posted 02-14-2004 10:12 PM         

When they are large enough to withstand water changes, I transfer them to a larger container with a layer of sand so they can lay their eggs. I let them get at least 1" before feeding them to my fish and keep one in a separate container until it dies of old age.

After the others have been fed to the fish, I let the sand dry for about a week, then put some in about 1 liter of water and in a couple days I have more baby triops. If for some reason, that batch doesn't yeild any new triops, I have the 1 triop that I separated that's still alive and laying eggs as a backup.

For me, the original kit yielded 7 triops. From those I started out with over 40 baby triops which I separated into 3 1 gallon bins. By the time they reached 1", they started trying to kill eachother so I wouldn't recommend keeping more than 5 in 1 gallon of water for very long.

The kit comes with triop food, but I've found that they will also eat flake food. You don't really need an actual aquarium; plastic storage bins work fine. And as long as the room they are in is fairly warm >70*, you won't need a heater and you don't really need a filter if you're willing to do 100% water changes (5 1" triops in a 1 gallon container need 100% water changes every 2 - 3 days). I just hatched my 3rd batch a couple days ago so this time I'm going to try keeping them in a 15 gallon storage bin. Hopefully they won't try killing eachother and I won't have to do quite as many water changes. Also, even though the instructions keep stressing that you can only use spring water, I've been using plain dechlorinated tap water and haven't had any problems.

And even if you don't want to use them as feeders, they are pretty cool looking.

posted 02-15-2004 06:42 PM         

As for breeding them, they use both bisexual and hermaphroditic reproduction so they don't necessarily need a male in order to reproduce. You can tell when they start laying eggs because they will develop yellow egg sacks just behind the carapace. And I'm not sure about using gravel. I've tried using acrylic beads (specifically made for aquariums), but didn't have any luck. You can get some playground sand for really cheap, just rinse it out good before using it. And if they're eating eachother, I'd try either putting them in a bigger container or using several containers.

-Chelle

posted 02-16-2004 07:49 AM         

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i would use minnows they don't have diease like feeder goldfish

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Minnows can carry disease just as well as goldfish. They're fish and like all fish, if they're kept in poor conditions (like most feeder/bait fish are), they're going to be sick.