Triops

[deanrar]

Well i've never know what they were until today and wow they look awesome so i was wanting to get some.

1. what size tank do triops need?
2. I have a 5gal tank with cherry shrimp (5) and apple snails (3) would they survive with them or would they be better in my community tank (34gal with mollies dwarf gourami, cories and kuhlis)?
3. is there any specific substrate to use (I have gravel at the moment in the 5 gal and sand in community)?
4. What is best to feed them?
5 Finally where is the best place to get them in the uk? I've never seen them in any fish shops i've been to.

Cheers any help much appreciated.

 

[three-fingers]

1. Anything above 5litres, depends on the species though. If you want your garden variety Triops longicaudatus, 5 litres will be fine as long as you don't end up with too many. They are bottom dwellers, so its floor space that matters more about actual volume of water .

2. When adults, the Triops would probably eventually eat the cherry shrimp if they got hungry, and in the 34gal, the mollies would probably have a go at the triops. Shrimp are fast and triops are uncoordinated though, so the 5gal is your best bet if it has to be one of those tanks. But when you hatch triops out, they are ~1mm so you would definatly need to hatch them out in a seperate tank .

3. Not really, they like to dig a lot though, so sand is the better option. If you want to collect their eggs, then sand is essential, because they will bury the eggs in there. With gravel, the eggs will be eaten.

4. Anything! As a staple diet catfish pellets are ideal because they sink down to the bottom where the triops are, but they will eat pretty much anything they come across when they are hungry.

5. I see them in tescos (they come with the ridiculously small tanks), 'natural world', toys'r'us and any science toy shop . I have some I can give you if you send me a stamped addressed envelope (see here for pics), or you can buy them from www.triops.co.uk .

Enjoy your triops!

 

[deanrar]

yeh that would be awesome pm me your address and i'll get an envelope sent, oh and a couple more questions:
how big do they get?
how long to get to full size?.
Cheers,
Dean.

 

[three-fingers]

The biggest T.longicaudatus I had was 3 inches including caudal furca (the two long tail things).
How long it takes to get them to full size depends on a lot of factors, food, size of tank, lighting times, temperature fluctuations and more.
But I find that after about a month mine stop growing unless I move them to a bigger tank .

 

[deanrar]

cool cheers i think wen they are a couple of centimeters they should be able to be safe from the fishes so can be an interesting addition to my community tank

 

[colbat1]

just go on www.mytriops.com that tells you everything the guy who made it is a bit sad go on its better and three-fingers i put at least 30 of your eggs in with a lamp and distilled water and 4 hatched out the eggs are still there!

 

[three-fingers]

How would you like it if I showed Stuart Halliday that you called him "sad"? He is a member of the triopsforever yahoo group you just signed up to (nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ).

And only 4 are still there?! What did you do to the rest of them?

 

[colbat1]

they didnt hatch im sending apus eggs now

 

[three-fingers]

Good. If these really do turn out to be Lepidurus apus (though from the info you gave me I am sceptical, I am still very interested) then I will be able to take back a lot of what I have said about you, though not all off it.
You know where you still need to improve .

 

[colbat1]

ok post office was closed ill try tomorrow and one thing dude how come my inch triops c. is not eating his live food daphina and please unblcok me

 

[three-fingers]

I don't know why your triops aren't eating the live food, mine did .
And I can only unblock you when I have hatched out some lepidurus.

 

[colbat1]

aw ok ive got loads more triops im a bit stuck now and if wou want good hatching then i i will freeze for a week trust me you get 100% hatching i tryed it

 

[three-fingers]

Don't worry about the freezing, I would rather do that myself. However if you send the lepidurus eggs I would appreciate it if you don't let them dry out first, could you send them with a wet piece of kitchen roll to keep them moist?
And freezing them doesn't give you a 100% hatch rate .

 

[colbat1]

moist why would u want that they will hatch did you knock your head on something?

 

[three-fingers]

Lepidurus species more frequently come from habitats that don't dry out...
And triops eggs will hatch without drying too.