Triops! (Pics within!)

AllieMackie

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#81
OK how has everyone set them up?

70/30 distilled/mineral water?

What size tank? Can I hatch them in a 10 gallon? I don't have anything smaller.

Sand substrate? If so from where, can I use the kind of sand you get in a load of sand, like from a dumptruck? 'Cause we already have a load of sand in the yard.

Playbox sand, aquarium sand (please don't say I have to buy aquarium sand haha)

Painted aquarium gravel?

??

haha I'm probably overthinking it but I've seen some very specific instructions and I don't want to murder these ones and have to order more from Germany...
(probably going to repeat Jess here a bit - I agree with everything she said)

I used spring, Jess used distilled, both work (though Jess is right about adults in distilled water). Everyone suggests no tap water until they're 7-8 days old, then start changing their water with tap if you want to use tap. I use a basic water conditioner with my tap water because excessive chlorine will kill them. I don't know if it's necessary with our tap water, I just like to be safe and a bottle for $4 lasts forever and ever.

Hatch them in a little glass or Pyrex dish. If you don't have one, get a glass tupperware dish for $3 at Walmart. (I did.) When they're hatching, any more than a cup or two of water is overkill. They're the size of a grain of sand for the first 3-4 days. I switch mine to the "big" (3 gallon) tank when they're 10-14 days old, and even then they're pretty small.

Jess and I are both using aquarium sands in the eventual adult tanks (I specifically use coral sand because it was on sale LOL) but you can likely use outside sand. Just give it a really good rinsing with cold tap water first.

They do fine on gravel, but I've seen videos of triops on gravel vs. sand, and sand is oh so much more fun to watch them on. They live to dig and lay. I've seen people go OMG NO at any decorative things in the aquarium, but I scrubbed and rinsed my plant + t-rex skull with plain tap water and it's fine.

Not overthinking! But it's important to note that you should only be trying to hatch small batches at a time - I'm, guessing they sent you 50-100 eggs like most Ebay brokers do, and you really only need to attempt hatching 15-20 at a time if you're paranoid of breaking it. :p
 

AllieMackie

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#82
My update:

Mr. Big seems to be eating the others. Sigh. There's still him plus two in there, but I'm sad.

I set up a second hatching dish with another small batch of eggs.

:popcorn:

Stay tuned.
 

JessLough

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#83
Well, my big one was an asshole, and ate all his friends. I have aptly named it Renegade V2.0 ;)

Moved it to the adult tank today. Ended up just using the tank the kit came with, because only one triop. Plenty big for it, and it's having a blast!
 

Xandra

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Thanks for the info! I'll try to start some tonight in an ice cream bucket. Should make them easily visible.
 

CharlieDog

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#85
I didn't have anything small enough, so mine are in tupperware thingy that holds about a gallon, but I only have about a half gallon of treated tap water in there. Didn't have distilled or mineral water on hand. So far it's been four days and I'm not seeing anything, the water is cloudy from the stuff they give you to put in there with them but I'm afraid to change it in case I suck any of them up. :p
 

AllieMackie

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#86
The three in the first hatching dish all look like wee triops now.



All three are notably different sizes too, as you can sort of see. I also have two healthy hatchlings growing FAST in the second dish. Distilled water seems to work better overall!

A few more days and I'll move the trio to the big kid tank.
 

AllieMackie

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#88
How old are these guys?
Mine? The species in general?

Mine are going on 7 days.

Funny story. Today the three were all sort of flitting and sitting upside down.A lot. I was concerned for awhile... then I realized the issue. They're in a glass dish, on a white table, with a very bright light on them.

Their third eye was developing and they didn't know which way was up. :rofl1: I stuck a dark green sheet of paper under them and all is well again.
 

AllieMackie

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#89
You guy seeing anything yet in your hatching dishes?? Updates!

So, in the smaller hatching dish, I had two triops. Sometime in the night, one ate the other. :eek: I have some dramatic triops in this generation.

I guess eating its brethren did it a favour though, because it was easily as big as the three in the other hatching dish, despite being hatched 4 days later. O_O

I decided to add everyone into the big tank today with ample food. Hopefully no more cannibalization. We'll see.

Photos tomorrow. :)
 

AllieMackie

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#90
You all suck at updates. ;)

Some photos. I have four, and their names are Bohrium (Bohr, big guy) Hassium (Hass, the flat-headed one) Meitnerium (Meit, the "standard" one) and Darmstadtium (Darma the runt). They're named after the classifications of hevay elements produced in German labs.

They're all getting pretty big, though no egg sacs I can see just yet.

Meit hanging out on the plant. It's a fake plant, but food particles rest there a lot so they tend to frequent it.


Little wee Darma.


Everyone but Bohr.


Hass. See? Very flat-headed.


Meit and Hass.


Hass flitting about.


Bohr, who's not only massive but has the neatest mottling pattern.


It's quite pretty.


That's all for now!
 

AllieMackie

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#93
None of mine hatched :/

I have to wait to get some more eggs for awhile before I can try again. :/
What type of water, temperature and type of dish did you use? I wonder what the cause might have been.

Eggs are cheap, at least! I generally pop in about 15-20 at a time so I have extra in case they don't hatch.
 

CharlieDog

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#94
What type of water, temperature and type of dish did you use? I wonder what the cause might have been.

Eggs are cheap, at least! I generally pop in about 15-20 at a time so I have extra in case they don't hatch.
I used de-chlorinated water, in a plastic tupperware thingy that we never use. Temps were around 80, with a light on the dish to keep temps the same. I left them for quite a while and they just didn't ever hatch. Idk what I did wrong. Next time I try though, I'm going to use spring or distilled water instead.

They are cheap! But classes are now kicking into even higher gear, so I have even less time to monitor than before, so I'm going to shoot for hatching them out over break.
 

AllieMackie

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I used de-chlorinated water, in a plastic tupperware thingy that we never use. Temps were around 80, with a light on the dish to keep temps the same. I left them for quite a while and they just didn't ever hatch. Idk what I did wrong. Next time I try though, I'm going to use spring or distilled water instead.

They are cheap! But classes are now kicking into even higher gear, so I have even less time to monitor than before, so I'm going to shoot for hatching them out over break.
Ah, okay! I always use spring water to hatch, and almost everything I've read says spring or distilled to hatch, so that may have been the issue (dechlorinated tap water is fine once hatching's all done though). I have heard that folks can hatch using regular tap water too, but less so.

Otherwise your temp seems fine. Were the eggs stuck on the side of the dish? If that happens they won't hatch.

Sorry they didn't work out for you this time. :(
 

CharlieDog

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Ah, okay! I always use spring water to hatch, and almost everything I've read says spring or distilled to hatch, so that may have been the issue (dechlorinated tap water is fine once hatching's all done though). I have heard that folks can hatch using regular tap water too, but less so.

Otherwise your temp seems fine. Were the eggs stuck on the side of the dish? If that happens they won't hatch.

Sorry they didn't work out for you this time. :(
No, I made sure to keep them off the sides of the dish. :/ So no clue for what happened except perhaps they were/are too sensitive to de-chlorinated water. Going to definitely try again though!
 

AllieMackie

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Almost everyone is mottled now. So cool, and baffling that my second generation of the same Triops have different markings.


Darma is still standard-marked.


Everyone's full of eggs and making little holes all over the sand. Here's Meit.
 

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