-=:: Triops Cancriformis Life Cycle Diary ::=-

Triops Cancriformis Life Cycle Diary

For about 2 years now I've been _growing_ Triops, up until now the more common Americen Triops Longicaudatus which grow to about 25->30mm long and have a sandy colour. The largest one I've ever grown was about 60mm long and he/she/it lasted almost 3 months. I have stumbled upon a bit of undocumented behaviour whilst growing these miniature dinosaurs.

They live in the tank pictured below, the water is collected from a water butt in the garden rather than mineral water. The peculiar behaviour comes when the last of a breed dies off. All the documentation i read points out that the gravel and sand must be dried then soaked again in order for the next breed to come to life. I, however have noted that if the corpe's are left to decompose in the tank the next breed will automagically hatch. I dont know if they are constantly hatching and getting eaten and the death of the last one stops the proccess or, the more likely reason, the rotting corpse discharges chemicals into the water spurning the new breed to start. If you can shed any light onto this theory please let me know somehow!!!

Anyway, this time i want to grow some Cancriformis and this is the diary of that process. At the time of writing the eggs had been in the beer glass for 3 days and none had hatched. Patience is a virtue :)

Triops Tank With Incubator

Thursday October 18th 2007:
I have put the new eggs and detritus in a pint glass in side the existing tank to keep the temparature even and to allow good viewing of the babies as they grow. If i had put the eggs in the main tank the triops that are in there would eat the new borns before the got the chance to grow to anything more then a dot!

The only thing i can do now is sit back and wait!

Friday October 19th 2007:
Still no sign of life!

Saturday October 20th 2007:
Still no sign of life!

Sunday October 21st 2007:
He hey, between 13:00 and now (20:32) i have become the proud father of 5 baby triops! I'm not sure but i think standing the pint glass on the radiator overnight may have helped them hatch out...

Monday October 22nd 2007:
Well, there has been another 3 births since bedtime last night so all is going well...By the end of the day 3 of the new borns had have died and im back to 5 again!

Tuesday October 23rd 2007:
The 5 remaining creatures have started to take shape, they have stopped the cl cl cl cl thing they do as newborns and are now gliding around like spaceships!

Wednesday October 23rd 2007 to Sunday October 28th 2007:
Basicly i think its getting to cold in here at night for the babies to survive, they just keep dying by the morning then some more babies hatch out! Unless of course one of the adults has sussed out how to get into the pint glass, eat the contents then get back out again?? Im going to try moving them to somewhere warmer..On top of my PC, thats always on and always warm...

Wednesday October 31st 2007:
THE END!
Basically its just too cold me thinks, all the babies have died and no more have hatched. I'm not spending a fortune leaving the heating on all day and night just to keep them alive and there is no where in the house warm and light enough to keep them alive :(

Wednesday October 31st 2007 to Saturday November 3rd 2007:
THE END NOT APPARANTLY!
I had a mess around with the tank layout yesterday to attempt to use the stuff i have to add a bit of heat into the water. I took the lid (which has a 60 watt neon lamp in it) off the tank and put it the tank on top of it. I also cleared out most of the green mould and topped the tank up with fresh water from the butt. The results of which is i have discovered a cancriformis that was hiding in the pint glass (luckily i dumped the pint glass into the main tank) and a new breed of Longicaudatus has also hatched :)