Batch 2: Day 9

Interesting news! I finally confirmed that one of the triops is indeed a female. Check out these pictures of her; note the egg sacs on her underside, on both sides of her body.
    

It's nice to know there's some feminine delicacy in the tank to complement Sharkey's bull-in-the-China-shop brawn. Sharkey, by the way, has grown another 1/16-1/8 of an inch just from yesterday. I found one of his skins floating about and I tried to save it, but it broke apart quite easily. Triops molt a LOT, and each time they leave a glassy replica of themselves behind. The shed shells can be quite pretty. Here's a couple of pics from today, plus a video featuring Sharkey motoring about.
      

A nifty trick is to drop a pellet of food on their bellies when they're swimming upside-down near the surface. Also, if you take a very fine sliver of carrot or lettuce, you can "hand-feed" them by holding it out to their bellies (gently) and letting them nibble.

Batch 2: Day 8

6 healthy triops, the largest of the batch, Sharkey, is around 3/4 of an inch without his tail whiskers. He's a fat brute and seems to love feeding off my fingertip. Check out these pictures of Sharkey, one handsome fella:
    

I think I have a definite female but it's hard to be sure. I can't catch "her" in the act of feeding to verify the egg sacs that should be on the underside of the body.

Here are some pictures and videos from Day 8:
    

In the beginning...

...my first batch of triops was doing GREAT - 7 active swimmers, the largest around 1/2 an inch... until I left for the weekend and all of their water evaporated. They made it to 14 days and were quite happy to be alive, until I indirectly murdered them. Thus the lesson: cover your tank, especially if the mouth is wide and you're using a lamp.
Here are a few pictures of that last sad batch:
    

Setting Up

You can get triops eggs and kits from a pet store, a department store that sells fish, a science and nature store, or online. A basic kit comes with eggs, food, and instructions, and costs around 4 or 5 bucks. You can shell out for a "deluxe" kit, which can include such things as a small tank, magnifying lens, and water conditioner, but really all you need are the eggs and some chow - you can use small fish pellets or flakes if you lose your triops treats.

Here is everything I used for a very successful hatching:
• 1 pack of triops eggs
• 1 pack of triops food pellets
• A large, shallow glass container (around 3 bucks at a craft store)
• Fine gravel (this is optional; gives them something to dig around in)
• Distilled water
• A 60-watt lightbulb and small lamp (to keep the critters warm)

The instructions will tell you what to do with the eggs and water, but here are my major tips:
• Keep the lamp on them at all times. They are desert creatures and prefer it warmer rather than cooler.
• Do not allow your tank's water to evaporate! Especially if your tank has a very wide mouth, water will evaporate pretty quickly. If you will be away for a couple of days, cover part of the tank with aluminum foil to prevent major loss of water BUT ALSO move the lamp further away to prevent overheating.
• Do not overfill the tank when you're hatching. The infants have trouble swimming up and down (takes a lot of energy) and might not be able to get to the food easily. Just a couple of inches is fine.

I welcome any comments by other triops owners! I'll keep you posted with pictures, movies, and descriptions.