Trying the Triops thing...

[ChilDawg]

While in the Rockford Wal-Mart (also mentioned in the Nocturnal Tank...? thread), I saw this "Sea Monkey"-style kit with a different creature available--Triops spp. shrimp...

Does anyone have any experience with these?

Did they breed for you?

How long have you kept a population going?

Any tips for me on their care?

Are they good fish food?

I've seen the following sites: http://www3.uakron.edu/biology/triops.html
http://triops.cc/

--but if you have other, better references, I'd love to see them!

TIA!~Matthew

[Aderynglas]

Hi Matthew,

I am currently attempting the Triops thing for my child :) its not going well :( in fact so far its a disaster :eek:

YOU NEED DISTILLED WATER to start them off - anything else won't work - and I can't find distilled water anywhere !!

Does anyone have any experience with these? - Yes me :)

Did they breed for you? - not yet ( I am an eternal optimist)

How long have you kept a population going? - About 6 hours - and its not funny, stop laughing.

Any tips for me on their care? - Use distilled water, they won't hatch/live long or prosper without it.

Are they good fish food? - If I ever manage to get any going I wouldn't even think of using them for fish food.


I want to experiment with filtration/ammo rocks to see if I can keep them alive longer than 2 months. My theory is that like killifish they would live longer if they had better conditions (ie. unpolluted water - no ammonia,nitrites, nitrates. ) But first I have to hatch the little blighters and keep them alive.
ANYONE OUT THERE TRIED THIS???


Good luck Matthew, these little guys look fascinating.

Regards
Polly (who can keep fish and breed them but struggles with triops) :D :D :D

[Matt W]

Have you looked in the grocery store for distilled water? Every grocery store around here (Florida) has some...

[bghost1961]

I've tried them a few times for my kids and this is my experience:

1. worked fine with tap water in my town, but I kept the water in an open bucket for a day or two to get rid of chlorine.

2. I did not get them to breed, reason are in #3

3. I don't think they are good fish food: In a small space (1gal tank), they ate each other until there is only one left and it get huge, about the size of a child's thump. My kid kept this one for about a month then it died, I think because of bad water quality. Some people can keep it longer in a bigger space, such as 10 gal tank, I believe.

4. I had one batch (more than 20) of smaller size died suddenly overnight. I suspect it was the summer heat.

5. I believe you can just send a dollar to the distributor and get a new egg bag to experiment again

[ChilDawg]

That was along the lines that I was thinking, unfortunately...I was hoping to find a salt-free live-food (BBS isn't great for a FW tank, dont'cha know?) but also to keep a cool little critter if such hatches...Polly, I'm not laughing! Your experience in fish far outweighs my own, and I can always learn something from AC's Welsh connection, I've found. :)

Distilled water is no prob, as I buy that for my 10g anyway...must go to the local market and purchase it soon!

I'm probably just going to hang on to the packet until school starts and then get the little buggers started!

Thanks for the advice, and best of luck to all on their Triops trials!

~Matthew

[Aderynglas]

Aw shucks Childawg (blush blush)

You guys are soooo lucky over the pond !! I can't get distilled water anywhere - not even in garages for car batteries. Anyone would think I was after bootleg whisky or gin, the way they react :D :D :D . I did think of RO water but there's no-one close by who stocks it. Guess I'll have to gas off some of my insanely soft water and try again. Small child was soo disappointed :(