Decapsulating of brine shrimp eggs is easy to write, but difficult to do. I try to make it as easy to understand as possible. Feel free to ask, if something is not clear enough to understand.
Why decapsulating eggs?
Many people say, the fry will eat egg shells or unhatched eggs and they can´t digest the hard shells and eggs. That is actually right, but in my experience, fry only eat the shells or eggs by mistake. So if you feed newly hatched brines, which includes also a few shells and eggs, you might loose a few. I really fed on purpose newly hatched brines with plenty of eggs and shells, to see what will happen. The only problem I had was, the mess on the water surface and at the bottom of the tank. Syphoning the raising tank is a daily needed maintenance. Better twice a day.
The big benefit for decapsulating the eggs is, the eggs gets desinfected and the eggs are hatching much quicker. Usually, depending on the water temperature, brine shrimp eggs hatching within 24 to 36 hours. Decapsuled eggs hatch between 10 and 24 hours, depending on the water temperature. So if you run out of brines, the fastest way to get new brines, is to decapsule the eggs. The majority of the larvae will survive without food for 12 to 24 hours.
I really can´t say, like others do, decapsuled eggs got a better hatch rate.
To decapsule eggs, we use unflavoured bleach.
The eggs have to be hydrated in sea water (from your DT) for one to two hours.
Strain the eggs. To make a strainer, I use a 1kg margarine pot, cut a hole in the bottom and glue a 100 micron mesh in it. I use a second pot, where I put the strainer in.
Make sure after you put the strainer into the other pot, the eggs will be submerged.
Now add 60 ml or more bleach and shake it gently. The more bleach, the faster the decapsulating process. I recommend, for the first time use 60 ml to see, how the eggs are changing the colour. It will take about 5 to 10 minutes to decapsule them.
You will find records on the internet, the eggs have to be bright orange. I can´t second that at all. I did it many times now and I rather have a few thin egg shells, instead of a very poor hatch rate, because the majority of the eggs were destroyed from the bleach. I assume, it has to do with the different thickness of the eggs shells.
The eggs vary in size and the naupli vary in size, too. I had many naupli, they went through a 200 micron strainer. So it also depends, where the eggs are coming from.
As I mentioned before, shake gently above the sink.
Now watch the eggs. They change colour to light grey. Be careful, if you don´t shake slightly, the top will stay grey, but the eggs underneath will be destroyed.
After grey, the orange will be more and more visible. You have to look between the grey. Don´t expect everything will be orange. If it is, it is to late. Eggs tend to get stuck along the edge in the hatching bottle, but if they were to long in bleach, almost all of them get stuck along the edge and the hatch rate is very low. They stick together like glue. The eggs should have still their thin membrane around it after decapsulating them. Just like the thin membrane in the chicken eggs.
This picture is a close up. Take note of the orange eggs in between the grey. You will get a feeling how to it, after you did it a few times. Nobody can tell you exactly how to do it, to get the perfect result. You have to try it.
Now you have to rinse very well, until no bleach smell is noticed.
Put the decapsulated eggs with a bit of water into a jar and keep it in the fridge.
Use only what you need for the day and let them hatch.
Or...
That´s what I do, use the amount of eggs you need to feed for 3 or 4 days.
Put them in a bottle under strong aeration and check if the majority hatched after 15 hours. If not, give it another 2 hours and check again.
After the majority is hatched, strain them, put them into new sea water from your DT and feed the amount you need.
The rest, fill into a glass jar and put the newly hatched brines in the fridge. Their metabolism will slow down and they won´t grow. I think, they loose around 5 percent nutrition value per day, while kept in the fridge.
Everytime you open the fridge for
, shake the jar to get some oxygen back into the water. Once or twice a day, open the jar to get some fresh air in. I kept them for a week in the fridge, without any aeration, just to see, how long they will survive.
Brine shrimp naupli has to go through 15 molts. These larvae stages are called INSTAR. Instar 1 is the first after hatch. Very rich in protein and very small. Things change within 6 hours after hatch. They reach instar 2, loose a lot of energy, grow a lot and the body is getting harder. But on the other hand, only from instar 2 onwards, the naupli is able to eat. So enriching the brine shrimp works only from instar 2. At the latest, 10 days after the fry hatched, the fry has to get enriched naupli instar 2 as food. Otherwise, the lack in fatty acids, vitamins, etc. will cause deformities (stubby fish), misbarring and they can die very quick of SFS.
SFS is the sudden fright syndrome. If the larvaes food is lacking in fatty acids, they will die as soon as the get a fright. That means, adding food, syphoning the tank, changing water, etc. will kill them.
