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How to Hatch Artemia at Home: Hatching, Harvesting and Feeding Fish Fry
AI-generated illustration of equipment for hatching and harvesting Artemia at home.Fotoğraf: NeoMa Aquatics · AI illustration
If you raise fish fry, Artemia can be one of the most valuable live foods to have available. Newly hatched Artemia is an important food during growth for angelfish, ram cichlids and many other cichlid fry.
You do not need a large production system to hatch Artemia. The 500 ml hatchers sold by aquarium shops are convenient for preparing live food regularly at home.
How much salt should you add to 500 ml of water? How long does hatching take? How do you separate the nauplii from the shells?
This guide explains each step, from setting up a batch to harvesting it.
What is Artemia?
Artemia is a small crustacean that lives in saline waters. In the aquarium hobby, its newly hatched larval stage, called a nauplius, is especially useful as live food.
Products sold as Artemia eggs are technically called cysts. Under suitable conditions, these cysts hatch and release tiny Artemia nauplii.
Movement is one of the main advantages of newly hatched Artemia. It stimulates hunting behavior and makes them readily accepted by fry large enough to eat them.
Equipment for hatching Artemia
You need only a few basic items:
A 500 ml Artemia hatcher
An air pump and airline tubing
Artemia cysts
Additive-free salt or marine salt suitable for Artemia hatching
Clean water
A thermometer
An Artemia sieve
Thin tubing or a syringe for harvesting
A small light source if needed
Hatchers with a conical bottom are particularly useful because they help prevent cysts from accumulating on the bottom.
How much salt goes into 500 ml of water?
A useful starting salt concentration for hatching Artemia is approximately 25–30 grams per liter.
For 500 ml of water, use approximately 12.5–15 grams of salt.
Measuring salt with a teaspoon
If you do not have kitchen scales, you can use a teaspoon.
A level teaspoon of fine salt may weigh approximately 5–6 grams.
For 500 ml of water, approximately 2.5–3 level teaspoons of salt is therefore a practical starting estimate.
Grain size and spoon volume can change this amount. The same spoon may hold less salt when filled with coarse sea salt.
The most reliable approach is to weigh the salt for your first batch and establish how many grams your own spoon holds.
A 500 ml Artemia hatching recipe
Water: 500 ml
Salt: 12.5–15 grams
Spoon equivalent: Approximately 2.5–3 level teaspoons
Temperature: 26–28 °C
Artemia cysts: Approximately 0.25–0.5 grams
Aeration: Continuous
Hatching time: Usually 24–36 hours
Note: If the container's total capacity is 500 ml, you may need to use less water to leave room against overflow. For example, use 10–12 grams of salt with 400 ml of water.
How to hatch Artemia step by step
1. Prepare the saltwater
Add 12.5–15 grams of salt to 500 ml of clean water.
Stir until the salt has completely dissolved.
A water temperature of approximately 26–28 °C supports hatching.
If using tap water, make sure it has been appropriately treated for chlorine and chloramine.
2. Start the air pump
Position the airline near the bottom of the hatcher.
Aeration should be strong enough to keep the cysts moving continuously.
If cysts collect on the bottom, check airflow and the position of the airline.
Keep aeration running throughout incubation.
3. Add the Artemia cysts
For your first batch, use approximately 0.25–0.5 grams of cysts per 500 ml of water.
This is a reasonable starting amount for home fry-rearing systems.
Adding more cysts does not always produce a better yield. Excessive density in a small container can cause oxygen and harvesting problems.
4. Adjust temperature and light
Temperature has a major influence on Artemia hatching.
The 26–28 °C range is a useful starting point for many commercially available cysts.
Providing adequate light during hatching may also help.
Avoid placing the container in direct sunlight where it could overheat.
5. Wait for hatching
Under suitable conditions, a substantial proportion of the cysts may hatch within approximately 24–36 hours.
