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My Triops

Triops sketch transparant

Welcome to MyTriops, a site dedicated to those fascinating freshwater creatures — ‘Triops’.
Everything here is over 200 million years old!

Hello and welcome to MyTriops, only the best Triops web site on the planet!

Did you get some Triops as a toy, gift, or birthday present? If so, please look around as we’ve articles for newcomers as well as more scientific articles for those of you interested in the dozens of Triops species.

We have one of the largest collections of useful information on the Internet on how to raise and look after these creatures as well as a gallery of images, movies, and articles on Triops, reviews of various products companies are offering, and a Facebook group where you can share your experience with other like-minded people.

Feel free to browse. If you are new to ‘Triops’, then please visit the FAQ link above. Please excuse any mess you may find as we’ve just done water change.

Articles

Triops, sometimes called tadpole, dinosaur, or shield shrimp, are a small group of crustaceans that are in the Branchiopoda group that are found in temporary bodies of fresh or brackish water. Sometimes they are sold in ‘Sea-Monkey’ like kits in toy shops and they are often billed as ‘living fossils’.

Triops may not be as well studied as Escherichia coli or Pan troglodytes, but for such a small order of animals, they receive their fair share of attention from scientists. There are five principal reasons that triops are or have been significant both scientifically and often economically. Most of the study centres on T. longicaudatus, although T. cancriformis and other species are studied as well.

Once you’ve got your Triops hatched, you will want to feed your Triops, and this is where the fun comes in.

If you use a container made out of plastic, you should realise that some plastics are not suitable as they will leak toxic chemicals into the water over time.

This is a brief outline of my particular methods for isolating eggs and preparing them for hatching. It has worked reliably for several generations and will presumably continue to work for many, many more.

Just how many species of triops there are is a good question and one that, in spite of researching several papers on them I certainly don’t feel confident to answer with any authority. There are some problems involved with a definitive list of who’s who in the triops world. First, it’s now been close to 50 years since anyone has attempted a serious review of the notostracans.

Take some eggs, fresh water, sunlight and let them simmer for just 48 hours at 22°C.

This document was largely put together from extrapolating information in scientific journals regarding Triops’ biology and rearing them in laboratory settings. Other parts are taken from my own experiences or those of other triops owners. To the best of my knowledge, the information is up to date and accurate. I’ve tried to be complete and thorough, covering all the necessary bases. Still, I can’t make any promises as to what your results will be after putting any of this info into practice.

A brief overview of the Triops’ anatomy aided with sketches.

Take the water and pour a little into the tank leaving an air gap in the bottle. Re-seal the bottle and violently shake the bottle for at least five minutes. This ensures there is oxygen dissolved in the water.

At MyTriops, we’re often asked what makes for a good companion for a Triops in their tank. This is indeed an interesting and challenging question as any other aquatic creatures must be suitable for living in a small freshwater tank within certain temperatures and water conditions.

Here is a collection of Notostraca related papers.

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Nathan
Nathan
1 year ago

i bought some Triops of course the eggs….i have a fresh spring feed pond…. can they flourish in that habitat, lots different veggies, organics, small aquatic life

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