Raising triops - from eggs to adults
One of the most remarkable things about triops is how quickly they grow. The eggs are so tiny that they're barely visible in the packet, and in a week the triops are full grown, about an inch long. I have to admit that it took me by surprise, but now I'm more prepared.
As you can see, I have both aquariums ready. Triops grow very quickly, and in a week they're full grown (about an inch) and their nursery aquarium will be too small. I'm going to move them by that time, or maybe even sooner. I'll let you know. I expect to see some movement by tonight.
Update: Sunday morning. The triops are doing fine growing well, and there seems to be at least six of them in there. The last time I did this I only ended up with one adult, and I'm inclined to think that it happened because I didn't start feeding them soon enough (you can Google "triops cannibalism). So this time I've started feeding on day two. I've even dropped in a tiny piece of carrot (triops love carrots!) although they're really too small right now to be able to eat any of it.
Update: Monday morning. The triops are doing fine. I moved the main aquarium closer to the warming lamp because the forecast is for cooler temperatures for the next couple of days. I've graduated both the nursery tank and the main one to a combination of triop baby food and some ground up adult food.
Update Tuesday morning: The triops are now on their adult food and will be full-grown in a couple of days. The water in the adult tank was starting to get cloudy, so I did a water exchange of about 16 ounces (I keep an old drinking glass there for that), which I will need to do at least daily now.
I have two tanks now, one for the nursery, and one for when the triops grow. The big one is a little over a gallon and the little one is about a liter. I also have the lamp to be sure to keep the temperature correct, but since it's April in the Phoenix, Arizona area, for the next few months I won't need to be adding any additional heat. Triops need to stay above 60 degrees F, and are comfortable up into the nineties, so they'll be fine here in my garage.
The triop eggs are on order, and should be here on the 12th, which is eleven days from now. In the meantime I have the nursery tank prepared, and am finishing up the last bit of cleanup on the adult tank. You need distilled water for triops, but no filter, and no aeration, unlike a regular fish tank. Their lifespan is only for a few weeks, so you keep the water clean by doing regular water replacement - that's what the cup there is for.
By the way, the fossil there watching over everything is a trilobite, which, along with the dinosaurs, will give encouragement to the triops. All systems go!
Update: Thursday morning. I got the eggs in the mail yesterday and got them started last night. The temperature for hatching needs to be between 74 and 85 degrees, and it's still getting a little bit cooler in the garage nowadays (it's April) so I kept the warming light on. This is the Phoenix, Arizona area, so it warms up quickly during the day, so I'll turn off the warming light in a little while but I'll leave the other lights on. When they hatch I want them to see lights!
Triop eggs. |
As you can see, I have both aquariums ready. Triops grow very quickly, and in a week they're full grown (about an inch) and their nursery aquarium will be too small. I'm going to move them by that time, or maybe even sooner. I'll let you know. I expect to see some movement by tonight.
Update: Friday morning. The triops are hatching. I can definitely see at least two of them swimming around. They're impossibly tiny, not much bigger than the specs of dust floating around in the tank, but you can tell the difference because they're actually swimming around, not just floating, and have tiny little tails. They're white, so it's good to put a dark background on the tank to help you see them better. I used the dinosaurs that came with the kit. This one is swimming past the triceratops.
Update: Saturday morning. The triops are doing just fine - they grow fast. They've gone from tiny little white specs to shapes that show their little spines, and now they're kinda biege. Swimming around!
Update: Sunday morning. The triops are doing fine growing well, and there seems to be at least six of them in there. The last time I did this I only ended up with one adult, and I'm inclined to think that it happened because I didn't start feeding them soon enough (you can Google "triops cannibalism). So this time I've started feeding on day two. I've even dropped in a tiny piece of carrot (triops love carrots!) although they're really too small right now to be able to eat any of it.
I'm not really going to count the number of days until they're big enough to move into the adult tank, I'll just look at them and when they seem to need to be moved I'll move them, which may be in a few days. The last time I did this I found that it was nearly impossible to keep the small tank clean at a certain point, so I'll watch for that, too.
Update: Sunday evening. They're all growing so well that I thought that it would be good to move some of them into the adult aquarium. I had planned on moving them all at the same time, but then I thought, "why not?", so the bigger ones got moved ahead of the ones that need to catch up a bit. Everyone gets a bit more room!
Update: Monday morning. The triops are doing fine. I moved the main aquarium closer to the warming lamp because the forecast is for cooler temperatures for the next couple of days. I've graduated both the nursery tank and the main one to a combination of triop baby food and some ground up adult food.
Five day-old triops. You're looking through the nursery tank (in the foreground) to the adult tank. As they grow larger I'll move them. |
Update Tuesday morning: The triops are now on their adult food and will be full-grown in a couple of days. The water in the adult tank was starting to get cloudy, so I did a water exchange of about 16 ounces (I keep an old drinking glass there for that), which I will need to do at least daily now.
Six day-old triops. The nursery tank is about a liter, and the adult tank is a little over a gallon. |
Update Tuesday afternoon: Triops grow so quickly that a small difference in time of hatching can make a big difference in size. I've named the big one "Humungus".
Comments