# Experience with BBS Hatcheries.



## Morgan (Apr 15, 2008)

Hey, I'm going to have some Betta fry coming soon (My male (Hermes) is building his bubble nest), so I'm going to need some food. Unfortunately, in my haste and stupidity I made a mistake - I thought Brine Shrimp were as easy to hatch as Sea Monkeys (Well, they're the same species). Anywho, I am in need of a good BBS hatchery. I've heard Petsmart has some - But I didn't see any when I was at the Eglinton store I didn't see any. I also saw that Big Al's has some - But that's a huuuge distance for me to go. 

Anyways, I built a hasty DIY hatchery, and I'm testing it now... But I'd prefer something a little more reliable.

As a side note - I am aware that insuforia, vinegar eels, etc... Are much better choices for Betta fry. However cultures of them also take much longer to prepare, and I don't feel like mucking around with them at this time. 

Anyways, any advice, commentary, etc... Would be appreciated.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

I thought that baby Bettas required infusoria for the first few days, as BBS were much too large for their mouths? Someone correct me if I'm wrong


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## Morgan (Apr 15, 2008)

Darkblade48 said:


> I thought that baby Bettas required infusoria for the first few days, as BBS were much too large for their mouths? Someone correct me if I'm wrong


I've heard lots of things - Personally I plan to start on egg yolk, but after that I think BBS will be fine. Some people just start with BBS - But again others say that this reduces survivability. Either way.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Dude a brine shrimp hatchery is an empty pepsi bottle, an airstone, and salt. And water.


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## Morgan (Apr 15, 2008)

Pablo said:


> Dude a brine shrimp hatchery is an empty pepsi bottle, an airstone, and salt. And water.


Yeah, I have that set up. But with me that kind of thing can... well mess up. =p


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

just get frozen BBS and cyclops and some Hikari Firstbites


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## fishaaron (Apr 13, 2008)

*microworms*

Microworms are a good first food for betta fry, and they are easy to culture.


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

For the first 3 days after free swimming you should be feeding them with Liquifry which is basically egg yolk in a tube and other crap but its not as messy and 100x easier.

Afterwards you can choose to go microworms for a couple weeks to make sure everyone can eat or you can go straight BBS to make sure only the strong survive and grow quick.

I just threw eggs into a pepsi bottle with the top cut off... salt, airstone and popped it under a lamp for 24 hours. I also had the San Francisco Bay Brine Shrimp Hatchery which is the black box with the clear bottle on top. I took the contents of the 2L pepsi bottle, poured into the black box and put the clear bottle on. Wait 5 minutes and all the BBS will swim into the bottle, take the bottle and dump into tank - VOILA!

Very easy, I personally think the 20$ is worth it for the hatchery cause its so damn easy but then again... I'm lazy.


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## Morgan (Apr 15, 2008)

fishaaron said:


> Microworms are a good first food for betta fry, and they are easy to culture.


=B I've never done it before, but I am researching. The only thing I'm worried about is messing it up since they take so long to culture (Well.. ok, a week isn't too long) and since I've never done it before. I think I'm prolly gonna go with Hikari, BBS, egg yolk and frozen bbs. I am TRYING cultures of infusoria (Well kind of), but I don't plan to rely on it.

Thanks for the tips everyone. =D


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## Morgan (Apr 15, 2008)

Brian said:


> For the first 3 days after free swimming you should be feeding them with Liquifry which is basically egg yolk in a tube and other crap but its not as messy and 100x easier.
> 
> Afterwards you can choose to go microworms for a couple weeks to make sure everyone can eat or you can go straight BBS to make sure only the strong survive and grow quick.
> 
> ...


I agree... As soon as I can get out there I'm gonna grab it. I'm still waiting for my BBS to hatch (I'm having trouble keeping the heat up, and I think I messed up the quantities), so I have doubts that'll work.

Now I just gotta wait for the female to be ready and I can spawn (Hopefully tommorrow).

Just as a quick question - How do you start your microworm cultures? Do you buy them from a place in toronto, ship them, or get them from friends?


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

There is a lady named Renata who sells them in Toronto.

You can PM her over at www.pricenetwork.com and ask her for some.

I never really measured anything when I was hatcing BBS... I just added salt to the amount that I felt was right (lol), water, however much BBS I felt was right (lol) and popped it under my moms table lamp (I was like in gr6).


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## Morgan (Apr 15, 2008)

Brian said:


> There is a lady named Renata who sells them in Toronto.
> 
> You can PM her over at www.pricenetwork.com and ask her for some.
> 
> I never really measured anything when I was hatcing BBS... I just added salt to the amount that I felt was right (lol), water, however much BBS I felt was right (lol) and popped it under my moms table lamp (I was like in gr6).


Ahah, that's awesome. Thanks for the tip.

Well, it's good to know they're so flexible. Actually, I was thinking about getting sea monkeys if nothing turned up cause I'm so lazy.


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

I'm pretty sure Sea Monkeys are just adult brine shrimp.


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## Morgan (Apr 15, 2008)

Brian said:


> I'm pretty sure Sea Monkeys are just adult brine shrimp.


Yeah, I know, that's why I wanted to get them. Soooo easy (Although they make terrible pets...)


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Frozen adult brine shrimp of the Ocean Nutrition brand are even better for your fish than instaseamonkeys


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

You can't feed frozen adult bs to betta fry... lol.


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## Katalyst (Jul 29, 2007)

I picked up a jar of Instant BBS from Ocean Nutrition. Open the jar a voila bbs at your fingertips. Worked great, no hatching mess to contend with and no stinky microworms lol.


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