Add Us To Your Favorites | E-mail Nathan

   Hatching and Feeding Baby Brine Shrimp

   Hatching Baby Brine Shrimp is very easy.  Once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to do it in your sleep. There are a number of containers you can use to hatch BBS in. We use a hatchery designed for hatching BBS. See the picture below.

   There are a number of ways to make different types of hatching containers. Find what works for you and go with that. Here's a great link showing examples of other types of containers. Galleries of BBS Hatcheries.

   To hatch brine shrimp, the first ingredient you need is brine shrimp eggs. You can purchase BBS eggs from various places.  I buy mine from Jay Allen. You can email him at jallen15@stny.rr.com or you can purchase his eggs on AquaBid. His AquaBid user ID is "PerfectAngels". BrineShrimpDirect.com is another reliable source for BBS eggs as well. They have various grades of eggs available. I suggest buying the best grade of eggs you can afford. When storing BBS eggs for later use, be sure to keep them in a sealed container, in the fridge. The eggs will go bad if they are exposed to any heat or humidity over a period of time.
   First, you need to add an airline into the hatchery and have a steady stream of medium to heavy flow of air, circulating the water well. Next, add a small 25 watt heater to the hatchery and a thermometer. You want the temperature at 80º F. Some people use a small lamp to heat the containers, but I don't. I just leave some indirect light on them so that the eggs hatch. Then add approximately 1 tablespoon of non-iodized salt per liter of water. In the hatcheries above I add 2 tablespoons of salt. You may want to also add a pinch of Baking Soda (not Baking Powder) to the water as well to raise the pH so that the eggs will hatch properly.     
   After you have added the de-chlorinated water, the salt, and the Baking Soda, add the brine shrimp eggs. How much to add is up to you. The containers pictured above hatch up to 1 tablespoon of eggs. In most cases, a teaspoon is enough. After a few attempts, find the amount of eggs you need without having a lot of BBS left over. Try to only hatch what you need. Baby Brine Shrimp loses its nutritional value very quickly.  If you don't use all the brine shrimp that you have hatched, you can put them in a container and place them in the fridge. They can still be used up to 12 hours after harvesting them. The hatcheries above are timed so that one is ready for harvest in the morning and the other in the evening so that my Angelfish fry are only fed freshly hatched BBS at least twice a day.
   In 24 hours you should have live Baby Brine Shrimp. To harvest them, simply remove the airline and let the water settle. Add a light near the bottom of the container as to attract the BBS. The eggs shells will float to the surface after about 10 minutes. 
   With the containers pictured above, I simply open the valve at the bottom and catch the BBS in a Brine Shrimp net allowing the water to fall into the containers below. Once I've harvested the BBS I rinse them off with some de-chlorinated or tank water. Some people don't do this step but Brine Shrimp water is pretty nasty stuff and will foul a tank quickly. At that point, your Angelfish babies are ready to be fed. If you don't have the valves as I do, you can use a clean turkey baser or some airline to suck out the BBS. 
   When starting a new batch of BBS be sure to clean everything with hot water. Do not use any soap on any of your utensils. Just hot water and a good scrub with an algae pad is good enough.
   Many people hatch BBS different ways. I suggest finding what works best for you. The way I have explained above is how I do it and has worked perfectly for me.

   When and How to Cull

   Culling is the most difficult part of raising Angelfish but it is necessary. Culling is a humane way of disposing of fish. Never breed or sell any fish of anything less than breeder quality. Breeder quality Angelfish is explained below. Selling or breeding of anything less is a reflection of you, your hatchery, and how much you truly care about Angelfish. I never sell any fish I would not want to keep for myself. I begin culling defective or deformed Angels at 1 month old up until they are sellable. 
   There are a number of ways to cull a fish. I choose to use two methods. The first method is a bit more natural. I keep two large Oscars for culling. Any fish that isn't sick or already dead get fed to them. 
   The second method is to put the fish into a small plastic bag or container with little water and place them in the freezer for about 5 or 10 minutes. This quickly puts them to sleep and is painless. There is no need to wait for the water to freeze. They only need to be in there long enough to put them asleep.
   Culling is never enjoyable but sometimes is necessary to maintain the good quality Angels you love to see in stores and show tanks.

