The Puffer Forum

Well, I've had my eye on these little guys for a while, and I've finally decided to go for it! I won't have to worry about moving them into summer housing and so forth, since they don't live that long, only 30-50 days. I have literally everything I need for them except for a largish Kritter Keeper and some distilled water. Here they are:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWx0nkP0bKk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS0JWBW2 ... re=channel

They're basically just these awesome little shrimp thingies, up to 3" long, which haven't evolved much (at all, really) since the Triassic. They live in little mud puddles (like bettas don't) and lay their eggs during the rainy season. Then the puddles dry up, the adults die, and the eggs go into diapause, like brine shrimp. When it rains and the puddles fill up again, the eggs hatch.

Here's a species profile. The girl who wrote the profile, Eden Marel, posted some pictures of her setup, and she was immediately bombarded by so many questions about their care that she wrote this:
http://www.ultimatebettas.com/index.php ... 47682&st=0

She's had quite a bit of breeding success and now sells her eggs:
http://www.ultimatebettas.com/index.php ... ntry474138
(Up through Feb. 28, she's offering a "buy 2, get 1 free" deal, $4 for all three bags + shipping included.)

So, my eggs are on the way, and I'm getting ready for my hatchlings!
Tank: 3-5g Kritter Keeper.
Substrate: Black flourite sand. (I have a little too much in the puffer tank and I'm tired of stirring it!)
Decor/aquascape: A few live plants, plus whatever I can scrounge from my spare supplies.
Filtration: None! These guys actually don't require very clean water; they're designed to live in "little mud puddles," like some people think bettas are. I'll provide very light aeration with an airstone.
Heating: Not strictly necessary, but I'll be using a 25w Tetra heater.
Food: Whatever I'm feeding the rest of the zoo that day, plus some flake food and freeze-dried brine shrimp and so forth.

My main goal, other than to just have some fun, is to attain viable eggs from my first generation and hatch them when I get settled into the dorms next semester. After that, if I'm lucky, I'd like to keep producing new generations of triops and have a supply of eggs for sale or trade. Possibly the LFSs would be interested.

Pictures to come!

I'm so excited to follow this. I want to do the same thing.

Too bad she doesn't mail to Canada.

Kewl, GIANT Sea Monkeys!

Pretty much!

Flutter, try Ebay and Amazon.

Edit - This seller ships worldwide. http://cgi.ebay.com/TRIASSIC-TRIOPS-LON ... 215wt_1165

I got mine off Aquabid. Haven't started yet. That is a project for this weekend

Don't you have enough projects?

Have fun JP! Let me know how it goes!

I asked my boyfriend last night and he said no. Yeah right Not right now is more like it.

Thanks for the link LGP! It's nice that they're so cheap and they look really cool

Pufferpunk wrote:Don't you have enough projects?

yea but I don't mind. Actually I reduced my electric bill by not watching TV anymore Working the tanks daily for a few hours is more entertaining and educational

i had some of those years ago in a little packet saying dinasaur eggs -

i thought lets see what its about - and loads of eggs but only one of those hatched - was cool little thing - lived a long time but died

I posted a thread as to if they were a viable food source for puffer vs shrimp and other hard shelled inverts.
I see them as gut loaded shrimp but apparently it is not recomended.

Flutter wrote:I'm so excited to follow this. I want to do the same thing.

Too bad she doesn't mail to Canada.

She might not, but I bought some Triops like 3 years ago from Scholastic. Still have the package... This topic makes me want to run and buy a tank and start on some lovely shrimp. Hehe

More like, giant violent cannibal sea-baboons of death.

I got my eggs! I just need to get to the store and get a Kritter Keeper now. I might try and go tomorrow...

The one problem I foresee right now is that you have to have a lamp on for the first 24 hours, and I doubt that my roommates will like that. Maybe I can do it in the community lounge.

What type of lamp are you thinking of? Could you not put a box over the critter cage that encloses the lamp and the tank?

Like a desk lamp, but I don't have one of those... It's hard to explain, but basically I thought about a box or blanket, but that wouldn't work with the type of lamp I have.