Raising triops with a nursery tank

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Triops grow very quickly. I mean crazy fast - from an egg about size of a piece of pepper to full-grown (almost an inch long) in about a week. So the little tank that I got with my first set wasn't really big enough to hold even one full-grown triop without my having to keep changing the water every few hours - and even then it was a mess.


So I bought a gallon tank, which gives my full-grown triops more room. And I'm using the smaller tank just for hatching. Once a triop is large enough to be comfortable in the big tank, eating adult food, I move them.

As of this writing, there are two baby triops in the nursery tank, and two adult triops in the main tank. The main tank has a filter, which helps greatly with keeping the water clear, but you don't want to move the babies until there's no danger that they'll be sucked into the filter. Also, and I hate to mention this, but the little ones are in danger of being eaten by the big ones. So I keep the hatchlings in the nursery tank for about a week, at least five days.

Three week-old triop, a little over an inch long

A gallon tank is plenty big for the adult triops. I had just one in there for a couple of weeks and she (or he) seemed kinda lonely, so I raised another generation, and got just one, which was fine. This time I'm getting two to hatch, and four triops will be plenty for that aquarium (I got it at Walmart, for cheap by the way).

The adults like dried worms, and the babies do great with the very fine triop food that comes with the kit. The adults also like a little bit of carrot, too, by the way!

If you would like to help me buy the triops some tasty treats, here's the link to my donation page:

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