Sea Monkeys
The Tank
Sea Monkeys are really brine shrimps. We have some in an effort to teach our young son about the joys and miseries of owning, and more importantly looking after, a pet.
These small creatures require little looking after. On alternating days you must re-oxygenate the water and add feed. The water is special and necessary to keep the shrimps alive and hatch the eggs.
Sea Monkeys
So far it has to be said that his interest is waning. When prompted he does his chore and feeds the creatures but more, we suspect, from duty than love. The re-oxygenating is a task that is a bit beyond what we can currently trust him to do. It involves swapping the water to and fro to introduce air, and hence oxygen into the water.
Note the circles in the side of the tank that act as magnifying glasses to help you see the sea monkeys. These are essential early on but as you can see from the photograph less so after a few weeks. We think a few have already perished but those still present are very lively. I am tempted to add some scenery for their entertainment but surely they are of very little brain so is it necessary?
Sea Monkeys exist in suspended animation inside their tiny eggs for many years. The instant-life crystals, in which the eggs are enclosed, preserve their viability and help to extend still further their un-hatched life span. Sea-Monkeys® are a unique species of brine shrimp, known by the scientific name of Artemia NYOS. They hatch when added to water and can be expected to live for up to 2 years. Not sure ours will last that long.
UPDATE: I am afraid they are no more. They did not last two years but more like one and that was thanks to efforts from the whole family rather than just the kids. Still they learnt something as did we all.
Triops
For Christmas David got some Triops. They are much bigger than seamonkeys but didn't last as long; they took a lot of effort feeding and more over, cleaning. They were expected to last 60 to 90 days and just about got to sixty days. They seemed to spend most of their life filtering stuff through their legs and fairly stationary but upside down. This specimen is more side on.
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