# How do you Hatch your BBS??



## December (Jan 29, 2012)

I am interested to learn about the designs/implementation of your BBS hatchery(ies). I read/seen (videos) many of the DIY hatcheries and have successfully hatched many BBS myself. However i am a noobie at breeding/raising betta fry and hatching BBS. I am looking for a better/easier way to hatch and espeically harvest them without the shell or the unhatch eggs. I know they are attracted to light and harvest them using a light source to attract them but.. i am still getting to many unhatch eggs or shells.

I used this method: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8sNx9zTOnQ

Tutorial from saltlakebrineshrimp

Thanks


----------



## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I use the same method. I've tried quite a few but that one works the best for me.


----------



## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I cut the top off a 2L bottle and use that as my BBS hatchery. I have the bottle sitting in a shallow tub of heated water to speed up the hatching process. 

I use 500-600ml of water (since I only have 20 odd fry and always hatch too much), and use a tablespoon of table salt to tap water buffered with bicarb soda. 

After this, I add my BBS eggs (they are Ocean Nutrition Brand) to the bottle and place an airstone at the bottom to agitate the eggs. 

I have a pretty successful hatch rate (probably not as high as some but I don't need that much BBS), and they usually hatch within 20-24 hours.


----------



## Alienchick017 (Jul 11, 2011)

I do the same as littlebettafish except I only use salt. I shine a flashlight at the bottom for 5-10 minutes and then use a straw with my finger on the end all the way down at the bottom to collect them. Then I use a coffee filter to drain them and tank water to rinse.


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I made my hatchery out of a half gallon plastic peanut container-I drilled a hole in the lid for the air line hose and air stone
I start out with 85F water-add 3Tlb of pickling salt-Eggs-I add little over half the cap off the brine shrimp 6g vial-then stir-then add air stone and lid...no added light or heat-I place the container in my china hutch and within 24-28h I will have about 75% hatch-another 12h 95% hatch....

To harvest-I remove the lid and air stone and place the container on top of one of my tank to let it settle...usually about 20-30min-sometimes I will lay a flashlight next to it-the BBS are drawn to the light and then I use my home made siphon (_airline hose with chopstick attached_) and siphon the BBS into a brine shrimp net that I have sitting over a bucket to catch the water...I pour that water back into the hatchery....I usually can feed off this for 2-3 days on 3 different fry tanks 2 times a day

I then rinse the BBS really well under running water-while still in the brine shrimp net-I then place them in a container of fresh dechlorinated water close to the temp of the fry tank and use an eye dropper to target feed the fry. I leave them in the net to make it easier to collect to feed

You don't want to add any of the hatchery water to the fry tank-it is full of bacteria-not to mention the salt that you don't want in the fry tank-too much hatchery water can result in out break of velvet, ich and other pathogenic issues.....

Avoid as many of the shells as possible-the older the BBS the more shells you will have since they molt several times.

I also use a feeding tap-since I use a natural spawning method-my tanks are full to the top with water and heavy planted....I give the rim-not the glass-the rim of the tank a couple of taps as I add the BBS....soon the fry associate this tap with food and come anytime they hear/feel the tap.

I only feed BBS with the yolk sac intact with fry 2 weeks and younger-otherwise the BBS will have very little nutrition and you can have sudden death twirling issues-this is more important if BBS is the only food source

Once the fry are older and I feed older BBS without the yolk sac- I will supplement the BBS with an HUFA supplement called "Silcon"


----------



## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

i used a gallon tea pitcher, filled it halfway, had a bubbler i put in there, and a light beside it... it was one of these:









when it was time to feed Chappy, i just sucked on one end of hte airline tube and drained the BBS into a bowl, where i scooped some out with a betta cup and fed her with a dropper. :B mine's not hte best way, probably, but it was enough for Chappy to eat...


----------

