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Thread: Tieri's Dino-Bug-Fish Adventures!

  1. #21
    Haha, I try. :P It helps that I've been really digging in and researching over the last couple of weeks so a lot of the information that I've been reading up on them is still pretty fresh in my head!

  2. #22
    Okay, I meant to post this earlier but then the site apparently went down for a while and I had to take off for work. Here's the current supplies I've got for my Triops!

    Note: Almost everything I'll be using for this is coming from Petsmart, mostly because it's literally a five-minute walk from my house. However, also nearby there's a small locally-owned shop that apparently specializes in tropical and marine pets, so I'm going to stop in there next week when I get paid again (Had to budget myself on Triops-supplies this week because rent is due!) and see what they have, as I do have to pick up a couple more things!


    TANK

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    Nothing fancy-- A "Marineland" brand 3-gallon plastic tank with attached LED lamp and filtration system (not pictured). Was originally just going to look at tanks for the time being on my trip to Petsmart, but found this one on sale for super cheap and the sale would have ended in a couple of days so I went ahead and grabbed it. I'll only be raising a small handful of Triops at a time at first, so 3 gallons will be plenty of space for them!

    A small crack DID appear in the top of the plastic as I was attaching the lamp, though-- My own fault, I twisted the screws that hold the lamp in place a liiiittle too tight. It's not a very noticeable crack and from the feel of it I don't think leaks will be a problem, especially where it's so high up and I don't think I'll be filling the tank that far anyway. No harm done! Though I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it, just in case.


    FILTER

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    This is the Whisper micro filter that came with the tank. Fits easily into the tank using a suction-cup on the back that holds surprisingly well, and a quick plug-in and flick of the switch confirms that it works. Comes with one filtration cartridge, and Petsmart carries refills.


    THERMOMETER

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    'Nuff said-- A simple, cheap floating thermometer for use inside the tank to monitor my water temperature.


    TERRAIN

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    A few small jars of fine white sand to put in the bottom of the tank. I chose white because it will be easier to see my Triops against it. Triops like to play around and dig around, so I decided to go with sand so they could do that; the last time I was raising them, I had gravel in the bottom of the tank, which they really struggled with. On a couple of occasions they managed to try to move some gravel around to dig into it, but then a few of my Triops were crushed and died when it fell on them. I'm hoping I can avoid that happening with the sand!

    To keep my tank's water as clear as possible, and to prevent any dust particles that may harm the Triops, I'll be rinsing the sand out before I add it to the tank-- I'll be making a video of my sand-rinsing process to show how I do it.


    There are a few more things that I'll need to pick up:

    Small Fish Net
    -- This will come in handy for scooping out any possible sick/dead Triops from the tank.

    "Turkey Baster" Dropper Tool -- Triops are messy, and as they grow they shed their old carapaces similar to a reptile, and these pile up fast! Having a dropper will make it quick and easy to remove these carapaces from the bottom of the tank and keep the water clean, as well as help to remove any eggs that may be laid in the sand before they hatch.

    Water Heater
    -- My biggest concern is going to be the water temperature for my main tank; Triops are pretty sensitive to changes in water temperature, and the only room I have space for this tank in (my bedroom) fluctuates a lot in temperature, especially on days and nights when I have the window open! I'm thinking the best way to keep the water at one temp will be to get a heater for it.

    Hatching Container -- A small container for hatching the eggs in, and raising the babies until they're old enough to be transferred to the 3-gallon. While they don't need to be fed in the first 24 hours of their hatching, and do grow quickly, they're still so small over the next few days when they DO need to be fed that more space in a tank = more space between them and their food. A larger container can make feeding the babies difficult, as they'll have more difficulty actually finding the food you put in for them and they actually run the risk of starving to death before finding the food; as a result, a smaller container to keep the babies within close range of their food is recommended. A simple tupperware container or plastic jar works fine for this, so long as there's a large enough opening in the top to provide plenty of oxygen! The babies will be living in this container until they're about a week or two old, and large enough to be moved to the 3-gallon.

    I can use a tupperware container from my kitchen, I'll just need to give it a good rinse with boiling water to make sure it's clean enough; this technique has worked well among breeders I've been following.
    Thermometer -- I picked up one floating thermometer for the main tank, but totally forgot to pick up a second one for the hatching container. D'OH!

