More Triops -- and a Fairy Shrimp

We hatched some more triops recently and got a bonus -- a fairy shrimp. We brought our shrimp to the Schuylerville Library for a presentation on the activities from my new book Discover the Desert, which was just won an Honor Award from Skipping Stones Magazine. Unfortunately, the two triops passed on after only a few weeks, but the fairy shrimp (the kind that are sold as Sea Monkeys) is still going strong.You can see the fairy shrimp on the left in this photo.

I have had a very hard time getting nice photos of our shrimp. But if you want to see some crisp, clear excellent images of triops, the book Triops: A Very Unusual Creature is now available on Amazon.

Stuffed Triops and other Fun Critters

Check out my GeekDad post about Weird Bug Lady, who makes adorable stuffed versions of triops, bugs, and other critters.

Great Kids Book about Triops

Photographer Lori Adams sent me
a review copy of the new book she produced with author Helen Pashley about triops. This book is the reference you'll need when you try raising these frisky little critters for yourself. It has all the information you'll need, plus lots of clear, well-marked photos so you can identify what you're seeing. I recommend it highly. Order it through Little Science books.

You can also order triops kits through Amazon or directly from Triassic Triops (but I get a small kickback from Amazon, and shipping is free)!

See my post about triops on GeekDad. The comments are pretty funny, too.

Triops 2.0

About two weeks ago, we found that the triops tank, which we never emptied, has gotten a new resident. Apparently, our old one laid some eggs and one managed to hatch. The remarkable thing about this guy is that we didn't do anything to help him hatch. [Mom's Note: In other words, we didn't keep him under a warming lamp, or put in a conditioning pack with special microscopic nutrients, or any of the other stuff we did for Triops No. 1!] After the old triops died, we just let the tank sit on a shelf and he hatched a few days afterwards.

We haven't gotten many photos of him yet, but we do have this:

He is now sitting on a table next to the fish tank and the hermit crab jar. Without the heat lamp, the water isn't getting murky with algae or whatever living goop we had in the tank with his predecesor. In fact, he seems to be cleaning the algae off the side of the tank! We will update on him as more happens.

We mourn our friend the Triops.

A few weeks ago, on December 21, our triops passed away during the night. He lived to be 53 days, more than half the age of the longest living triops.

We took some photos of his lifeless body and noticed that he (or she, or it) had some egg sacs, we didn't see him lay any eggs, but it's possible. So we're going to let the tank dry out. (The eggs need to be dry before hatching) So far, the tank hasn't been drying very fast, but we've moved it to a warmer place which will hopefully work.

The top two photos show his egg sacs that are filled with eggs. The bottom left is his underside, and the bottom right is a close-up of his tail.



Some more parts of the triops. The upper left photo shows the algae on his shell, the photo on the right is his back legs, and the bottom two show his eyes.

Triops Part 2

(This is a follow-up to the November 6th post about our pet Triops)
In our last post (about the Triops), we talked about how to grow a Triops, and what to feed it, plus a log of what happened in the first nine days we had one. Since then, our Triops has doubled in size, and has molted several times, and she seems to be getting ready to molt again. Also, she has gotten so large that we've started feeding her carrot peels and frozen brine shrimp. And, (possibly due to the fact that we leave the light above her tank on 24 hours a day) her tank has started getting much murkier (possibly from algae.)

Physical features that we can really see now include her legs and her antennae. Her tail is longer and you the third eye is less pronounced.

Triops!

THE TRIOPS PROJECT
For science this month, we decided to grow some Triops longicaudatus (Sold in stores as Triops.)

Information:
Members of the order Notostraca (colloquially referred to as notostracans, called Triops, tadpole shrimp or shield shrimp) are small crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda. Triops have two internal compound eyes and one naupliar eye in-between, a flattened carapace covering its head and leg-bearing segments of the body. The order contains a single family, with only two extant genera. Their external morphology has apparently not changed since the Triassic appearance of Triops cancriformis around 220 million years ago. Triops cancriformis may therefore be the "oldest living animal species on earth." The members of the extinct order Kazacharthra are closely related, having been descended from notostracans. -Wikipedia

The tadpole shrimp (scientific name = Triops longicaudatus, which are in the order Notostraca in the class Branchiopoda) inhabits freshwater, ephemeral ponds ranging from 50ºN latitude in western North America through Central America and into South America. In the U.S., Triops are found in desert habitats (see Figure 1). They live in small pools that accumulate after flash floods in the summer. Since these pools are rather short-lived, the Triops consequently have short lifespans, completing their life cycles in a mere 20-40 days! -The Triops Information Page

Set Up

1. The first thing is to get all the items you need- If you have a kit, you should only need a light (for keeping the water warm) and container. (Some big kits come with one.)
2. For the light, we used a desk lamp with a 50 watt bulb; you should check your instructions as too how hot the water needs to be though. (Mom's note: we used a reflector bulb, which threw more light/heat on the tank and less into the room.)
   
3. For the container and water, start with a small one (you'll need to switch to a bigger one when they get larger) and fill it leaving 1 inch at the top with spring water. You also want to cover some of the tank with some aluminum foil to give them some shade.
4. Before you put the eggs in, you need to put nutrients in. Most kits come with them, but if not, you can make your own with leaves.
5. After 24 hours, put the triops in the container.
6. The triops will hatch 18 hours after you put them in. When they do, you shouldn't feed them for another 24 hours.
7. On day 2, start feeding them the food pellets. (These will come in the kit.) Give them 1/2 of some crushed green and brown pellets, and continue until you think they can eat a whole pellet on their own. (Usually by day 4.)
   
8. When the start eating whole pellets, switch between green and brown.
   
9. By this time you should switch them to a bigger container, as they won't be able to grow in the small one. We got a container that was three times bigger than the smaller one, which has worked. (If you want them to lay eggs, put 1/2 an inch of sand at the bottom.)
10. Just keep feeding them until they die. If they laid eggs, let the water evaporate and start over with the new batch.

When we started the triops, we also started a log of what they were doing. This is it:

Day 1:

11:00 AM: We added our Triops eggs to the water we prepared in a plastic container.
5:00 PM: We added more water to replace the water that evaporated.

Day 2:

10:30 AM: Our first Triops hatched!!
8:00 PM: we spotted another Triops swimming around (We never saw him again, and presumed that the bigger one ate him.)

Day 3 :

9:40 AM: We fed the Triops. (A quarter of one of the green and brown pellets that came with the package.)

Day 4: (We forgot to take notes on Day 4.)



Day 5:

10:20 AM: Fed her. Same as before.

Day 6:

8:50 AM: Fed her (same as Days 3 & 5) We noted that at this point, our remaining Triops was 3/4 of an inch long.
11:30 PM: We used a pipette to suck up some sludge that was growing inside her container.





Day 7:

3:00 PM: We fed her (2 crushed pellets this time)
3:40 PM: We moved her to a bigger container.
Also, on this day, she molted!

Day 8: (We forgot to write down the time)

Fed the Triops (We started feeding her twice)
We noted that her movement has slowed down a bit.
Day 9: (We didn't write down the time today either.)

We fed her a green pellet. (We're not sure what the difference between a green pellet and a brown pellet is.) (Mom's note: green is vegetable, brown is meat. Mmmm.)

We also took an awesome video of her swimming around with our new digital microscope!

That's all we've done so far, but we'll have regular updates as things progress.

Links:

ToyOps: made the kit we bought
A Triops Classroom Guide: Lots of useful info and experiments (PDF)
My Triops: Hobbyist Stuart Halliday's site from the UK
Microscope Projects with Triops: Good general microscope site!