May I present: Two triops

Now that I've been looking after my triops for more than a week, here comes an update. There are two of them, Bertie and Jocelyn (I am told that there are always more female than male triops, but Bertie looks and behaves very male to me). Bertie is almost a centimetre long now, while Jocelyn is about seven millimetres. She's at least two days younger, although it's hard to tell, because she hid in the 'teabag' that was maintaining the water quality and I only found her yesterday.

Bertie.

Bertie, swimming on his back.

It's surprisingly exiting to watch them swim around. Bertie races through the market place, always swimming as fast as possible. Jocelyn stays closer to the ground, nibbling on algae that grow on the stones. I've noticed that when the light doesn't come directly from above, the two little swimmers don't seem to know where is up and where is down. If the light is coming from below, they start swimming on their backs - very cute :)

Jocelyn, hiding in a corner.

Today, I made 'triops city' a little more homely. I added stones and sand to the different 'rooms'. For now, the two triops are staying in the central market place area, but they seem to explore their changed home step by step.

The triops' new home.

I'm quite happy that they haven't eaten each other yet :)

Once they're a little bigger, I will add some protein-rich food to the special triops food, this is supposed to help against cannibalism in the aquarium.

Update 13th May: Poor Jocelyn died a few days ago. Bertie is growing rapidly, he's more than two centimetres tall by now. He's shedding his skin almost every day, which is the only way they can grow (and it's quite a good way of measuring his growth). I hope he's actually female, so that I get some triops eggs after all :)

Ancient pets

As I am currently cat-less (rather woeful domestic circumstances) and spending the summer living with people suffering from a range of allergies, I had to take desperate measures and buy myself a little treat: Triops City.

For those of you who have never come across triops (also known as 'sea monkeys', 'little turtles' in Spanish or 'floßfüßige Seewürmer mit dem Schild' in German in 1732): They are living fossils, with a fossil record reaching back 300 million years ago. These relatives of prawns and lobsters are little crustaceans that can grow a few centimetres long. I used to have them in the past, never very successfully, so this time I'm following the instructions carefully and step by step.

The city that will hopefully soon house my little pets is made of cheap plastic, and consists of five chambers separated by little locks (to prevent older triops from eating their young siblings): there's a market place in the middle, surrounded by a baby station, a beach, a disco and a playground (somehow I'm missing the office). Before I can place the eggs into the city, I first have to fill it with destilled water and add something resembling a tea bag, which is to ensure the right water quality for the triops. Tomorrow evening, I will be able to add the eggs, and then it shouldn't take long for the first larvae to hatch.

Update 25.4.2013: I've added the eggs 24 hours ago, and am now waiting for the triops to hatch.

Update 26.4.2013, 11am: The first triops has hatched! He's tiny, maybe 1/3 mm in length. Now I'm waiting for his siblings to hatch before he starts eating them :)

Update 28.4.2013, 12.30am: It's feeding time! My two little darlings are growing really fast, and they're quite active, swimming around the Baby Station and the Marketplace. The last two days they had to live on the nutrients the 'tea bag' provided (first it optimised the water quality, then it serves as a food source), but now I gave them a tiny grain of their food.
I haven't given up hope yet, the other triops might hatch at some time. If not, at least the fight for food will be quite a bit less...