Newly hatched nauplii appear as tiny orange dots moving through the water.
Not every Artemia brand hatches at the same speed.
Cyst quality, storage conditions and temperature can all affect hatching time.
How to harvest Artemia
Separating newly hatched nauplii from empty shells is one of the most important parts of the process.
1. Turn off the aeration
Stop the air pump before harvesting.
After a few minutes, many empty shells may float to the surface, while some unhatched cysts may collect at the bottom.
Live nauplii continue moving through the water.
2. Gather the nauplii with light
Artemia nauplii tend to move toward light.
Shine a light at one side of the container to concentrate them in a particular area.
This makes separation from shells and collection easier.
3. Draw off the Artemia
Use thin tubing or a syringe to draw water from the area where live nauplii have gathered.
Avoid collecting floating shells and bottom sediment as far as possible.
A hatcher with a tap at its base can make harvesting easier.
4. Strain through an Artemia sieve
Pass the collected Artemia through a suitably fine sieve.
Sieves of approximately 100–150 microns can be used for newly hatched nauplii.
Then rinse them gently with clean water.
This reduces the amount of saltwater transferred to the fry aquarium.
How to feed Artemia to fish fry
Mix the harvested nauplii in a small container with clean water taken from the fry aquarium.
Use a pipette or syringe to distribute small amounts near the fry.
Live Artemia move and stimulate the fry's hunting behavior.
Angelfish and ram cichlid fry can be offered newly hatched Artemia once they are large enough to consume it.
Not all fish fry can eat Artemia from their first day. Very small fry of some species may initially need smaller live foods.
How often should you feed Artemia?
Feeding frequency depends on the fry's age, species and rearing conditions.
Small meals spread throughout the day are generally preferable to one large feeding.
Watch to confirm that the fry actually consume the nauplii.
Do not allow uneaten food to accumulate.
Why is Artemia not hatching?
If hatching is poor, check the following possibilities.
The salt amount may be wrong
An unsuitable salt concentration can reduce the hatch rate.
If you measure by spoon, the actual salt amount may differ from your estimate.
The temperature may be too low
Lower temperatures can delay hatching.
Do not expect a batch held at 22 °C to hatch as quickly as one held at 27 °C.
Aeration may be insufficient
If cysts continually settle on the bottom, airflow may be inadequate.
Check the airline position and air pump output.
The cysts may be old
Poor storage, including exposure to moisture and high temperatures, can reduce hatching performance.
If another batch of cysts performs better in the same setup, cyst quality may be the cause.
Too many cysts may have been added
Overloading a small container such as a 500 ml hatcher can impair hatching and make harvesting difficult.
Start with small amounts while learning the process.
How to prepare fresh Artemia every day
If you regularly raise fry, you can alternate between two 500 ml hatchers.
On day one, add cysts to container A.
On day two, prepare container B. Check container A and harvest it if enough nauplii have hatched.
On day three, check container B. Clean container A and prepare it for a fresh batch.
Continue alternating between the two containers.
Because hatching time varies with the cysts used, determine harvest time by observing each batch.
Conclusion
With attention to a few basic measurements, hatching Artemia is a straightforward way to prepare live food at home.
For 500 ml of water, start a small batch with 12.5–15 grams of salt, approximately 0.25–0.5 grams of Artemia cysts and continuous aeration.
After hatching, separate the nauplii from empty shells, collect them in a fine sieve, rinse with clean water and offer only as much as the fry can consume.
With regular practice, you will learn your cysts' hatching time and your fry's daily consumption. Preparing fresh live food each day then becomes much easier.
Sources
Virginia Cooperative Extension — Artemia Culture for Intensive Finfish and Crustacean Larviculture
Van Stappen, Sorgeloos and Rombaut (2024) — Manual on Artemia Production and Use, FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 702.
FAO — Manual on the Production and Use of Live Food for Aquaculture, sections on harvesting Artemia and using nauplii.
