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I bought my daughter Sea Monkeys

I grew these when i was a kid, and despite my initial disappointment that they looked nothing like the illustrations, i still thought they were pretty neat.

My 6-year-old likes doing little science experiments, so i thought she'd like these.

I already warned her that the pictures don't look like the sea monkeys, and googled "Artemia" (the genus name) so she could see them.

Anybody ever grow triops? How are they?
 
Triops, oh how I love Triops. In fact, I wrote a whole section on them in my webpage, based on things I learned from other websites and from things I learned myself.

Here it is: Here

Also, see Mytriops.com .

I've never raised sea monkeys, though.

Good luck,
-Ben
 
I've raised both, and have to say I preferred the Triops - very intriguing creatures indeed. Unfortunately I lost them due to a 4-day power cut caused by an ice storm, and with no light and no heating, I've found that they don't do too well...
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Cheers
Amori
 
Sea Monkeys? Sea MONKEYS? yeah, right
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I tried raising the infamous sea monkeys many times as a child. Once they even hatched... then Mom dumped 'em down the sink beacuse "eww, the water was all green..."

"What have I done wrong, O god of monkeys that inhabit the Sea?"

I didn't actually have a successful 'sea monkey' experience until I got into raising fresh water fish - the brine shrimp were needed as fry food.

I noticed that the brine shrip seemed to need some specific conditions: clean water, proper sea salt (no iodine added, etc) oxygenated water (air stone/bubbler). Of course the 'sea monkey' packages never seemed to mention this as I recall.

In retrospect - I place a harty vote for Triops!
I purchased some eggs from an on-line vendor about 8 years ago. I followed the directions (use rain water!) and had great results. Six Triops longicaudatus hatched from the 1/2 package used. They lived for about 90 days, got pretty big (1.5 inches) and were nasty 'wee devils' becuase they started eating each other! Muahahahaha.
I was pleased that the package of 'eggs' also contained ostracoda, daphnia, rotifier, fairy shrimp and a quite a few other fun little critters.

One other thing to note. I only used 1/2 of the package of eggs 8 years ago... last December I re-discovered the package and dropped a portion of the remainder of the eggs into a jar of rainwater set in my lowland tank. Many fairy shrip, daphnia and ostracods hatched. The population quickly dwindled however - I don't think I used a large enough jar! The last fairy shrimp just died about a week ago.

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I purchased from this fellows shop - kinda strange advertising but a good deal at $4:
http://www.rocksandminerals.com/fossil/triops.htm

- Mike
 
I used to LOVE sea monkeys when I was a kid! I raised them a couple times and was always so sad when they finally died out.

Triops have always seemed really cool to me. I'd love to try to raise them someday...
 
i buy one of that kits long ago and....i lost it....but weirdly my house is full of small silver insects, like shrimps....they maybe evolucionate!!!!!.:O im amazed!
 
Prolly just silver fish. They eat your books.
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-Ben
 
Mine died...
 
I love Sea Monkeys! I give them to people as gifts all the time. But after going through several batches of both Sea Monkeys and aquarium-shop brine shrimp from eggs, I think I want to try Triops. How hard are they to breed - do they just die off after a while or is it easy to get successive generations? Thanks for the link, Mike - I think I may do business with that guy.
~Joe
 
  • #10
Triops are simple to breed. The American species, T. longicaudatus, lives for about 1 month or so, sometimes 2 months, rarely 3. There is also the European species, T. cancriformis, and lives usually for 3 months, yet grows slowly. All ya need to breed 'em is one egg (hope it is a female) and some sand or gravel. Then for the American species, they should start laying eggs within 2 weeks. Female Triops are hermaphrodites, and lay "clone" eggs, with their same DNA. I have a ton of eggs in sand if you would like some, seedjar. You'd just have to pay for shipping.

-Ben
 
  • #11
mine always died...i always fed them too much yeast
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  • #12
I tried Triops once and got one to survive. Prolly too small of a container. I'd love to try again just for kicks however.

Sea monkeys are pretty easy to raise...and they reproduce if kept properly as the package says. Right now have a 5 gallon bucket with a whole bunch of them...leftovers from hatching BBS for my fish.
 
  • #13
LOL, I got online to see if these were discussed on terraforums!!!

I have done these in the past with my now 16 year old, now my 6 and 4 year old are "insisting!" I still have one of the old zoos with crystals and dried salt in it. I will try to 'resurrect' the line I kept going for almost 2 years. I am also starting anew but I noticed the prices have gone up in just the past few years.

WHO thinks I should go for Triops? !!
 
  • #14
If you still wanna do sea monkeys...Buy a little packet of BS eggs(sometimes tropical fish stores sell them)...and then go beg some salt water off a pet shop with a SW tank. You should be set.
 
  • #15
Two stories about Sea Monkeys and Artemia salina: As some of you know, I grew up with tropical fish. I used to have the looseleaf binder of Tropical Fish Hobbyist and a subscription to the TFH Magazine. In the magazine was a column called Mail Call. One day a kid wrote in, asking about Sea Monkeys. Apparently, she was about to receive them and was all excited, asking about how to feed them and their breeding habits, etc.... The reply read,"They're brine shrimp."

There used to be a product on the market for a brine shrimp hatchery, made by a company called Longlife. It was a plastic, circular contraption, with concentric circles in the form of a maze / labyrinth. What you do is sprinkle the eggs throughout the maze and add aquarium salt and water. I think it also required an airstone / pump attachment. You close it up and place a light source above the center, where there is an opening. After a day or two, the eggs hatch and the nauplii migrate toward the light source, where they collect in a removable meshed cup. Worked real well and the egg shells remained behind.
 
  • #16
Hey i lost this post too, but i found it, yea the silver tings eat books, plants, shoap, food and surprize!!! marine fish food.....they have a nice way to be a expensive pet.
 
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