triops...?!

The story begins with us going to our fancy super expensive LFS.
We eventually reached the back of the Saltwater tanks and the girlfriend noticed minI horseshoe crabs in a tank. I originally thought like her, "wow they're cute", then the aquarist come out in me and thought, "wow, they probably have different needs than everything else and will definitely NOT stay small".
So this lead to researching those, which was kind of fun. Sadly my insticts were correct...plus I don't even have a Saltwater tank. Actually it's not their requirements that are tough, they just don't stay small. At least not the ones I found. I know there are multiple species so if you know of any that stay "small" please let me know.

This lead me to some crazy idea that I'd maybe find a Freshwater species if I kept looking and hopefully make the girlfriend happy cause I'm just that amazing of a boyfriend. Amazingly enough, I found...something.

Triops, or triops longicaudatus, or longtail tadpole shrimp, or "aquasaurs". If you have no idea what I'm talking about, please look them up. They look fascinating to say the least. It's basically a Freshwater shrimp that looks like a horseshoe crab, but with a cooler tail. At first I thought that they couldn't even go into fish tanks, or were somehow illegal (don't know why I thought this), but then I found some good news, sort of. They actually sell these things online. They are sold under the name "Aquasaurs". More for a kid's "toy", kind of like "sea monkeys", which until recently, didn't even phase me that they were brine shrimp. However, don't look up how they sell them unless you want to get mad. They are basically given a cheap plastic container that you fill with water and that's it! No filtration, can't recall any food, and some ridiculous dinosaur background (because they are "fossils"...haven't changed in millions of years). Then you wonder why they say they live for only 90 days. In these conditions that even amazes me.

My question is if anyone knows any more about these, or has any experience with them. From what I've read on various websites, they are sold as eggs, don't take too long to grow, and max out around 2". They are quoted as possible algae eaters and will devour debrI (I'm assuming go through detritus). It looks like they are a sort of filter feeder with the way they use their million legs to shovel things into their mouth and spit them out. I didn't find any good videos online. What I did find is that some people have them in community tanks. I also found a video of one going to town eating a ghost shrimp. Now I don't know the sizes of the two at the time as there was nothing to compare them to in the background. However the shrimp was easily 1/2-3/4 the size of the triop. This makes me question it's compatability and aggression.

Please tell me more about these things. I'm very curious and would not mind getting one if at all possible.

 

I had some, they were really cool. I had them in the little container they came in with sand. I fed them the Triop food they came with. Then I put a small piece of carrot in and the next day they were dead.

They got pretty big, and were cool to watch. I did water changes but no gravel cleaning because the container was to small. U have to use distilled water with them.

 

I see several threads on Triops so be sure to do a Search Fish Lore for Triops.

Distilled water doesn't have the nutrients that tap water does due to the distilling process. I would be concerned about using only distilled water and nothing else.

Ken

 

Basically you need a basic household lamp and the water described in the next paragraph to mimic the triops natural hatching conditions. Triops are similar to killifish in that they are annual averaging living for about 3-4 weeks. They lay their eggs and die. Then the eggs hatch in the next short rainy season. Triops live in stagnant puddles so filtration is not needed unless you are trying to lengthen there 3-4 week lifespan.

You should use a mix of Distilled and Dechlorinated water to hatch them out. I find (from several seasons of triop breeding) that they need distilled just because you can garantee no toxins or whatever, and the dechlorinated water is for a pH boost.

Normally, distilled water has been on the shelf of the shops for quiet a while and this is were the pH drops rapidly, average pH being about 5, which is waaaay to low for triops, who like shrimp, need alkaline 7+ so adding treated tap water boosts this back up.

Eggs usually come in little packets and if you have done the right lighting pattern and correct water use they all should hatch, but usually you get about 3-4 good triops and they then will pick eachother of cannabalistically and then the reamaining 1-2 are what you are left with.

They eat pretty much any vegtable matter ect. detrius is used to rear the young but then the triops need a bigger dinner. Mine always loved mango slices and catfish algae wafer.

I personnally would keep them by themselves as they have betta behaviour being, they are either gonna be chased after for food, or being the aggressor and hunting your livestock. They are cannabals when young so and small shrimp in with the triops is probably gonna have a very bad day.

 

I used to keep and breed these guys then sell their eggs before I got into fish keeping. There cool little guys and look awesome. Defiantly get some!

 

love triops used to sell them at my first job they were wicked !!!!! any tips contact me ..... ooooooo that reminds me got sum eggs sum where mite hatch some hehe

 

That's funny I just found this site the other day:
http://arizonafairyshrimp.com/eggs.html

They have some packages that include triops and several types of shrimp for really reasonable prices. I just ordered some red tailed fairy shrimp eggs, can't wait to hatch them.

 

love triops used to sell them at my first job they were wicked !!!!! any tips contact me ..... ooooooo that reminds me got sum eggs sum where mite hatch some hehe

lol I just found some spare eggs to, I wonder...