# BBS hatchery



## darkfalz (May 7, 2006)

I'm having a little trouble, I have made one with an upside down soft drink bottle, with an airstone in the cap.

I'm using decapsulated because I had bad luck with hatching the regular ones (maybe I got a bad batch).

Problem with these ones are they are not that bouyant, and keep collecting under the stone. I'm thinking of buying some silicone and filling in under the airtstone, but that will have to wait at least a week.

Any short term solution or other simple models people have?


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## darkfalz (May 7, 2006)

Good news! My new but cruder design is working better.

You can see my first rig with the air line coming up from the bottom and the air stone. It took me ages to make those plugs! But I think the air stones started to get clocked with bicarb and salt. And the finer bubbles make it "fizzier" at the top meaning faster evaporation and more cysts stuck to the side. Of course the major problem was the cysts collecting underneath the air stone and not going anywhere.

My new design is simple and one piece, which can all be taken out at once. The air line is just wedged down the bottom and so far, no cysts are resting down there. Great! There are some stones in the bottom for added weight and balance, and holes of course to allow water in and air to push out the top. Also is lower in the water, so I don't need to heat so much surplus water to keep the thing warm.

Hopefully plenty of BBS tomorrow for my hungry Platy fry! You can see in the background my harvesting tray, but it wasn't working too great. Some fry did swim to the light side, but many didn't. I think the bump in the middle stops them from even seeing the light on the opposite side. Any better suggestions? How about one with just a single hole in the top and the rest painted black, so that a "beam" goes in a small part in the middle? Better if I get one without a raised middle, I think... on top of all that the bulb in my torch just blew, gah. Always something isn't it?


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## darkfalz (May 7, 2006)

Still not great hatch rates. So many unhatched cysts. Maybe my artemia are too old, I did buy them more than a year ago. Can't afford another bottle of this stuff, it's expensive.


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## darkfalz (May 7, 2006)

With fresh solution I prepared yesterday and fresh eggs, I have very good hatch rates today. Enough for 2 feedings so far, and plenty left for later.

Seems the eggs that got trapped under the airstone all night got dudded in some way and weren't going to hatch, but I'm confident most of these that have been in constant circulation will.

Amazing how quickly just 20 little fry can clear a tank of what must be at least 500 or more BBS!


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Thanks for sharing your trial and errors with a photo editorial. 

Things like this are very helpful for those trying to do it on their own and want to learn the fast way. (That is the way todays society is - instant everything)


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## darkfalz (May 7, 2006)

Unfortunately I got poor hatching overnight with the same one, and I'd estimate still over 50% unhatched of what went in. I wonder what it could be. The artemia revolution claims they are preserved "virtually indefintely" or something like that, so they can't be too old.

I'm trying adding more bicarb to the still going hatcheries in the morning, because I read somewhere the PH drops off. Harvesting is a pain, and I still get cysts, it's not as bad as the un-decapsulated kind but I still worry about the fry eating them, they mostly avoid them or spit them out but I have seen some get swallowed 

Seems I get the best hatches in the first 24-36 hours, and then after that I get pretty poor hatching from the unhatched ones. They are illuminated at all times as well.


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