Tuesday, December 12, 2006
OK, I'm strictly not supposed to be hatching them today (gonna have a competition with DL), but what I decided to do was to split the batch of eggs in half - half to hatch today, half to hatch tomorrow in sync with DL's batch. Anyway, the silly little things are supposed to eat each other up, so maybe if I split it into 2 tanks I'll end up with 2 Triops at least?
Here's the kit, put together. This pretty bottle was bought really cheaply ($2) at Ikea, but according to
this website, it'll eventually become too small for the Triops.
The eggs have not been put in yet - apparently, I'm supposed to add distilled water to a bottle, place the bag of detritus (the one that looks like a teabag - it's just dried leaves) for 4 hours before putting the eggs in.
Murky water from soaking the detritus bag -
The detritus is supposed to grow microscopic algae and protozoans (collectively known as infusoria), which the Triops babies can eat during the first 2 days. Still soaking, and waiting. Soaking, and waiting. Soaking, and waiting.
Reminds me of my Betta-rearing days (eons ago), when I boiled lettuce leaves, put them in a jar of old aquarium water and stood them in the sun for a couple of days, just to grow infusoria to feed the Betta fry. Fun! (and smelly)
Anyway, Triops are supposed to last forever - if I can grow them into adulthood, that is. The adults can lay eggs even without a mate, and all I need to do is to dry out the tank and detritus (the eggs will be hidden in the detritus), wait for a month, and start over again by adding distilled water. So cross your fingers for me yah? Hopefully I can reproduce them and have extra eggs to share around!
Heaven knows, with all the pressure, stress and unhappiness building up in light of the looming exams, we might all need a spark of magic like this to make it more bearable.
BTW, the kit costs just a little over $10 including shipping fees .. I saved $30, yay!
Wenky
5:26 PM
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