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Loading ...Question about TRIOPS…?
Hi there. I have bought a Triops kit from a local toy store and set it up with distilled water and the egg-detritus mixture sachet. They have hatched after 2 days and I can see tiny white Triop babies wizzing around the tank. I have the following questions;
- When can I add the sand to the Triop container?
- When will they breed? How can I get a ’2nd generation’?
Any info will be greatly appreciated.
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Triops (Triops longicaudatus) grow very quickly. You should be able to add the sand to the container once they are fully grown. The adults will lay eggs in the substrate, which will hatch after an influx of distilled water.
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I love Triops!
Right now, the best thing to do is SEPARATE them! Individual jars or plastic containers (like tupperware, or very clean cottage cheese containers) work well. The reason for this is (and I can tell you from experience…) even if you feed them regularly, the biggest one will eat the smaller ones. Once they’re a couple weeks old, this won’t be a problem any longer.
I would wait until they’re about 1/2 inch long before adding the sand.
As for a second generation:
Once all of your Triops die off, *carefully* pour most of the water out of the tank, without disturbing the sand. Then, let the remaining water dry up completely.
Now, you can do the next step one of two ways. Triops need diapause in order to hatch:
diapause – a period of suspended development in an insect, other invertebrate, or mammal embryo, esp. during unfavorable environmental conditions.
So, you can leave the sand (the eggs will be in it) dry for 2 weeks, OR carefully remove the dried sand/eggs, and place them in a sealed container in your freezer for a couple of days.
When you are ready to re-hatch, simply follow the directions they came with – add distilled water, keep them warm, keep a light on. You should see your little babies swimming around in a couple of days
Just a side note – Triops’ eggs can survive both arctic and desert temperatures, and can be stored dry, then rehatched, after decades
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Ive had triops before and im not sure sand would be a good idea. You have to change the water very often (at the slightest hint of cloudiness) and having sand or any substrate would make this difficult. Yes you use distilled water. It has nothing in it. No minerals no chemicals. Its basically just steam. The triops cant tolerate any other water. As for breeding im not sure on that one. They don’t live very long and they are cannibalistic. On the package of mine it said something about the possibility of them breeding. Sorry i couldnt help you more.
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I hate to sound like the spam site that’s been going around Yahoo! but you really asked for a lot of information, and since it’s too long to type out, I would suggest you go to these websites specifically about triops. It tells you about what kind of water they need (they only need distilled for hatching, you can use tapwater afterward, but change it over slowly), what kind of substrate (they don’t need any at all, but sand is okay), and how to collect, store, and hatch the eggs.
http://mytriops.com/
http://filebox.vt.edu/c/channum/triops_care.htm
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