OK good stuff first. Fry are growing fast. So fast in fact that they are always hungry. remember the shrimp hatcheries I suggested earlier. Not enough of a hatch rate for keeping up. Glad I didn't buy a bunch more. Good in a pinch though or for small scale once-off attempts to breed a single batch I guess. I made my own shrimp hatchery that was much larger and I think I either failed to clean the bottles well enough or never let the water stop aggitating long enough to realize that I did have a hatch so I got nothing. In any event the first attempt at a large scale/large percentage hatch was a disaster that left me with two shrimpless days of hungry fry. I ran out to get baby fish food in three different forms from liquid to powder and I honestly think it did more to foul the water than it did to nourish the fish. The busted attempt wasn't worth photographing. Now here is the funny part. The Uh-Oh-I-better-try-something-fast piece of junk I threw together for the moment works unbelievably well. Now I have to scale back the amount of shrimp I am hatching because its too much!
There are better directions than mine for this all over the internet. I strongly recommend you build something BETTER than this Sanford and Son hatchery but the process is simple. I only took a picture of mine to make fun of myself. Drill a bottle top so an airline is a tight fit. Cut the end of the bottle off and create some kind of stand or hanger. I use small poland spring bottles (16oz I think) and a half tablespoon of aquarium salt. Add shrimp eggs. Let the whole concoction swirl and bubble for a day or so. Turn off air for about 5 minutes and check. I use a lamp to do two things, heat the water and encourage the shrimp to swim up toward the light when I turn the bubbles off for easing checking.
Here are the pics
1 & 2 Fry betting bigger. Distinct two tone eyes, fins etc.... Even on macro I can't zoom and focus enough to get a great pic yet but these will do.
3 New fry tank setup has no fish yet but its a 5 gallon hex with all filtration in the hood in a tidy setup. I am anxious to get eggs into my 2.5s again so fry will have to move here next. Still not using substrate in the tank yet.
4 Here is an idea I am going to use in my egg tanks and fry tanks from now on. I took the standard filter tip off and cut a very finely holed sponge to fit over the filter tube. This way no fry can get sucked in and even the brine shrimp just hit the outside and get picked off by the fry. By the way you can use just an air stone for the first couple weeks if you keep up on cleaning and water changes but I went to a small air driven filter on both 2.5s as well. I feel better that way. They are only 8 bucks a piece anyway.
5 The Sanford and Son hatchery! air check valves and adjustable screw valves are really cheap and make life much easier when you have tubes all over the place.
6 The bullpen ready for the next round of breeders in the morning. I am starting again.
7 The henhouse. 5 of them will also go in breeders in the a.m. They are huddled because they had settled for the night and I switched the lights back on. Its a small place for that many fish so I only keep them in overnight.
8 Both nets females on the left males on the right.
