Okay, so the sea monkeys my friend got me as a gag gift a few weeks back? Total bust. No hatching eggs despite following everything to a tee. Sigh.
I was actually sort of disappointed. I was looking forward to a silly little aquatic desktop pet. Then another friend reminded me that Triops exist, and are WAY cooler. For one thing, the company doesn't market them as something they're not... They grow bigger, look cooler, require the same amount of care, a starter kit without the aquarium and other stuff cost about 4 bucks, and you can get the rest for el cheapo. Oh, and they live a month or two max, so no huge commitment.
So, I did, and early last week I got the eggs going in a hatching dish. And then they hatched! Six hatched initially that I could spot, and four survived. Today was day ten, so I moved them to their adult tank.
Photos! All from today, because they're finally large enough to take photos without a macro lens. The largest is about a half inch long. They grow to be between 1-3 inches.
Now that these four have survived a week and a bit, I feel comfortable giving them names. I named them Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Runt. Here's Bacon, it's the biggest one.
Lettuce and Tomato are currently interchangeable as I cannot tell them apart. So I call them collectively "L/T". Here's L/T and teeny little Runt on the far left. Runt was born after the rest and gets bullied out of a lot of the food, so it's wee. He may be eaten by the others if he doesn't grow soon. They're cannibalistic little beasts.
Not sure which one this is, but it really wants that air bubble. They love bubbles.
Bacon right side up, L/T upside down (see the size diff?) and wee Runt below them.
Those were all taken this morning before feeding time. This evening, their big tank was finally ready so I moved them in! Here's the tank. A critter keeper, some deco, sand, heater, air stone and a desk lamp on a timer for lighting. Cheap-o. BLT are all in this photo, can you spot them?
Their undersides are like a scene from Alien... or District 9.
L/T on the t-rex skull. They love having an ornament to skim around on.
Bacon scooting along, kicking up rocks in its wake. They LOVE skimming and digging in the sand, likely an instinctual behaviour for when they become sexually mature.
Runt, with L/T in the background for scale. Runt wasn't doing so well when I was prepping the hatching tank for transfer. Swimming in a disoriented fashion and unable to beat the bigger ones for food. As soon as it migrated, however, it shed his exoskeleton and emerged with vigor! The elders seem to be ignoring it for now, so it may not be cannibalized... yet. I dunno about you guys, but I'm rooting for little Runt.
That's all for now. I'll try and keep this thread updated. They're neat little beasts, I highly recommend them for a nearly-no-maintenance funpet.
I was actually sort of disappointed. I was looking forward to a silly little aquatic desktop pet. Then another friend reminded me that Triops exist, and are WAY cooler. For one thing, the company doesn't market them as something they're not... They grow bigger, look cooler, require the same amount of care, a starter kit without the aquarium and other stuff cost about 4 bucks, and you can get the rest for el cheapo. Oh, and they live a month or two max, so no huge commitment.
So, I did, and early last week I got the eggs going in a hatching dish. And then they hatched! Six hatched initially that I could spot, and four survived. Today was day ten, so I moved them to their adult tank.
Photos! All from today, because they're finally large enough to take photos without a macro lens. The largest is about a half inch long. They grow to be between 1-3 inches.
Now that these four have survived a week and a bit, I feel comfortable giving them names. I named them Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Runt. Here's Bacon, it's the biggest one.
Lettuce and Tomato are currently interchangeable as I cannot tell them apart. So I call them collectively "L/T". Here's L/T and teeny little Runt on the far left. Runt was born after the rest and gets bullied out of a lot of the food, so it's wee. He may be eaten by the others if he doesn't grow soon. They're cannibalistic little beasts.
Not sure which one this is, but it really wants that air bubble. They love bubbles.
Bacon right side up, L/T upside down (see the size diff?) and wee Runt below them.
Those were all taken this morning before feeding time. This evening, their big tank was finally ready so I moved them in! Here's the tank. A critter keeper, some deco, sand, heater, air stone and a desk lamp on a timer for lighting. Cheap-o. BLT are all in this photo, can you spot them?
Their undersides are like a scene from Alien... or District 9.
L/T on the t-rex skull. They love having an ornament to skim around on.
Bacon scooting along, kicking up rocks in its wake. They LOVE skimming and digging in the sand, likely an instinctual behaviour for when they become sexually mature.
Runt, with L/T in the background for scale. Runt wasn't doing so well when I was prepping the hatching tank for transfer. Swimming in a disoriented fashion and unable to beat the bigger ones for food. As soon as it migrated, however, it shed his exoskeleton and emerged with vigor! The elders seem to be ignoring it for now, so it may not be cannibalized... yet. I dunno about you guys, but I'm rooting for little Runt.
That's all for now. I'll try and keep this thread updated. They're neat little beasts, I highly recommend them for a nearly-no-maintenance funpet.