As part of Keeghan’s birthday present we got him a “Grow your own Sea Creatures” kit from Scholastic. Remember the Sea Monkeys kits from the 80’s? This is something similar, but instead of brine shrimp you get to grow tadpole shrimp – also known as triops.
Like Sea Monkeys, the eggs come in a dried-out state and you add them to distilled or spring water and wait for them to hatch. We decided to set up the hatchery (a small, clean jam jar) the night before Keeghan's birthday for him, as the eggs are small enough that you are instructed …
Warning: Triops eggs are tiny and will blow away. Do this next step away from drafts and don’t breathe on the eggs.
This way, hopefully, Keeghan would still have Triops to grow. The last three days we’ve kept a vigil to see if we could find any evidence that this actually worked, since it can take up to 3 days for them to hatch. Spotting a baby shrimp is difficult enough, but you can imagine trying to point out eggs in a jam jar that are tiny compared to the tip of a ballpoint pen.
Yesterday we heard an excited yell from Keeghan that he had seen baby triops in the hatchery. At first we couldn’t see a thing other than the pond debris that was added to the water for conditioning, but then we spotted a tiny white animal swimming around in tiny little hops and jumps. IT’S ALIVE!
Since that exuberant birth announcement, we’ve seen another one – maybe two – baby notostracans exploring their nursery.
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