    Bendy-Necked Desk Lamp
    -- I'll need one of these for the hatching container, to keep the water warm enough (I thought about a heater for this, but the container will likely be too small for one to be of any practical use. Most breeders simply use a poseable desk lamp to warm the babies' water and that seems to work fine! (Plus I have an old one sitting around in my dad's basement that I can hijack for free, so that'll save me a few bucks. :P)

    Plants -- Triops will eat anything, from raw or boiled vegetables to worms and brine shrimp to... each other... And it's generally recommended to keep a couple of simple live plants around for them to nibble on. Once I figure out what types of aquatic plants are best for a Triops' diet, I'll be picking them up and planting them in the tank before the Triops are old enough to be transferred into it. I'll also be picking up a Marimo ball, partly because they're great for keeping the water clear, but mostly because, for some reason... I find them kind of adorable. Like really, even though they're just balls of algae, they look like little green tribbles!

    Decorations -- Not really necessary, obviously, and I definitely won't be picking up very many (not much space for that in a 3-gallon, obviously) but I figure a little bit of color wouldn't hurt! There were two very colorful rock-and-barnacle sculptures that I saw at Petsmart, and I think I'll be picking them up the next time I'm over there. I might also get a couple of colorful artificial plants as well, but I'm not entirely sure yet as I don't want to clutter up the tank too much. We'll see when the time comes!

  3. #23
    Senior Member Pod of Oceania Mermaid Jaffa's Avatar
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    Oh... When you said you were buying a tank, I thought you were going to swim with them!

  4. #24
    Oh, nonono! XD Unfortunately I'm only renting a very small apartment and definitely wouldn't have the funds for a huge tank for swimming in!

    ... Although now that you mention it, that IS tempting... >_> Though I'd be worried I'd harm my Triops!

  5. #25
    Senior Member Pod of Oceania Mermaid Jaffa's Avatar
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    That is an idea for a future pool sized tank eh?

  6. #26
    Haha, definitely! If I ever win the lottery, anyway.

  7. #27
    Senior Member Rocky Mountain Pod Mermaid Dottie's Avatar
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    I love the colors on that green triop, Tieri! So pretty!

    Sent from my C6916 using Tapatalk
    Mermaid Dottie
    ATTENTION: Please use extreme caution when feeding the mermaid. Failure to do so could result in loss of digits.



  8. #28
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    This is awesome. I've been trying to decide on aquatic animals I'd feel comfortable keeping in our home. We don't have a ton of resources, but we'll have more after we move, and I don't want to invest in as much as a 40 gallon tank situation like I had years ago.

    I was thinking about getting red crabs or fiddler crabs for me and my daughter to raise (me primarily of course, she's only four years old) and take care of, but I LOVE what these little critters look like.

    I look forward to your future postings about these little lovelies. I'm going to start researching it myself.

  9. #29
    They're definitely worth investing in, I find! You can find starter kits for these in all sorts of places for pretty reasonable prices! They're great starters for children, too-- I got my first Triop kit in a school book-order when I was 8.

    I'll have more updates here later on in the week when I can get paid and pick up more supplies for them, and I'm still waiting on the eggs in the mail, though they should be here in a week or so! ;w; I'm so excited, aaaaahhh.

  10. #30
    Senior Member Euro Pod Vixy's Avatar
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    Bettas are awesome, I called mine Sam the Red. Anyhow good luck and have some fun, hope to see some pics if you're able.

  11. #31
    This thread's been pretty quiet, but here's an update, finally: The first batch of eggs arrived in the mail from Germany today!

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    These are the Longicaudatus eggs, in the bag on the left. They're mixed in with some sand from the bottom of the breeding tank they were harvested from, so there really isn't as much there as it looks!

    The bag with the green stuff in it is algae dust; a toothpick-tip-ful of this stuff every second day is what will keep the baby Triops fed until they're big enough to eat the food pellets in the last pack there on the right!


    Just waiting on the Cancriformis eggs and Australiensis. I got the Cancriformis eggs from the same breeder as the Longicaudatus, and they were shipped only a day apart from each other, so I should have those by the end of the week! The Australiensis eggs were shipped from Indonesia, so I imagine they'll be another week or so yet.

    Not planning to start hatching these babies until I've got all my eggs in my possession, and I do still need to pick up stuff for raising the babies; haven't been out yet to pick up any of the other supplies I listed here a few comments ago, due to budgeting stuff, but I should have a fair bit of disposable income once I get paid this week so I'll be able to get at least the stuff I'll need sooner to start hatchin' some pretty fishybugbabies!

    I'm pretty pumped!

  12. #32
    Man, my brother and I used to raise these guys until they would get huge! we actually starting putting them in the pond with the bigger fish. I might look around and find them again. give my evil fish some companions
    Hugs, fishes, and mermaid kisses!

  13. #33
    HOKAY, so things went quiet again, but I have an update!

    I got the Cancriformis eggs in the mail a little while ago, and now I'm just waiting on the Australiensis! I don't have a picture of the Cancriformis egg packet atm, but it basically just looks the same as the Longicaudatus and came with all the same algae powder and adult pellets that the Longis did, so it's nothing all that special anyway.

