sure to put your thumb quickly on the opening of the tube to prevent brine shrimp and water from spewing out of the hatchery).

  2. Put cap on airline tubing (i.e. black valve-- make sure it is closed) and hang tubing on hatchery bottle.

  3. Shine light to bottom of hatchery and wait for 5 min. Brine shrimp are attracted to light and should migrate to the bottom of the hatchery.

  4. While waiting for brine shrimp to migrate, unplug air pump from wall.

  5. After 5 minutes pass, grab plastic beaker and uncap the hatchery tube to drain the brine shrimp into the beaker. You will see a stream of orange (which are the brine shrimp). Once the water is not orange anymore, cap the tubing and hang it back on the hatchery.

  6. Take beaker of brine shrimp and sieve to sink. Pour brine shrimp into the sieve and rinse them with tap water. THIS IS IMPORTANT because we don't want any salt or brine shrimp feces to get into our fish tanks.

  7. Once rinsed, you can use tap water to put the brine shrimp back into the beaker.

  8. Feed the fish 1 mL of brine shrimp (using a disposable pipette). If there are less fish in some tanks, decrease amount of brine shrimp given as necessary. Try to avoid getting lots of unhatched brine shrimp eggs or egg shells in the pipette as these are not nutritious for our fish.

  9. Dump any excess brine shrimp down the drain.