How long before they eat each other?

I bought Iris a triops kit a while back. Triops are like sea monkeys, but cooler. You get these tiny, dried out eggs that are in a state of diapause, or dormancy. Just add distilled water at the right temperature, and watch the triops hatch and grow. But the eggs in the kit did not hatch, despite our best efforts. So, I sent away for replacement eggs, received them a few days ago, threw them into a tank of distilled water. A day later, the swarm of dot-sized triops emerged:



Cute triops babies. Getting ready to eat each other. The video’s a bit fuzzy because it’s hard to film tiny swimming dots with my camera.

(youtube link)

There are so many! There has to be at least thirty of them in there. I was only expecting to see a few little hatchlings. But after reading about Ryan’s experience with triops cannibalism, I imagine the triops count will dwindle over the next few days.

4 responses to “How long before they eat each other?

  1. Pingback: oranchak.com » Blog Archive » Triops critter lab, day 2

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