Most common use: Fry - adult killies

Brine shrimps are a full of nutrients and a very good killi food. For killi fry we use the new hatched artemia and for adult killi, adult brine shrimps are good.

Although it is quite easy to hatch the artemia, it is quite difficult to make adult shrimps. At least it is in my opinion not worth trying to culture them. If I need adult brine shrimps I buy them frozen or alive from the fish shop. But the very small new hatched artemia is perfect and yes, easy. You can buy the eggs from almost every fish store but be careful. Some eggs has a very bad hatch percentage and you can make a bad investment buying the cheapest eggs. Eventually ask people in your local killi group which eggs they prefer and why. There are more ways to hatch the artemia and I have used both of the below with success.

1)
You use a transparent or semi transparent plastic container sized a half to 2 liters. You cut the plastic lid so you have 2 half. Place the half of the lid inside the container as a room splitter. The half lid will not separate the 2 rooms that well but that is the whole idea. Put 2 or 3 tablespoons of sea salt into one lit re of water and stir it a bit. Pour it in the container and add a small amount of artemia eggs in the one side of the container. Place under strong light in your hottest place in the building. Depending on temperature your artemia will hatch in a day or 2. When the artemias are hatched place a sharp flashlight in the corner of the plastic container in the side that you did not place eggs. The artemia will move to the light and following they will swim through the openings between the 2 rooms. At the same time the unhatched eggs and empty shells will be staying on the other side. Use an eye dropper or suck the artemias with a air hose to a artemia sew or a VERY fine meshed net. Rinse it in clean tap or tank water before giving them to your fry.

2)
Cut the bottom of a 1-2 transparent plastic bottle with a cone top with a screw on lid. Here we have 1,5 liters of cola bottles which are perfect for the matter but any coned bottles will do. Drill a very small hole in the lid and force in air hose to make a water sealed fitting of the hose. Attach a small air pump to the air hose. Turn the bottle upside down so the lid with the air hose is the bottom of the "hatchery machine". Eventually use a galls or a bowl to hold the container standing upright. Pour some salted water (3 table spoons per liter) into the bottle and add a small quantity of brine shrimp eggs. Start the air pump and place in a warm place. Depending on the temperature you will have new hatched brine shrimps within a day or 2. Then turn off the air pump and let the water settle for 5 minutes or so. Then the unhatched eggs and shells will be a the top of the jar. Use a flash light to get your artemia into a good location for you to suck them out of the jar. I normally place the flashlight just above the screw lid. When all the artemias are there, I unplug the air pump from the hose and instead suck out the artemias through the air hose and into a small rinsing container.

There are many more methods to hatch artemias and please let me know if you have found an even better solution. I would be happy to publish your ideas.

As mentioned above the success and speed of the hatching is dependent on the temperature. Generally speaking :

Below 24 degrees Celsius you will not experience the best results and have above 30 hours hatching time.
Between 24 27 degrees hatching is good and takes about 24-36 hours.
Between 27 and 30 degrees you will have "high speed" hatching and very good hatching percentages. Time will be around 24-30 hours.
Above 30 degrees - to be honest - I do not know.

Many killies have the size to take new hatched artemia from the first day but not all. Following please check the species first. Often you will find a description about the fry size. All killi fry will eat the artemias when fry is big enough to take it. Until then you can feed with powder granular food, infusoria, micro worms or similar.