i am thinking of doing one of these next year, mostly for the tropicals' but the GF can have some to, they have had live brine shrimp recently couple of my lfs' had got it in as a 'one time only' it is really hard to come by live food - so i thought heck! make my own
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anyone had one, got one, getting one, know of them? thoughts opinions ideas etc

I tried it a year or two ago; it worked OK but I got tired of messing with it very quickly. I guess it is now in my basement, with a lot of other stuff I thought sounded cool and easy but quickly tired of!

Yup me too. I bought a hatcher but its more trouble than it was worth. It would take ages for them to grow where the fish could see them. Buy it in a gel form such as delica or frozen Loz. less hassle.

they have the gel, but they really love the live food... it's still in 'idea' stage at the moment... i reckon dad would like it too... we'll see... ta .

Do you get many mosquitos Loz? They would be easy to breed. All you would need is a shallow dish left somewhere shadey and damp and you might get your own colony going. My grandad used to get them in a rain bucket he had for watering the garden with. Might be easier.

Ive done these in the past. If you have the patients for it, then its no problem but if you dont, then it become pretty boring fast, and end up one of those items like was said before, you get tierd of quickly and then it ends up in the basement. LOL its always worth a shot tho if you think you could handle the wait.

sand - cant say i ahve noticed much if we do....?

i'll see what tempts me next year, i may give it a shot... i was planning on housing it in my garden shed, but that is yet to be built.... so until then

Hi Loz, I've got all the items I need to DIY brine-shrimp hatchery, I've just not got round to making it yet. I've troweled the web looking for designs and am going for an up-side-down cola bottle styled one. -I'm not planning on growing the shrimp all the way up to adult form, just wanting the napulii for fry (still waiting for my fish to 'get it on'). I believe the problems don't come with the actual hatchery, it's got more to do with the quality of the eggs. -A lot of packets that are found on the shelves at your LFS may have been sitting there for years and have a very low hatch rate. If you're really luck, you'll find really good quality eggs but they're spendy. -I got some ordered in through my lfs, I got them in from Melbourne's local breeder/distributor of live brineys and blackworm. -I don't know where they get their eggs from, but they're supposed to be up to 90% hatch rate.

thanks for the advice i wouldn't row them to adult either i think... the tropicals eat them happily at about 3mm and i'm sure the GF fry would too.... i may order the eggs online instead of 'of the rack'