Decapsulating Artemia

Hi all,
I just thought I post a quick DIY guide of how to decapsulate artemia.
This has several advantages to the traditional way of hatching them.
-all bacteria on the artemia cyst are killed, no risk of introducing pathogens to breeding tank

-50% time saving in hatching the nauplii

-no empty cysts in the tank that could either pollute the water or get stuck in the fish digestive tract.

-a higher hatching rate compare to the traditional method, even if the nauplii don't hatch they can still be fed to the fish.

- the bbs will be more nutricious since they don't need to expand any energy escaping the cyst (shell)
Here is what you need:
-1-2 teaspoons of artemia eggs (depending on how many you need)
-30-40g of salt, make sure it isn't iodinized. Health shops sell it.
-100ml 5% bleach, the cheapest stuff you can find, no pine smell here please
-an old marmelade jar and closely fitting lid unless you like white blotches on your clothes
-artemia net
-an empty philadelphia box or similar
-vinegar
-1litre bottle with airstone in it (the same one you've probably been using all along)
-water

And here how it's done

-fill the Philadelphia box with vinegar to a height of approx 1cm.
-bleach, artemia eggs into the marmelade jar, close the lid and shake until the whole thing turns orange.
-empty the whole jar into an artemia net and stand into the vinegar. This will neutralize the chloride (you can use water conditioner instead of the vinegar if you like). Careful the fumes are toxic, do not inhale them.
-flush the whole thing with water and wash the decapsulted eggs into the bottle add salt and water as per usual and depending on temperature you will be able to harvest live bbs within 12 hours without all the mess usually associated in seperating the shells from the naupilii.

Just thought I let you know in case you didn't know that trick yet.

Holger

My apologies. That should read 1/2 half a teaspoon full.

Holger
they way you have explained it is no offence like out of a book, as you know I use to rear brine shrimp in 16 days to adults and had acrylic vending machines in all good shop all over Dublin and in 1993 even New lands had one!

I had 2 or 3 life stages on the go at ant given time and would be doing a bit hatch out every 5 days of about half a kilo of eggs, and what you describe made a whole big orange bacterial mess and 95% morality.

The trick was to add the eggs to 2 thirds full sea salinity to maxium the hatch rate, let them soak in to with a strong air stone with no fine bubbles and after 20 mins of soaking add bleach and depending on how much yo add will depend on when you stop it but the crucial thing is NONT wait to it all goes oragne, wait instead till the dark brown eggs go light brown almost beige, the QUICKLY move them to water with has dechlorinator (soudium thiosuoplhate bough in any chemist use to devol photographic film) then after 10 min string them off and put them into a hatch er with BIG bubbles basically a broken air stone and hatch them out in 2 thirds sea water. When 95 hatch stop the air wait 10 mins and they will be all near the bottom in a hugh orange swarm then siphon them out in a fine mironet.
To grow them on they need to be reared in very high salinity water, almost double normal sean water, because if not on day 6 they die of an bacterial infection which cannot live in "brine", they are are fed Constable with a dosing machine and need to be re stocked in new vats every 4 days
(I re use the brine by add bleach and when the water was very jinn clear I would remove the chlorine ready for the next batch which were 5 days behind the old batch, my down fall was been to greedy and not supplying a enough shrimps per litre to make it really take off and after a year I stopped the production as it only made a bout 300 euros a week profit and was very time consuming at least 3 hours a day plus delivering.

Hi Sean,
I used to do all that soaking the eggs in water for 30 minutes to an hour but found above method much easier and faster. I haven't checked the hatch rate (too many bad memories doing that with brown trout eggs in college and they are a whole lot bigger) but estimate it around the 95% mark or thereabouts. Anybody feeling the urge to count the number in half a teaspoon full of eggs and then counting the hatched nauplii is welcome to my house and do it. I will not provide any light refreshments
You don't compare like with like. half a pound of artemia and half a teaspoon is a considerably difference. I wouldn't try this with half a pound of artemia for the simple reason that I have no need for it. Remember, I only need the stuff to feed fry. I can see the sense in your argument though. If you put half a teaspoon in 100ml of bleach and then shake the jar you will provide enough movement to make sure that the eggs are uniformely decapsulated. This is not feasible with half a pound of eggs. If you wait with half a pound of eggs until the eggs turn orange you will not be neutralize all the bleach fast enough and end up with a unholy mess. With half a teaspoon worth of eggs dumped into vinegar this will happen almost instantaniously. Ok, maybe a should have said'start turning orange'

Rearing them on doesn't bother me either. They are meant to be food not an attraction so I can't comment on this particular issue.
By the way, maybe I should write that book finally. Anybody interested in the next chapter 'How to grow infusoria'?

Hi Sean,
. Ok, maybe a should have said'start turning orange'

Yes a hint of turning orange yes!, but full orange and then they are dead before they are hatch out, its just a holly sweat bacterial smelly mess on hatch out.

Or you could buy the decapsulated eggs off ebay.....?

You could, but how long will it take until they arrive and how much will it cost you? I'm a great fan of ebay and buy a lot of stuff on it but ordering food that I will need at a moment's notice (well a couple of days anyway) just doesn't work for me. Too many variables, like how fast will the seller ship them, how long will it take to arrive after it has been posted. They also might get a dose of frost which will do them no good at all. And then we have our friend's at customs that might hold up the whole thing even further. I won't mention the almon tree leaves that got held up by them thinking it was some new and illegal drug. Took me three weeks to clear.Blood pressure rising again...

You can put the eggs into the fridge and keep them there for a couple of weeks and they will still be viable. That's OK if you are breeding fish on a regular basis but for most of us (I think anyway) that breed fish occasionally this will not be an option.
On top of that they are not exactly cheap espescially if you consider shipping costs.

John,
you still do vinegar eels? I switched to microworms. Much easier to keep. Can't help you on this one

You will always end up with a mess in cloudy water when you start growing infusoria, not to be avoided. What are you feeding them once the water has cleared?

Holger