    I was originally gonna wait for the Aussies to arrive before I actually started on anything, but after a minor robbery on Tuesday night while I was working alone, I've been kind of an anxiety-riddled mess and needed something to take my mind off of everything and relax a lot more, so I decided to go ahead, pick up the last of the supplies I needed, and get started with the tanks last night!

    This is the hatching container, where the Triops will be hatched and spend the first ~10 days or so before they're moved to the adult tank:

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    Nothing too fancy, it's a 1.5 gallon betta tank I found on sale, it came with a stand and decorative gravel, and I got a separate thermometer for it so I can check the temperature every couple of hours to make sure it stays in the right range (between 22-29 degrees Celsius).


    And here's my most proud achievement-- The adult tank!

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    I kept the decorating fairly simple, a few coral decos and a Marimo moss ball to keep everything nice and clear. The water is actually a little lower than it should be, because I'm currently using a dropper to take it some out at a time to acclimatize the tank's first resident...

    Now, when I originally went out today, the plan was to just get a little snail to put in there and help keep the glass clean, and mostly because I wanted something other than Triops in the tank as well. So I checked out two stores near my house-- PetSmart and a locally-owned shop called Tropical and Marine pets and asked several reps at both what they recommended for a three-gallon freshwater tank in terms of clearing algae and being a tankmate for a bunch of Triops.

    Surprisingly, nobody I was talking to recommended any of the snails (though in fairness, both were sort of low on freshwater snails today, so maybe that was why), and actually recommended I get a Bristlenose Pleco for the tank-- they stay small so they're perfect for a 3-gallon, they're pretty chill critters so they won't bother my Triops and the Triops don't really bother with them either.

    So imagine my boyfriend and roommates' expressions when I walked into the kitchen and loudly announced "COWER BEFORE THE MIGHT OF ALDUIN THE ALGAE-EATER!"

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    ... And yes, I named him Alduin after Alduin the World-Eater from Skyrim. It seemed fitting.

    I have him currently sitting in a small container on my desk while I acclimatize him to the tank water, and so far he's doing really well! I broke up an algae round for him to nibble on and he's starting to relax enough to pick at it every now and again (I even caught him pushing around one of the larger pieces and playing with it while eating, which was super adorbs <3), so I'm thinking in about another twenty minutes or so after I've done another few water changes for him, I'll introduce him into the larger tank and see how he fares.

    I'm already kind of madly in love with him. He's the first pet I've owned since I moved out of my dad's place almost a year ago, so he's kind of a big deal to me right now.


    ::EDIT:: ... I have no idea why the other picture of the adult tank is showing up here as an attached image. I deleted it, and it's not showing in the code here, but I can't seem to get rid of it... D: Halp?

    ::EDIT 2, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO:: I figure out how to get rid of it, oops. XD
    Last edited by Starfrit; 04-17-2014 at 02:58 PM.

  14. #34
    Senior Member Pod of The South Aziara's Avatar
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    Looks like an Alduin to me too, lol
    Also known as Salina Tideglow

  15. #35
    It's now been about 24 hours since I introduced Alduin to the tank, and he seems to be doing well, which I'm really happy about! Currently he's hiding inside the outer casing on the Whisper filter-- which freaked me out the first time, but after unplugging it and carefully pulling it out (and making sure he let go of the inside and went back in the water), I've found that the gap in the casing he was hanging out in is just a wide, empty space, so there's no way for him to hurt himself or really even get stuck, so that was a huge relief. I put it back in, plugged it in, and he's now back up there-- I'm assuming he's choosing to hide out there because of the sunlight coming into the room, but I'm keeping an eye on him just in case.

    I haven't seen him eat since he was in his little container and being acclimatized the other day, but I think that's just because he's still not used to the big tank and hasn't completely settled down yet. I switched out yesterday's algae pellet for a fresh one today, though, just in case.

    And in other news, I've finally added some Triops eggs into the hatching tank! The water's been steady at a good temperature (23 Celsius), so I moved the lamp a liiiittle closer to the water to see if that would help and then poured in some eggs; some from the Longicaudatus batch and some from the Cancriformis batch. Because the eggs are all mixed in with sand I have no idea how many eggs of each I actually put in, but I suppose I'll find out between Friday morning and Saturday morning once the eggs have all hatched!

    I tried to pour them all on top of the gravel in the hatching tank, since the gravel's absorbed a lot of the heat from the lamp so it's a little warmer there. I should start seeing babies in about 20 hours or so, so I'll post back if I see anything!

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  16. #36
    AAWWWHHH BUDDY. Just went to the mailbox, and there was an envelope for me! My Australiensis eggs have arrived!

