Hello Everyone,
for those of you who have been keeping track of my blog entries on Triops, I have some really bad news to share.
Of the six Triops that hatched, I now only have one Triops left. 5 of them died and it was pretty saddening. From this experience, I learnt the following:
1) The more Triops you have, the bigger a tank you ought to have.
2) More Triops equals to more waste. In my case, the buildup of ammonia was so great that it wiped out most of my Triops.
3)Never try feeding live food to your Triops. I tried to experiment with the 2nd generation of Triops by feeding them live Daphnia. Although feeding the Triops with Daphnia made them grow pretty fast, the water condition was also getting quite intoxicated with the buildup of ammonia and Bacteria; both of which are lethal to the Triops.
4) When the water gets really cloudy, you ought to do a 75-80% water change.
*For now, I am just going to cross my fingers and pray that the one and only Triops I have left is a female so that she would be able to lay eggs and hatch a 3rd generation of Triops. I have seen it digging the sand recently so hopefully it will be good news.
having raised Triops for almost more than 1 month now, I would like to share this exciting and fun experience with all of you.
How I Started Out?
Well, one day, when baby and I were heading to NeX to catch a movie, we passed by the Pet Lovers Centre to check out what new pets they had and lo and behold, we stumbled upon this UANTriops kit and I got really excited about it. Seeing the kiddish smile on my face, Baby bought the kit for me to experiment and explore despite me insisting that I should pay for it. I bet you must be having many questions right now and I shall attempt to be very detailed as I can in this blog entry.
What does the UANTriops kit comes with?
A clear plastic container to raise your Triops in
Triops Eggs for you to hatch Triops
Triops Food to feed your Triops
Thermometer Strip to measure the temperature of the water
Feeding Spoon to feed the Triops food to your Triops
Plastic Vacuum Tube to vacuum out all the unconsumed food to prevent any waste and toxic buildup
Rectangular Plastic Microscope to view your baby Triops which I find not very useful
Instruction Sheet to guide you on setting up the container, how much to feed, and what to look out for
Day 1 (16 July 2011)
Alright, being a newbie at this whole new experience with no background at all, I followed every instructions on the box and modified some of it on my own.
This is how my setup actually look like.
Note: I decided to add some beach sand to my tank setup because I wanted to breed more Triops. For your information, Triops enjoy digging sand to lay their eggs in.
Precaution: Please do not use tap water for the tank setup as tap water contains chlorine. You should only use tap water if you have added anti-chlorine chemical into the water. For me, I used Evian Mineral Water. I am not entirely sure if distilled water is actually a good idea because the water is too pure and too clean.
General Advise: Do not be disheartened if you do not see the eggs hatched within 24 hours. Mine actually took longer than that. So don’t go do anything to it and don’t be too anxious. Just be patient and wait!
Day 3 (19 July 2011)
In a span of 3 days, this is how much my Triops have grown!
Note: Out of the supposedly 10 eggs, 3 actually hatched. One died while still a tiny baby and the other died when it was unable to shed its shell for some reason.
Day 5 (21 July 2011)
My Triops has reached maturity and is shedding its own shell. At this point in time, it enjoys digging the sand for some reason. Probably to lay eggs?
Day 28 (13 August 2011)
Today, I saw my Triops acting pretty weirdly. It wriggled on its back and was no longer as active as it was the day before. Sensing that it must be dying soon, I prepared for the worst and true enough, it died that day. I asked myself if I should get another kit to entertain myself but I decided against it as I have three other Betta fishes to take care off. However, just as I was about to dispose the entire kit, I saw about 5 small organisms in the water wriggling about. Looking closer, I realised that they were the offsprings of the Triops which died!
Feeling rejuvenated and excited once again, I crossed my fingers and dropped a little spoonful of Triops food around the tank.
Day 30 (15 August 2011)
I am proud to say that I am now the owner of 6 young Triops and they are now swimming as happily as they can be! If the conditions are right, I suppose I might be able to breed more Triops in the very near future! Stay tuned for more updates along the way. Should you have any queries about Triops and breeding them, feel free to drop me an email.
1) Triops are easy to care for and maintain, plus they only require a minimum of equipment, space and cost. Best of all, everything is in the UANTriops package!
2) Triops are truly instant-pets! They hatch within 24 hrs.
3) A great “beginner’s guide” to keeping an aquarium! Triops offer an easy-to-start aquarium experience, educating owners with the fundamental approach to caring for an aquarium.
4) Re-live History! It educates the young generation on the valuable life cycle. Many schools over the whole have used this package as an educational tool to educate kids.
5) Counter Mosquito! In some countries, Triops are a biological vector of mosquito control. The similar environment that both their young ones live in enables both to spawn but Triops grow much faster and thus, able to feed on the larves of Mosquito.
6) Triops are kinda like Sea-Monkeys but much bigger and a whole lot COOLER!
