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Caring for your Artemia's
(Sea Monkeys and Ocean Aliens)
Salt Water
| Artemia's need
a salty solution to live, they originally came from salt water lakes. The saltier
the solution the more likely any eggs are to hatch,
however the adult Artemias will not thrive in too much salt. You should follow the
instructions provided with the kits to obtain the best conditions for both hatching and
maintaining adult Artemias. |
Care should be
taken to maintain a constant water level. When additional water is added, it should
preferably be boiled water that has stood over night and is now at room temperature.
Although, as long as the water is about room temperature when added there shouldn't
be any problems. |
Oxygen
| Like most
living creatures Artemia's need oxygen. If the water is dirty and lacks oxygen the
Artemias will change colour from white, to dark red. Oxygen can be provided by
breaking the surface of the water, and gently stirring the water for a 30 seconds or pour
the water into another clean container and back into the original container to provide
even more oxygen. |
Alternatively
you can use a hand pump, which pushes air bubbles into the water. This can be made
using a piece of air piping, the bulb from an air activated jumping toy and small air
stone or alternatively the Sea Monkey ®
million bubble air pump provides a cheaper option. |
Temperature
| Anything above
70of is the preferred temperature for Artemia's. |
Below this
they become very sluggish and below 60of can prove fatal. |
Feeding
| Do not over
feed your Artemias this will make the water cloudy and form a film on top of the tank. |
If you should
overfeed your Artemia, do not feed them again until the water is clear. |
Playing
| Artemia's are
attracted to light sources and will always swim into a current. By keeping them in
the dark & then illuminating the tank they will cartwheel with pleasure (almost in
formation !). If you gently swirl the tank they will race against the current. |
Do not keep
your Artemia on a window-sill. Too much light will encourage Algae to breed and use
the Oxygen in the tank. They could also become too
hot or cold depending on the outside temperature. |
Cleaning Out
| If you keep
the Artemia tank away from bright light, don't overfeed and regularly
stir or Oxygenate the water there will be no need to clean the tank out.
Cleaning out the tank will actually destroy un-hatched eggs.
If the water is unclean the Artemia will turn green! |
When
cleaning out your Sea-Monkeys it is probably easiest to use the Aqua-Leash to take out
some of the water a put it in another container (eg Port-a-Pet) then careful transfer each
of your Sea-Monkeys from your tank into the container. Using a coffee filter paper
strain the tank water to remove any solids. Remember this is also removing any un-hatched eggs. |
Hatching
| It can take a
couple of days for the Artemia to hatch, although we have spotted the newly born after
only a couple of hours (lots of sunlight and a warm room
will speed this process up). When they first hatch they will be very very small,
resembling the small pieces of un-dissolved salt that will be floating around in the
tank. |
The way to
identify them at this stage is that they will be swimming against the current. If
you have a Sea Monkey Ocean Zoo, then look
through the magnifying lenses on the tank for a close up view. |
What happens if your tank looks empty ?
| If you find
yourself with very few Artemia and they don't seem to be breeding,
then you can always top up your stock with extra
eggs. |
Artemia have
some very clever methods of ensuring their survival - see breeding
for details. |
| What
happens if they all die ? |
|
| If you follow
the instructions carefully then you should have no problems with your Artemia.
However, if for some reason you should lose all your Artemia just let the water evaporate
from |
the tank and
add more water. There will be un-hatched eggs in the
residue that will give you another generation of Artemia to enjoy. |
Will my Artemia breed
?
| There's no
reason why they shouldn't! Artemia reproduce in a number of ways - they mate male
& female, but females can also reproduce without the need for males. They will
then either lay eggs or give birth to live babies. |
Some of the
eggs will require hydrating twice - hence the way you can refresh
your tank by evaporating the water. Female Artemia have egg sacks about halfway down
their body. You can tell the Mum's to be as their sacks will be full of dark eggs. |
How can I tell the boys from the girls ?
| The females
are easiest to identify as they will have egg sacks about halfway down their body.
These are roughly circular and white when empty and brown when full
of eggs. The males |
have 'antlers'
and are shorter than their female counterparts. You won't be able to sex your Artemia
until they are adult. |
How can I tell when they're fully grown ?
| Artemia grow
to about 3/4 of a inch long with |
the girls being slightly longer than the boys. |
Can I put my Triops
in with my Artemias ?
| No, unlike the
vegetarian Artemias, Triops will eat meat |
and if there's
Artemias in the same tank, that will mean them! |
Keeping them at
the work place ?
| If you thought
the only dangers were coming in one morning to find someone has used the tank as a pen
holder then beware of the cleaners. |
The feeding
spatula may be mistaken as a beverage stirrer and carelessly thrown away. It may
also be wise to place a small note next to the tank "Do not touch" to discourage
those who believe they are looking at a water game. |
http://www.netfysh.com
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