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HomeScienceHabitatsTriassic DLX Triops |
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|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review: ( 31 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
147 of 148 found the following review helpful:
 it could use better instructions. Jun 05, 2009
By Jason M. Forster
"comic book junky"
i have been growing triops with kits like this since i was a kid. i bought one of these kits recently and think its the best kit out there but the instruction manual has a lot of typos as well as some instructions i don't agree with based on personal experience. i have seen a lot of people complaining these kits don't work and are a scam so i am going to break down my advice.
1) never use tap or spring water. distilled water is only a dollar and change a gallon at any grocery or drug store and one gallon is enough to last the entire batch of triops life cycle. the instructions sort of suggest spring water as an ok substitute, but it isn't and cost about the same as a jug of distilled water so just get the distilled. the main reason these kits don't work is people just using tap water.
2) the warmer the better. the kits instructions suggest having the water's temp between 74 and 84 degrees f. the closer it is to 85 or 90 the more eggs you will have hatch. after they have had a few days to grow you can ease up on the temperature and they will live. use a lamp or place them near a window that is easily blocked with blinds to control the temp.
3) after a week when you take the nutrient pack out the water will start to get murky and eventually kill them if you don't do anything. you cant change all of the water in the tank but what you can start doing is scooping out a little water with a dixie cup and topping the tank off with distilled water thats the same temperature as the water in the tank. keep your water jug next to your tank so temps stay the same. scooping small cup of water and replacing it daily once the nutrient pack comes out will keep the water from getting soupy and nasty and add a few extra weeks to their life span.
4) if you don't want them to eat each other then don't underfeed them. people try and ration the included food packet in order to avoid running out of the food. after they are about five days old start feeding them teeny tiny pieces of chopped up carrot switched with fish every few days. little hunks of sardine canned in water have always worked fine for me and have the added bonus of me being able to share a lunch with my triops.
99 of 105 found the following review helpful:
Cool, slightly disgusting, and educational (but don't mention this last one) Aug 17, 2005
By S. C. Watson
I didn't buy this for a child. Nope. I'm 30 and I decided it was high time to get myself a triops. It was a bizarre and rewarding experience.
Triops are actually a type of shrimp that spend their egg stage in diapause. Their dry tiny eggs can literally last years and years and years. And in the dessert climates where these little suckers are found, that's what they do until rainy season comes along. And then BAM--local waterholes and puddles are swimming with the little guys, who then eat and eat and eat and eventually lay some more eggs just before the whole puddle dries up. Scientists are still trying to figure out how diapause works.
So, I read all about this and got pretty excited. The picture makes a triops look like a mini horseshoe crab--which is pretty accurate. You just put water in the flimsy plastic container and dump in the contents of the pack. Within a day or so, you notice several very small somethings bopping about. Over the next week, these somethings grow very rapidly.
Now, why are they gross? Some people think they look disgusting, but here's the real reason why they're a bit gross--The water gets fairly murky and the critter itself is voracious and has no qualms about eating its siblings (I finally decided not to name any of them--they're far too short-lived and I just couldn't tell them apart). I started out with about six triops and eventually was down to four, then three, and you guessed it, one. You can't change the water (you do however top it off), because you might change the ph balance or it could lose nutrients, so you're left with tidbits of previous triop snacks floating around. And that's gross. Other than that, it is utterly fascinating and guaranteed to give your friends the heebie jeebies when they come over for dinner and find the triops bowl on top of the kitchen counter.
Word to the wise: ditch the plastic aquarium and go for something a little more substantial, like a wide mouth aquarium--just make sure to use the same water measurements. Your triops display will look ten times better and you won't have to worry about bumping the plastic and spilling any triops goo.
63 of 67 found the following review helpful:
Triops?! More like triawesome! Sep 11, 2008
By eco
My girlfriend told me about these and how weird they were so we ordered a set. Shipped and received quickly. Fairly easy to get things set up (you will need some distilled water and a lamp to heat it to around 76-80 degrees Fahrenheit though). Young children will certainly need help in the beginning. It constantly warns you about not handling the nutrient pack and to wash your hands if you do. If I were a kid I'd probably try to eat it because of this warning ("I wanna turn into a triop!!!").
It comes with a fossil but its claim to the name is dubious due to the sticker on the underside which reads "Made in Taiwan". It could be that the fossil was extracted from what is considered to be present day Taiwan. You can use this fossil to teach your child about international diplomacy and the relativistic nature of national sovereignty in certain areas of the world.
I've spent hours staring at the little guys foraging. Rooting for the little ones and punishing the big one that is mean like a god ruling over his fearful subjects. In some ways I worry that a child who rules over them will go mad with power, eventually resulting in his/her demise (see comment about potentially toxic nutrient pack). I don't think this is likely though, considering there are plenty of outside bugs that received similar treatment by me as a child and I turned out fine (if you consider a 24 year old developing a minor deity complex over little shrimp like creatures in a tiny tank "fine").
Anyway, best of luck. My advice is to perform a minor miracle right after they hatch (red food coloring could easily be mistaken by their tiny little brains for turning water into blood). This will help ensure their piety.
13 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Wonderful!!! May 26, 2007
By M. Vasconi
I bought this as a present for my boyfriend. He had Triops before and wanted more. They are the neatest things I've ever seen. My boyfriend is just fascinated with them. We definatley enjoy these, even though we arent kids... People of all ages can enjoy them.
26 of 31 found the following review helpful:
Good fun for a few days.. Nov 30, 2006
By B. Mead
"nghtshade8"
Last year some of my college roommates and I found a little envelope of these things in an old box and figured "why not give it a try?". Assuming we'd be growing some brine shrimp or something we threw them in some spring water and let em go. After a day or so we were about to throw them out, but noticed a small amount of life squirming in the bowl. The grew and after a few days we had a handfuk of triops getting bigger and bigger. They were awesome until they started eating each other. Cannibalism seemed not to be a problem for triops. Some of us became heartbroken when we would awake the next morning to find little legs and tail in the bottom of the bowl. One large one eventually took over the bowl until only he remained. The water got very murky and we attempted to clean and replace the water, but soon after refilling the bowl the triop floated to the top. We figured out later our roommate had used the wrong water. Very sad. So... good fun for a week or two, but try not to get attached and make sure you're using the right kind of water.
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