Sea monkeys anyone

[patoloco]

Maybe you've known them for decades, some may not. I am in the last group.

Yesterday I was doing stuff in the local mall and saw this fancy-ultraexpensive fish store. I started checking what was for sale and saw a "sea monkeys starter kit". I took the box and it said wonders about these creatures that will spawn in front of your eyes and grow and bla...bla...bla.
Inside, there was this pouch of "water conditioner", a pouch of "sea monkey eggs", a dropper and some other things.

After a minute or so, I understood these are some kind od brine shrimp eggs, :rant2: and the price tag was almost 10 times the eggs at a "normal" fish store.

Has anyone raised these overpriced shrimps? What have been your experiences? Would I be bad If accidentally drop a beta or a gourami in someone's sea-monkey tank? :devil: :devil:

So many questions........ .................. ................

[sumthin fishy]

Actually, they are a prehistoric creature, triops (three eyes, methinx). Not sure if they are related to shrimp or not but they are a bit more than brine shrimp
http://www.countdowncreations.com/edutriopsdlx.htm
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2004/052004/05162004/1364352/printer_friendly

[Hannys_Papa]

Wow they look big and "scary" in that one pic - i wonder how a betta would react to a 2 inch "shrimp" ;-)

[Clurin]

Classic sea monkeys are brine shrimp. In the past 5 years or so, the Triops have also entered the market. I have never seen triops labeled as sea monkeys, but that may have happened recently as well.

When I was younger, I raised sea monkeys. They were great for a couple months, then they started smelling really bad. The directions don't tell you to change water either, so the water gets pretty nasty, and eventually they all die out.

[Emg]

Lol...yeah, I remember those....when I was a little tyke I got a "seamonkey" kit and waiting with baited breath for the friendly little water monkey people to appear....I could watch them eat, play and diaper thier babies.........saddly, they never did show up...all I got were these tiny little things with a zillion legs that strangly resembled the bbs that I now occasionally feed my fish.

Boy, was I disappointed !! http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/sad/sad0120.gif

[philip02180]

i had that as a toy when i was a kid ages ago. i'm not sure you want to drop a betta or gourami in the tank since i think the package mix with the egg has salt in it...as its name implies 'sea' monkey. so it's either a brackish or saltwater thing.

[mishi8]

My kids got a kit as a gift a couple of years ago. Guess who's responsibility it was to keep the darned things alive? :D They're basically just brine shrimp. As Clurin mentioned the instructions don't explain that you need to change the water at all, so they end up all dying...I'm sure that's part of the plan to encourage you to buy more packets of sea monkeys.

[Clurin]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the directions mention a "short lifespan" which, in retrospect, says "We are intentionally not giving you all the necessary information so that you kill off your new pets in a couple months and buy more to replenish your stock." :p:

[Dangerdoll]

Oh my gosh!! Am I the only one that truely loved these little critters when I got them as a 10th yr. Birthday gift? They were my pride and joy. I kept them going for months. My mother and I were having a discussion one day and somehow the tank fell off the table and I threw a fit! My mom felt awful. BUT they do live in a salted mix and the strange thing is I was running out of "Seamonkey food" when the tank fell, so maybe it was better off.... but tragic still for me.

[Clurin]

I never said I didn't love them :D I just remember the water getting foul and smelling awful, and being the stupid 10-12 year old I was, I didn't think to change the water. I think I also just topped the tank off with tap when it got low.. Oops.

I raised them many many times though, and it was fun every time.

[Hannys_Papa]

But did any of your "seamonkeys" get to be as big as the ones pictured (triops) =~ 2inches. ? I am just wondering - cause i've never heard of either before - and also dont know how big brine shrimp get....

[Clurin]

Nah, sea monkeys get to about .5" max, I believe. The triops are certainly bigger.

[Dangerdoll]

hehehe..... I did expect that they would be wearing crowns like in the picture.... but they never got that far, and being 10.... my mom got the blame...

[Wobbly]

I have kept triops, in fact they're what got me started on fishkeeping in the first place. :rolleyes:

They're a lot different to sea monkeys, carnivorous and cannibalistic for a start. (sea monkeys would make a nice snack for them)

They live in fresh water, usually temporary pools that dry up for part of the year. They actually make quite a good cleanup crew for fishtanks as they spend all their time digging through the substrate looking for food.

interesting link : http://mytriops.com/articles/triops_intro.stm

[jamzwayne]

I thought about getting triops, but the life span is like 6-8 weeks. I did a google search (google is the answer to life's mysteries) on some info on the lil buggers. Here's what I found:



Triops are survivors from the age of the dinosaurs. These large (up to two inch) freshwater creatures are essentially the same as they were during prehistoric times. Triops are adapted to living in harsh environments. The pools they live in are often temporary, drying up quickly after filling up during a brief rainy season. As a result Triops grow quickly, often doubling in size every day! They can reach adult size in as little as 20 days making them ideal for those who enjoy quick and fascinating results. They are hermaphrodites, meaning that individuals are of both sexes. They are prolific and each shrimp will lay many eggs during its lifespan. Triops can be raised in small containers, making them ideal for tabletop observation.

[jamzwayne]

I also found this:


Triops belongs to the order Notostraca ("tadpole shrimps") of the ancient crustacean subclass Branchiopoda (this name is due to their gill-like legs).

Tadpole shrimps usually live near the ground of temporary ponds. When these astatic pools dry out, only Triops' permanent eggs remain in the ground, resisting decades (!) of drought. Adult Triops dig around in the mud, using the forepart of their shield, searching for algae and plankton, and also for larger prey such as worms, chironomid larvae and even weak tadpoles or fairy shrimps. Sometimes they cannibalize freshly moulted members of the same species.

At least nine different Triops species are distributed all over the world, the oldest and most famous of all being the European species Triops cancriformis, which has not changed since more than 220 millions of years! Triops cancriformis is NOT identical with the commonly sold American hybrid species Triops longicaudatus, a smaller species which needs higher temperatures for raising.

[Fish Kate]

My two youngest (9 and 5) FREAKED when I first fed our fish live brine shrimp, because they remembered their Sea Monkeys from last Christmas. The only "SMs" I've seen have been your garden variety brine shrimp.

[TommyR]

Maybe you've known them for decades, some may not. I am in the last group.

Yesterday I was doing stuff in the local mall and saw this fancy-ultraexpensive fish store. I started checking what was for sale and saw a "sea monkeys starter kit". I took the box and it said wonders about these creatures that will spawn in front of your eyes and grow and bla...bla...bla.
Inside, there was this pouch of "water conditioner", a pouch of "sea monkey eggs", a dropper and some other things.



They've been around for years, I have a Sea monkey tank going right now I started about a month ago. They are fun. I've had them many times since I was a kid. If you put them in a normal fish tank they will be fish food fairly quickly.

There is also a creature known as "Triops" which are cool too! But be warned, they are cannibals! Do a google seach on them. They are fun too and get bigger than Sea monkeys.

Tom

[TommyR]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the directions mention a "short lifespan" which, in retrospect, says "We are intentionally not giving you all the necessary information so that you kill off your new pets in a couple months and buy more to replenish your stock." :p:

They can last up to 2 years. The batch I had before the current one lasted over a year.

Tom

[Xielos]

Mine never even hatched ;_;