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Sea Monkeys?

3K views 17 replies 6 participants last post by  NeptunesMom 
#1 ·
(I haven't been on the forum in forever, sorry about that)

So I've been very interested not only in our awesome bettas, but also I've recently been researching and simply fascinated by vernal pool dwellers, such as Triops and fairy shrimp. I am considering getting some "Sea Monkeys" (which are a hybrid strain of brine shrimp commonly sold commercially) to experiment with breeding them and drying/rehydrating their eggs. I choose to go to Toys R Us and buy a small box of "Sea Monkeys" and look strangely out of place (a teen with a Mohawk and Marilyn Manson shirts doesn't really fit in well at a Toys R Us) instead of buying regular brine shrimp eggs because I'm a beginner, and the hybrid "Artemia x nyos" is usually easier to raise than normal brine shrimp, so I will start out with these guys. Any advice on how to care for them? What are some good foods? Should I use the tank that comes with the kit or use a bigger Tupperware container? Thanks! :-D
 
#2 ·
if ur starting out with seamonkeys and or triops use the kits with the tanks they come with entire booklets that show you how to take care of them goodluck
 
#10 ·
They are kept in my "pond tank" which contains tadpoles, young stickleback fish, and a few water beetles. I feed them earthworms. They're really interesting, especially the way they swim. It's really hard to explain... kind of looks like when you tie a ribbon to a fan. I haven't tried putting them on my arm or anything (not too keen on that idea), but they seem to be carnivorous. When I feed them, I put them into jars and drop a small earthworm in. They will attach themselves to the worm, and I can only assume that they suck its blood or something... the worm turns paler, but it doesn't usually die.

There are a lot of fascinating creatures in ponds/sloughs, if you know where to look. When I caught Bob and Joe, I also caught about 20 young stickleback fish, 10 tadpoles, three long-toed salamander (Ambystoma Macrodactylum) larvae, a small dragonfly nymph, a caddisfly larva, and a few water beetles. The salamander larvae went into their own divided 10 gallon. The two smaller ones that are the same size went on one side, and the large one went on the other, for fear that he'd eat the little ones. I feed them small earthworms, and they have a sponge filter in their tank. The rest (save the dragonfly nymph and the caddisfly larva), went into a 20 gallon. The 20 is currently bare-bottom (though I will change it soon, don't have any spare substrate at the moment), and I will probably split the sticklebacks between two 20's, because the tank is overstocked. The dragonfly nymph and the caddisfly larvae went into separate jars set up to accommodate them, as they will eventually need to shed their larval skins and become adults.
 
#11 ·
I used to keep Sea Monkeys, I think the main thing to remember is don't overfeed them and make sure they are well aerated. (Just use a straw with tiny holes punched in it to gently put bubbles into the water.)
If I remember correctly we lost ours when somebody accidentally dropped their container, oops! :oops:

The pond tank sounds really interesting, it must be fun to watch the caddisfly larvae, Dragonfly Nymph and Tadpoles develop into adults. What do the water beetles eat?
 
#14 ·
What do the water beetles eat?
It really depends on the type of water beetle. Any of the predacious diving beetles will eat worms (or sometimes tadpoles), "backswimmers" will eat anything that moves, so it's usually not great to put them in the pond tank. Lesser water boatmen usually eat plant matter, but I once caught them snacking on a tadpole that hadn't made it. I haven't caught any other species of water beetle yet.

We should probably get back on topic though! Lol
 
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