   There are certain qualities that make for an angelfish that is suitable for breeding purposes. These will be outlined below. Many of the traits that make for a good breeder cannot be judged on a non-breeding fish. Additionally, even more traits cannot be properly judged on juvenile angels. Keep in mind that setting aside a dozen good looking juveniles doesn't guarantee a fish suitable to be used as a breeder. It is best if you can set aside 50 to 100, or more to raise to adults. Of course, many of you will be unable to do this. Don't worry, we can and it's a common practice for us. It's the reason our fish make so much progress from one generation to the next. We, at Angels Plus, follow these guidelines strictly. Remember, for someone to sell you a breeder quality angelfish, all the points listed below would have to be proven. That is impossible unless the fish is breeding. On a non-breeding fish, the best you can hope for is a show quality fish that comes from a breeder with the reputation of selecting breeder quality angelfish for their own stock. If they are raising a hundred or more potential breeders to choose from, then there is a good chance they are improving the odds of getting good breeders. If not, then the line will most likely go downhill over time.

Number One - The most important quality of potential breeding stock is that they are show quality fish. You should be willing to enter them in any fish show and have confidence that they represent the variety very well. Beauty is the reason we keep angelfish. People buy them because of how they look. There is no such thing as  breeder quality angelfish stock that are not show fish. If they are not show quality, then they are not breeder quality. There is no way to know if a lack of show quality traits are due to environment, genetics or a combination of these. Assume that it is genetic and that the negative traits will be passed on to the next generation. I cannot stress this point more. You will make no positive progress in this area if you do not choose breeders that represent what you are looking for.

Bodies should be round as possible or slightly higher than long.  Long bodied angelfish are considered inferior looking by most people. Head profile should be smooth with no humps. A notch on the predorsal profile is acceptable as it would appear in Pterophyllum scalare. Consequently, a profile without a notch is acceptable as it would also appear in other wild angelfish that have been used to create our domestic strains..

Fins should be straight without kinks or twists. We should breed for fish that have no curves in the dorsal, anal or caudal fins. Even with a superveil, your goal should be to obtain a fish that comes as close to this criteria as possible. Longer is acceptable, providing that the fins remain as straight as possible.

Color: A Koi without good orange color is not breeder quality. In the same way, a Halfblack or a Pearlscale that does not express the trait should not be bred. One cannot be certain that the lack of expression is environmental in nature. Color is greatly affected by environment and by genetics. Since you won't be able to pinpoint the primary reason for a fish's color, you should only breed fish that have the color (or other traits) you want the next generation to have.

Size: It should be appropriate for the age of the fish. Big is beautiful, and all things being equal, the larger fish is generally more desirable. This cannot be judged on juveniles unless the fish were in your possession from the start.

Number Two - I put behavior in the second slot in order of importance. Few breeders even think of this, but negative behavior can cause more problems for keepers or breeders of angelfish than you might imagine. Aggressive mates cause pair problems - sometimes permanently. An inhibited mate may stop breeding or worse may become weakened to the point of dying. Strains such as Double Dark Blacks tend to be very aggressive. Consequently, you see very few breeders offering this fish for sale. We need to breed for fish that exhibit good parental care and that are not aggressive towards their mates. This cannot be reliably judged in juveniles, so you must be willing to only breed pairs that exhibit the proper behavior.

Number Three - Fecundity is another trait that must be selectively bred for. Your fish should breed readily and produce large numbers of eggs. The egg should be large and produce vigorous fry that are easy to raise. This is an area that cannot be judged from fish that have not been bred. I will guarantee you that no matter what line you get your fish from, some from that line will not live up to expectations in this department. Most people will not stop breeding a pair that meets all other expectations, but fails in this area. This is tremendously harmful to our fish. A pair that has fecundity problems should not be bred. The problem here is deciding if it's a genetic thing or if your care may be lacking. Example: Some wild cross fish will inherit the tendency to mature later and require better care to produce as they should. One breeder may be wildly successful with them while another who lacks in their proper husbandry techniques will find them difficult. Wild cross fish add so much to our domestic strains, that their use is not only justified but greatly needed. However, selectively breeding for fecundity is very important with these, so everyone can enjoy the beautiful fish they produce.

Disclaimer: This site will shamelessly link to any site on the internet that will be of benefit to Angelfish enthusiast. Although you will find links to selected pages from some sites here, you are urged to explore these sites completely. We freely give all credit to these sites and will remove any links if requested to do so. All information contained within these links and this site is offered with the best of intentions. Some of the information is purely the opinion of the author and as such is an opinion. The author of this site offers no guarantee as to it's accuracy or reimbursement for any losses from it's use. However all content has been judged by the author to be of good faith and authentic.

Authentication: This site strives to supply the Angelfish hobbyist/breeder with the best information possible. We ask that if you find any information that is incorrect that you contact us by Email immediately.