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The other day I was on the internet and got an urge to keep sea monkeys again...then I remembered a friend telling me that he used to keep triops, another kind of instant aqua-pet. But much bigger than a sea monkey! They can grow up to 4 inches long including their tail. They are also a kind of shrimp, common name, tadpole shrimp. They look like shrimp with helmets on. Anyway I decided to have a look on ebay for a kit to try and raise some myself!
The kit arrived on Thursday and I set to work. I put about a litre of evian spring water into the plastic hatching tank it comes with. I put it in the conservatory to warm the water up to room temperature (essential for hatching triop eggs). And then I put in the eggs/detritus mix. Nothing happened. Well that's because you have to wait for 24 hours or more for them to hatch. I did some research whilst I was sitting there watching absolutely nothing happening and I found out that you can do all sorts of fun things with triops. I took a trip to my garden pond and filled a jar with water. Full of water fleas or Daphnia! Woo hoo. Triop food for free. I took the jar indoors and put it next to my triop tank. Well at least I had one new pet already. The plan is to 'farm' the daphnia to provide a constant food source for my triops!
I also found out that pond snails make very good tank cleaners and usually live happily along side triops. So I went to look for some of those but they seem to be still hibernating =( Will have to wait for them then. Triops will also eat small earthworms, larvae of any kind, shaved carrot and some fruits.
I moved the tank to my windowsill in my bedroom and wasted a lot of time staring at it waiting for a very early hatchling. Nothing happened. I went to a spa on friday morning and only came back this afternoon. Looked in my tank hoping to see it teeming with life. No such luck. I figure maybe it is too cold on my window sill so I run off a pinch a desk lamp.
As soon as I turn on the lamp, BOOM! There's a little speck of white bobbing about in the water!! I HAVE CREATED LIFE! I take lots of photos even though it looks like nothing at all on my phone screen. The speck is about a millimetre long. But they supposedly double in size every day!
Then I noticed another speck. That's two babies! Whether they are in fact triops or another creature whose eggs are sometimes included in the pack (fairy shrimp, clam shrimp or more daphnia) remains to be seen. But I am pretty sure they are fairy shrimp or triops. I actually swear they have grown since earlier. The biggest seems to be over a millimetre now. If I concentrate really hard I can see them swimming from about a metre away.
After some googling and worrying about what daphnia eat I found that they eat yeast and algae. I put some brewers yeast in there which made them happy and I also started to cultivate a bottle of algae water to feed the daphnia (water with a drop of liquid fertilizer left on the window sill).
A video...if it works.
And if anyone is listening to my half formed ramblings about some microscopic shrimp in a plastic tub, STAY TUNED FOR TOMORROW'S INSTALLMENT!
The kit arrived on Thursday and I set to work. I put about a litre of evian spring water into the plastic hatching tank it comes with. I put it in the conservatory to warm the water up to room temperature (essential for hatching triop eggs). And then I put in the eggs/detritus mix. Nothing happened. Well that's because you have to wait for 24 hours or more for them to hatch. I did some research whilst I was sitting there watching absolutely nothing happening and I found out that you can do all sorts of fun things with triops. I took a trip to my garden pond and filled a jar with water. Full of water fleas or Daphnia! Woo hoo. Triop food for free. I took the jar indoors and put it next to my triop tank. Well at least I had one new pet already. The plan is to 'farm' the daphnia to provide a constant food source for my triops!
I also found out that pond snails make very good tank cleaners and usually live happily along side triops. So I went to look for some of those but they seem to be still hibernating =( Will have to wait for them then. Triops will also eat small earthworms, larvae of any kind, shaved carrot and some fruits.
I moved the tank to my windowsill in my bedroom and wasted a lot of time staring at it waiting for a very early hatchling. Nothing happened. I went to a spa on friday morning and only came back this afternoon. Looked in my tank hoping to see it teeming with life. No such luck. I figure maybe it is too cold on my window sill so I run off a pinch a desk lamp.
As soon as I turn on the lamp, BOOM! There's a little speck of white bobbing about in the water!! I HAVE CREATED LIFE! I take lots of photos even though it looks like nothing at all on my phone screen. The speck is about a millimetre long. But they supposedly double in size every day!
Then I noticed another speck. That's two babies! Whether they are in fact triops or another creature whose eggs are sometimes included in the pack (fairy shrimp, clam shrimp or more daphnia) remains to be seen. But I am pretty sure they are fairy shrimp or triops. I actually swear they have grown since earlier. The biggest seems to be over a millimetre now. If I concentrate really hard I can see them swimming from about a metre away.
After some googling and worrying about what daphnia eat I found that they eat yeast and algae. I put some brewers yeast in there which made them happy and I also started to cultivate a bottle of algae water to feed the daphnia (water with a drop of liquid fertilizer left on the window sill).
A video...if it works.
And if anyone is listening to my half formed ramblings about some microscopic shrimp in a plastic tub, STAY TUNED FOR TOMORROW'S INSTALLMENT!
