Breeding Rams and Fry

[T_om]

Originally Posted by maestro001

how doyou decapsulate them tom?

1 Liter water, one air stone (moderate to low flow), 10ml eggs (or whatever amount you want to decap)...

Set air going and dump eggs in water. Let soak 1 hour with aeration.

About 90ml (amount not critical) of unscented household bleach or (what I use) swimming pool chlorine.

Watch reaction instead of a clock. Eggs will turn gray, then brownish, then orange. When they turn orange, they are done. Strain through handkerchief. Rinse VERY well with numerous water changes. Last rinse add about 90ml of vinegar, then rinse again.

Use within a few days (as long as 1 week is OK) as is or make up a brine solution by dissolving non-iodized salt in water until no more will dissolve then cover eggs with brine. They will keep for months like that.

You can feed these directly without hatching them or put them in a regular hatcher and they will hatch just fine (usually with a better hatch rate to boot).

But I never bother to hatch them. They are used only long enough to get my fry to the stage where they will take microworms, which is only a couple of days. I then keep a pretty high density of microworms in the fry tank at all times. Actually, fry take microworms almost immediately anyway, but the brine shrimp eggs are easier to see if being eaten. The fry bellies turn orange.

Tom

[maestro001]

Wow cheers tom this is great info i apreciate it, it seems easier than hatching them just feeding the eggs, ive never even heard of doing that before

I know need to find out about microworms i think

When youve decapsulated them and rinsed them with the vinegar, how do you store them if planning to use them up to that week period? i.e not using the salt for long term storage, would they have to be in water or could u just keep them in a small plastic container or something?

[maestro001]

found this about microworms if anyoen else is interested

http://www.petfish.net/max-micro.htm

[Raul-7]

Any good news Tom?

[T_om]

Originally Posted by maestro001

Wow cheers tom this is great info i apreciate it, it seems easier than hatching them just feeding the eggs, ive never even heard of doing that before

I know need to find out about microworms i think

When you've decapsulated them and rinsed them with the vinegar, how do you store them if planning to use them up to that week period? i.e not using the salt for long term storage, would they have to be in water or could u just keep them in a small plastic container or something?

Store the decaps in the reefer, even if you brine them. They have to stay chilled in order to keep them any length of time.

I just use a small plastic cup. One cup has the brined eggs for long term storage and the other hold the eggs I do not bother to brine. The brined eggs are, of course, covered with brine solution and the others are covered with plain tap water (do not bother to de-chlorinate the tap water, it keeps bacteria counts low and lengthens the time the eggs will keep).

As for microworms, EVERYONE should keep a culture or two going as they are perhaps the easiest of all live foods to culture. Let me know if you need a starter culture. I sell starters of microworms and Grindal worms, although you should be able to easily find a local source for free among aquarists in your area.

Tom

[maestro001]

whats a reefer? is that an American term for fridge?

[Crs2fr]

its something you smoke maestro~..

*wink

chris

[maestro001]

hehe

seriously ive never heard of a reefer, what is it?

[Ibn]

Reefer is something that you smoke.

I think what T_om is refering to isn't this though. He's refering to a fridge.