SFS is very popular for young banggai cardinals!
If I forgot something, I will add it later or ask me.
Why decapsulating eggs?
Many people say, the fry will eat egg shells or unhatched eggs and they can´t digest the hard shells and eggs. That is actually right, but in my experience, fry only eat the shells or eggs by mistake. So if you feed newly hatched brines, which includes also a few shells and eggs, you might loose a few. I really fed on purpose newly hatched brines with plenty of eggs and shells, to see what will happen. The only problem I had was, the mess on the water surface and at the bottom of the tank. Syphoning the raising tank is a daily needed maintenance. Better twice a day.
The big benefit for decapsulating the eggs is, the eggs gets desinfected and the eggs are hatching much quicker. Usually, depending on the water temperature, brine shrimp eggs hatching within 24 to 36 hours. Decapsuled eggs hatch between 10 and 24 hours, depending on the water temperature. So if you run out of brines, the fastest way to get new brines, is to decapsule the eggs. The majority of the larvae will survive without food for 12 to 24 hours.
I really can´t say, like others do, decapsuled eggs got a better hatch rate.
To decapsule eggs, we use unflavoured bleach.
The eggs have to be hydrated in sea water (from your DT) for one to two hours.
Strain the eggs. To make a strainer, I use a 1kg margarine pot, cut a hole in the bottom and glue a 100 micron mesh in it. I use a second pot, where I put the strainer in.
Make sure after you put the strainer into the other pot, the eggs will be submerged.
Now add 60 ml or more bleach and shake it gently. The more bleach, the faster the decapsulating process. I recommend, for the first time use 60 ml to see, how the eggs are changing the colour. It will take about 5 to 10 minutes to decapsule them.
You will find records on the internet, the eggs have to be bright orange. I can´t second that at all. I did it many times now and I rather have a few thin egg shells, instead of a very poor hatch rate, because the majority of the eggs were destroyed from the bleach. I assume, it has to do with the different thickness of the eggs shells.
The eggs vary in size and the naupli vary in size, too. I had many naupli, they went through a 200 micron strainer. So it also depends, where the eggs are coming from.
As I mentioned before, shake gently above the sink.
Now watch the eggs. They change colour to light grey. Be careful, if you don´t shake slightly, the top will stay grey, but the eggs underneath will be destroyed.
After grey, the orange will be more and more visible. You have to look between the grey. Don´t expect everything will be orange. If it is, it is to late. Eggs tend to get stuck along the edge in the hatching bottle, but if they were to long in bleach, almost all of them get stuck along the edge and the hatch rate is very low. They stick together like glue. The eggs should have still their thin membrane around it after decapsulating them. Just like the thin membrane in the chicken eggs.
This picture is a close up. Take note of the orange eggs in between the grey. You will get a feeling how to it, after you did it a few times. Nobody can tell you exactly how to do it, to get the perfect result. You have to try it.
Now you have to rinse very well, until no bleach smell is noticed.
Put the decapsulated eggs with a bit of water into a jar and keep it in the fridge.
Use only what you need for the day and let them hatch.
Or...
That´s what I do, use the amount of eggs you need to feed for 3 or 4 days.
Put them in a bottle under strong aeration and check if the majority hatched after 15 hours. If not, give it another 2 hours and check again.
After the majority is hatched, strain them, put them into new sea water from your DT and feed the amount you need.
The rest, fill into a glass jar and put the newly hatched brines in the fridge. Their metabolism will slow down and they won´t grow. I think, they loose around 5 percent nutrition value per day, while kept in the fridge.
Everytime you open the fridge for
, shake the jar to get some oxygen back into the water. Once or twice a day, open the jar to get some fresh air in. I kept them for a week in the fridge, without any aeration, just to see, how long they will survive. Brine shrimp naupli has to go through 15 molts. These larvae stages are called INSTAR. Instar 1 is the first after hatch. Very rich in protein and very small. Things change within 6 hours after hatch. They reach instar 2, loose a lot of energy, grow a lot and the body is getting harder. But on the other hand, only from instar 2 onwards, the naupli is able to eat. So enriching the brine shrimp works only from instar 2. At the latest, 10 days after the fry hatched, the fry has to get enriched naupli instar 2 as food. Otherwise, the lack in fatty acids, vitamins, etc. will cause deformities (stubby fish), misbarring and they can die very quick of SFS.
SFS is the sudden fright syndrome. If the larvaes food is lacking in fatty acids, they will die as soon as the get a fright. That means, adding food, syphoning the tank, changing water, etc. will kill them.
SFS is very popular for young banggai cardinals!
If I forgot something, I will add it later or ask me.
