Triops: tank log

[Nick]

You can keep the water warm anyway you like - a desk lamp is just her suggestion. If I were you I would just hang the cup into one of your tanks and poof, perfect temperature is created.

[LilGreenPuffer]

No, you need light for the first 24 hours. The lamp does help raise the temp, but it also jolts the triops into hatch mode. It tells them that they're not buried in sediment.

[Nick]

would the tank light be able to stay on?

[LilGreenPuffer]

It would upset my other fish, I think, especially the nocturnal ghost shrimp... And the roomies probably wouldn't like it. But doing it in the kitchen won't be a big deal

[RTR]

Stuart Halliday, honcho of The Aquarium Wiki, is a triops fancier. It seems to be an addiction - not unlike puffers, tanks, etc.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Well, I was planning to post pictures, but between taking the pictures and getting the USB cable plugged in, the battery seems to have climbed out of the camera and walked off, leaving me unable to upload anything.

It wasn't that exciting anyway. Basically, I took advantage of the fact that I got back on campus before break was over and my roomies didn't, so I'm hatching the eggs in my room tonight with my roommate's lamp. I got the distilled water and put them in a container with a heater (since it's very cold in this room) and put the lamp over it. I maintained a steady temp of about 78 for a couple of hours, then added the eggs. They stuck to the bag a little, so I tore the bag open and brushed them out that way. In twenty hours or so, I can start looking for babies!

I also started setting up the permanent tank. I got a 5g Kritter Keeper and added some sand from my puffer tank. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough - I need at least 1/2" and I only got 1/4" - so I need to go back and get some more. I'll have to disinfect it because I had a recent death in there, and while it probably had something to do with the petsitter, I won't risk spreading disease. But it's annoying because I wanted to keep the detritus in the sand to supplement the young triops' diet. Oh, well. The first batch of sand has some detritus, and I can feed them other things.

[LilGreenPuffer]

It's been almost thirty hours, and there's no sign of life yet. It should take 24-72 hours.

[Nick]

My sea monkeys too a LONG time to hatch, didn't have many until a full day after I was supposed to. Don't give up.

[LilGreenPuffer]

I saw one! I saw one! I added one small fish food flake, smooshed up as small as possible.

The temperature yesterday was closer to 78-80, though I would have expected that to speed up the process, if it had any effect. It's more like 76 today. They turned the heat off in the dorm and the temp in here is constantly changing.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Out of 10-15 eggs, I think that three or four hatched so far, and I have two little survivors jittering around. What wouldn't I give for a turkey baster to clean their water right now! I couldn't get the flake food quite small enough, so I wound up crushing some New Life Spectrum Grow Formula into a nice fine powder, but I've definitely overfed. I doubled the water volume to help dilute, and I know they can tolerate a lot with absolutely zero problems, but I want to be sure!

Anyway, now I just wait for them to grow until they're big enough for the big tank...

[J-P]

any chance of posting some pix?

[LilGreenPuffer]

My camera is stupid. I can't upload unless I have the right battery in it, and I lost that one. Gah. I can't believe I lost it!!! As soon as I find it, I'll upload and post. But right now, really you can't see them - my camera isn't quite that good. They're about as big as this period: .

[J-P]

lol!

[LilGreenPuffer]

Five babies today! A couple of them are a little bigger already!

I cleaned their water with a syringe, and I'm glad I had the foresight to check the waste water very carefully against a black background before throwing it out - I'd sucked up one of the babies. I sucked it back up and had a heck of a time getting it out of the syringe. Double-checked water, no more babies - phew! I won't add any new food until I see minimal waste on the bottom. I'll clean again tomorrow, and next time I feed, I'll be much more careful with portions.

I'll continue to keep the light on 24/7 until I see no new hatchlings for two days. Temperature went up to 80 in here, now that they've turned on the heat. Maybe that had something to do with the three new ones? Who knows. Temperature effect on triops hatching speed and success, i.e. how many actually hatch in how much time, might be an interesting experiment in the future.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Went ahead and cleaned again tonight. Wow, they grow so fast! The smallest one, the one I accidentally trapped earlier today, has grown about a millimeter since then. The largest one is about .6mm. They hatched out at about .3-.35mm. The eggs are all about .1-.15mm.

Since I removed nearly all the waste this time, I fed them again, but very carefully! I used two New Life Spectrum Grow pellets, .35mm each (package says .5, they lie), and one Hikari Shrimp Cuisine micropellet, about .5mm. I crushed both finely and made sure that the powder sank to the bottom.

The hatchlings are gaining color - most of them were nearly white at hatching, but they're starting to turn pink. I can make out tails and even tiny legs.

I found my camera battery, so I'll be able to upload pics soon!

Edit: Got it!!!

Day One:



Today/Day Five:





In this picture, for scale reference, that's a Tetra 25w heater, about 6" long and 1" across, with a 1.25" suction cup on the back.