Artemia decapsulation should be a serious consideration for those striving for excellence in fishkeeping. It would be a simple minded conclusion to reserve the decapsulation process only for old or low grade cysts in an attempt to increase hatch rate viability. While this process lends itself well to this application, a strong argument can be made to support the benefits of decapsulation for all Artemia cysts destined for consumption by an aquarist’s prized collection of fish.

Separating nauplii from their shells may be desirable for several reasons:

1. Cyst shells are indigestible and can lodge in the gut of predators causing fatal obstructions. This predicament is eliminated when the cysts are removed.
2. The shells have been speculated to be a source of heavy bacterial contamination. We all know that chlorine bleach is a very good sanitizing agent. Thus eliminating a very possible source of bacterial infection of your tanks and fish.
3. The nutritional content is believed to be much higher because the nauplii don't have to spend energy to break out of their cysts, because of this the hatching ratio increases. Nauplii may be the only source your fish have for these essential fatty acids.
4. The denuded cysts can be fed to fry too small to eat hatched nauplii.
5. You don’t have to wait for the shrimp to settle out of the cyst prior to feeding. You simply remove the air supply and pour all of the hatching water through a brine shrimp net and feed.
6. You can re-use the hatching water because it is not fouled with bacteria laden cysts.

What you will need...

· 16oz jar
· measuring cup
· permanent marker
· 2oz chlorine bleach (Clorox or generic equivalent)
· 3oz tap water
· tbs. white vinegar
· coffee mug
· tsp artemia cysts
· egg timer
· air pump
· flexible airline tubing w/10-12” rigid tubing attached to the end.

The first thing we need to do is simplify the process as much as possible. All of the items from the aforementioned list should be purchased and kept in the fishroom and not borrowed from the kitchen. This will expedite matters immensely.

Place 3oz of tap water in your measuring cup and pour it into the 16oz jar. Take a permanent marker or colored tape and mark the waterline on the side of the jar so it is easily visible. Next, place 2oz of tap water in the measuring cup and pour this on top of the 3oz already in the 16oz jar (total 5oz in the jar) and mark this waterline as well. You now should have a 16oz jar with two visible marks on it.

The Recipe:

1. Add tap water to the first waterline mark (3oz) on your 16oz jar.
2. Force rigid tubing to the bottom of the jar and begin aeration.
3. Add 1 tsp. of brine shrimp eggs to the 3 oz. of fresh tap water.
4. Allow cysts to soak for 1 hour. Keep in motion by aeration so that the eggs will absorb the water evenly on all surfaces.
5. At the end of the hour add liquid chlorine to the next watermark on your 16oz jar and continue aeration.
6. Set egg timer for 5 minutes.
7. Ignore and go about other fish room chores while listening for the egg timer. If you do watch, you will notice the color will change from brown to orangy-pink as the hard egg shells are dissolved away leaving a mass of brine shrimp cysts each encased in a clear membrane. Although it is not recommended that you leave the eggs in the chlorine mixture for over 5 minutes, people have gone as high as 20 minutes without damaging all of the cysts. In my experience 5 minutes will give you the best hatch.
8. At the end of 5 minutes remove the rigid airline tubing and pour the mixture through a fine brine shrimp net over a sink. Rinse the contents of the net thoroughly with fresh tap water.
9. Lower the net and contents into a coffee cup of fresh tap water to which 1-tbs. vinegar has been added to neutralize any remaining chlorine and then rinse again.
10. Add the denuded brine shrimp eggs in the net to the standard hatching solution* for the type of eggs being used. Add the normal aeration and run hatchery in preferably continuous lighting for 24 hours** at about room 78-82 degrees F.

*The standard hatching solution I use is 2 well-rounded tablespoons of Instant Ocean (or equivalent) per gallon container about ¾ of the way full of warm tap water. Hatch rate is greatly enhanced using ready made saltwater formulas such as Instant Ocean rather than traditional Kosher or Rock salts. I use the same rigid airline tubing setup to aerate my hatching jars.

**It is important to feed the nauplii as soon as possible after hatching to ensure maximum nutrition. As the baby brine swim around, they exhaust their yolk supply, which contains the essential fatty acids we are trying to nourish our fish with. I typically feed the entire container of a hatching jar within 16-24 hours after denuded egg inoculation. The fish eat hatched nauplii and any un-hatched denuded eggs, all of which are high in nutrition and digestible.