# How NOT to kill your triops.



## Auban

I first saw triops when I was twelve. I bought my first kit abou a month later. I quickly developed an obsession with he little guys that lasted until I was fourteen. I still enjoy them, and figured it's about time that I tell people what I've learned. With the first kit I got I followed the instructions to the letter. I put the bottled water in the jar and dumped the dirt and eggs into the water. This was about four three years before they started adding the little teabag thing, which has never worked for me. Anyway, the next day I saw nauplii swimming around, and the day after that, all but one was gone, by the third day there was none at all. About ten kits later with the same results, I decided to pull out my 1940s oil immersion microscope and start searching for clues as to what was killing my triops. I had already spent have of what I had saved up that year, and I really wanted to get triops thing down without spending all the rest. Anyway, out comes the old microscope and what did I see? Absolutely nothing. Nada, zilch. I even tried staining the water, but it appeared as sterile as when it was in the bottle. I figured this could be the problem, my triops could be starving to death. So I started some more kits, this time feeding them yeast. This time they lived for about four days and as soon as they started swimming on the bottom, the died. Out comes the microscope, this time I saw a sludge like fungus on the feathery Gil-feet. Tried a few more times, same result, fungus and bacteria were killing my triops . At this point I started burying myself into anything that might tell me any information about the ecology of vernal pools. Nothing helped. This is where I finally hit on a successful idea. I started making "tea". Out of just about everything I could think of, going to find something that would stay suspended in water, could be eaten by baby triops, and would inhibit bacteria and mold growth. What I found to be the most promising was oak bark. But would it kill triops? I started a new kit like normal, but this time I added the oak bark tea to the water when I set the triops up. I added enough to make the water look like a relatively weak tea. The results? Not one of those little guys died on me until they had all reached well over a month. The tannins in the bark extract kept bacteria in check, and the triops could eat the microscopic floating debris. That first successful batch started a colony that supplied me with all the triops I needed for any experiments I wanted to conduct. Over the next year I learned a lot of little tricks to making triops grow faster and live longer. They grow fastest when water is kept around 83 degrees and an airstone is added, if no stone, then they do better at around 78. Varying the temperature on a day/night schedule also spurs their growth. Anyway, I'm typing on a phone, so I'll add more info to this later. Feel free to comment or ask questions.


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## snail

Interesting, thanks.


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## HomicidalHugz

Did you have a full tank set up at the start? Or did you start with hatching dishes and just work on the tank environment once you've been able to keep them alive long enough? I had triops back in 2015 with the tiny Smithsonian kit, I had a desk lamp and the super thin tiny plastic "tank". I didnt fuss or do ANYTHING with them, just watched and fed and would just keep them in the closet. Desk lamp, tiny thin plastic container thing, and they sat on the carpeted floor in my closet just with the lamp. I had 3 get really big(Pinkie and Brayne), had a 3rd adult that just one day disappeared....no shed or corpse or even carapace(hood?). After that I havent been too successful keeping them alive. 

I used old candle dishes the next time years later in 2019/2020 and I would have them set up on the floor with a shiny surface insulating foam thing I found, and a desk lamp(the very same from the college closet babies), and I used a pipette and did everything manually in these tiny dishes by hand. They did great but didn't live longer than a month.

Now its 2021 and I have a 5 gallon tank with a heat pad on the wall and one below the tank(its not on the glass but about a half inch away from the bottom glass), and I have 3 dishes. Im taking better notes and im trying to experiment on how to get the perfect conditions based on MY testing and MY experience as well as trying things suggested on the internet. Now I'm not a biologist of any kind but I studied enough in college, I understand how variables and controls work and this is how I'm keeping track of them. (Breed, temp, time checks for temp/feeding, food, enclosure etc)

I dont have the money for an actual fully operational tank, im just trying to get them going started then I want them steady but not overboard like PH balancers and water chemicals and giant filters...the stuff the REAAALLLLY passionate people do. Im really passionate about learning about them and growth, I don't want want kids so I'm creating life in a different way. Im just not REAAALLLLY passionate, you know? 

Im only on day 3 but in less than the full 24hrs after putting the eggs in, they hatched. Each dish(1md glass, 1sm glass, 1sm plastic) hatched early day 2, day 1 I put the eggs in by 9:00pm. I saw the hatchlings at 3:30pm the next day, they were doing awesome then I fed them twice...big mistake. Next day(today) only saw 1 alive in the small glass dish...so I dumped, sterilized with boiling water then put the spring water back in and temp'd it. Im about to add batch 2 in. Can I get some starter advice?


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