    I won't be adding them in with this current batch of eggs for hatching, though-- While the other two breeds will hatch between 18-50 hours after being in the proper conditions, Aussies can take up to a week, which means that by the time they hatch, the other Triops in the hatching tank would be almost fully-grown and would likely eat the baby Aussies as soon as they hatched. So I'll either have to wait until the current batch of Triops are adults and have been moved to the adult tank, or I could use the container I acclimatized Alduin in the other day (a large wide-mouthed glass jar) and find another lamp and raise them in that while I'm raising the other Triops.

    ... Only problem is, boyfriend doesn't want anymore lights on in the bedroom at night when he's trying to sleep, so that miiight be out. Unless I set them up in the closet...

    ... Hmm. This will require some brainstorming.

  17. #37
    AND WE HAVE A TRIOP!!

    I texted Dave (my boyfriend) while I was working tonight and asked him to take a look at the hatching tank for me, as up until I went to work at 3pm there hadn't been any sign of anything happening with the eggs and I'm anxious and impatient.

    Things went quiet on his end for a bit, and then suddenly, I get this text: And lo, on this dark day, there was the firstborn. Congrats, you have a fishy minion.

    So far it's just one, but IT'S A TRIOP. I ACTUALLY HATCHED A LITTLE TRIOP. I'd been so nervous about the water quality and the temperatures and everything that I was starting to get really scared that the eggs wouldn't hatch, BUT THERE'S A TRIOP BABY AAAAAHHHH. He's white and kind of translucent and about the size of a grain of sand, so it took me FOREVER to find him when I got home from work tonight, but sure enough, there he was at the bottom of the tank, hopping around!

    I've circled him in this photo because he's so small that this is literally the clearest photo I could get. I tried getting video of him hopping around but the focus was even worse once I switched over to video.

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    The instructions I got from the breeder said not to feed the babies until about 24 hours after hatching, so I won't be putting any algae powder in the water until just before I go to work tomorrow afternoon (as I'll be at work by the 24 hour mark). No idea if he's Longicaudatus or Cancriformis yet, but we'll find out in the next few days when he starts getting big enough to develop his colors!

  18. #38
    Senior Member Chesapeake Pod ShyMer's Avatar
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    So exciting! I'm looking forward to seeing him grow <3

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  19. #39
    Hee, me too! <3 I'm absolutely giddy about it right now! At first he was only bobbing around a little bit at the bottom of the tank, but now he's starting to get stronger and swim up about an inch off the bottom before landing again, so he's starting to get the whole swimming-thing figured out!

    These guys grow REALLY quickly (they'll be adults in roughly 7-10 days), so I'll definitely be taking lots of pictures of them as they get bigger!

  20. #40
    I've been a little behind on updates, but I now have eight confirmed baby Triops swimming around in the hatching tank! I was so worried after about 24 hours passed since the first Triop arrived and there were no others. Seriously, I was stressing out! Did I screw up something, was there a problem with the water??? I thought I was going to have to raise this one little Triop all by himself, move him to the adult tank, then drain the hatching tank, dry the eggs out and start all over again! Then I got up yesterday morning and checked on The Firstborn before heading out of town for the day and sure enough, there were more of them! Looking at the numbers I'd been writing in my temperature log for the tanks, I'm convinced now it was because the water wasn't quite warm enough for the eggs; late last week the water was only at about 23 degrees Celsius, and the day I found the other hatchlings the water was at about 28.

    There might be more than eight, but most of the babies are still so tiny that they blend in really well with the sand, and that plus the way many of them are darting around (and the fact that when I look in their little shapes reflect off of the inner sides of the tank) are making it difficult to keep their numbers straight! Sometimes I only count seven, sometimes I'm counting as many as nine or ten... It'll get easier when they get bigger though! :P

    The Firstborn, now dubbed "Jarl Firstborn" in keeping with my tank's unintentional Skyrim theme, is starting to darken a bit and is by far the biggest one in the tank-- You can see two of his beady little black eyes already! His third eye isn't visible yet, but that should only be another couple of days! The carapace itself is still transparent, so you can really only see his body darkening under his shell. I'm convinced he's Cancriformis, but I won't know for sure until his shell starts getting some color-- if it's a solid pale grey-green, he's Longicaudatus, but if he's a mottled, almost camo-print brown and green, he's Cancriformis. I'm really excited to see how he looks! And for that matter, I really wanna see how the rest look too-- I put in the entire Cancriformis packet (~50 eggs) and half of the Longicaudatus packet (probably around another 50), so it should be interesting to see how much of each is after hatching!

    And after this, I still have all my Australiensis eggs to hatch, too! ;w; I'm really excited for those!


    This isn't the clearest photo of Jarl Firstborn, but it's the best I could get since the little bugger wouldn't sit still long enough for my cellphone camera to focus!

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