Tag Archives: brine

I asked this question in Pets, but I also want some input from a parenting perspective. My 5 1/2 yr old son has really gotten into taking care of his 2 new bettas and I was thinking about getting him one of those “themed” brine shrimp kits. He really wants his own pets “to be in his room” but the furries we have are wary of him — he is overenthusiastic, but not harmful to them. He is very smart and into scientific things. He has already experienced the “circle of life” thing with our rescue cats. He is bothered by death and we talk about it, but he deals with it okay.

Brine Shrimp: How easy are they to take care of? How long do they live? “Themed kit” or scientific kit? Will they reproduce? What if I staggered the introduction of the brine shrimp eggs? Do big ones eat little ones?

What about a triops kit? http://www.discoverthis.com/triassic-triops.html

Or a “Grow a Frog Kit” http://www.butterfly-gifts.com/grow-a-frog-kit.html ?
All of your answers were great and they’ve given me a lot of food for thought. Here is what I’ve decided to do after talking to my son and considering your answers.

1) As soon as our new fish tanks come in (today, I hope. . .) we’re going to use the old tank to hatch brine shrimp, primarily as food for the bettas. This won’t replace their regular food or anything. Milo says it will “teach the fish to fetch” (LOL). I think it will be good for the fish to have a workout chasing their food, anyway. That much will be fun to watch. Each week, we’ll put in a few new eggs at feeding time. They sell the eggs by and prep solutions at the pet store, so it should be cheap and easy. If we lose interest, so be it — we just won’t add anymore eggs.
2) After summer starts, we’re going to get a triops kit for him. We’ll keep it going through summer. If he has fun with it, we’ll buy some more eggs after it dies. If not, we won’t. Anybody know if they make good tank-mates for bettas?
I ran out space. I’ll continue.

3) We’ll try the frog kit next summer, or if he’s ready by then, I’ll do it with his class this fall. I’m afraid he won’t handle a frog right so my big concern is leaving it in his room with him when I’m not looking. I just don’t know if he’s gentle enough. That defeats the point of this exercise right now.

Thanks again for all your help.