# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Invertebrates >  Triops longicaudatus aka Tadpole Shrimp

## dkk08

Anyone have any experience on this interesting prehistoric shrimps? I just got my order last nite when I open my letter box. Have yet to set up a tank for them so I'm still holding on till I setup a proper tank for them  :Grin:

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## Luc Tango

are these freshwater? they look like horseshoe crabs.

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## dkk08

yap they're freshwater, they're known as freshwater tadpole shrimp.

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## Luc Tango

cool. they look very interesting.  :Smile:

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## SanRec

got through letter box? care to share where you ordered??

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## nasty12

vERY NICE! but i heard their lifespan is not very long?

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## SanRec

just sharing some info from wikipedia.

A *tadpole shrimp* is a type of simple freshwater crustacean. It has the word "shrimp" in its name, but is not a true shrimp.
Tadpole shrimps are also called *Triops*, *dinosaur shrimps* or *shield shrimps*. They're not really dinosaurs, but they have been on earth for about 300 million years. When these crustaceans first appeared on earth, there were no birds, no dinosaurs, and definitely no humans or other mammals.They are the oldest surviving group of animals.
They live in temporary pools of water on every continent except Antarctica. They grow very quickly, and can reach adulthood in a week. Triops only live for a short time; a record-breaking female only lived to be 100 _days_. When their pools dry up,adult tadpole shrimp die. Their eggs, however, stop developing for a period of time. When they are in water again, they come to life, and new Triops are hatched. This is because of a state known as diapause, where eggs can lie dormant for up to twenty years before hatching again. Triops are popular pets, with many sites online dedicated to them, the most prominent site being Mytriops.com. The word "Triops" can be broken down into two shorter ones, "Tri" meaning three and "Ops" similar to optics, eyes. This is due to the fact triops have an extra central eye. They also have up to 70 legs.tadpole shrimps look like a round egg with dots on them. and they sort of look like jelly fish

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## silane

Remember to use contamination free water. They are every sensitive to contamination. _Triops longicaudatus_ is the easiest species. I have problem with the other 2.

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## Fuzzy

I recently purchased 7 packs off ebay. After shipping ended up costing around SGD$6 per pack.

I've seen posts that they're available locally though, but I've not really been looking.

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## nasty12

> Remember to use contamination free water. They are every sensitive to contamination. _Triops longicaudatus_ is the easiest species. I have problem with the other 2.


how long have *you* been keeping it and what do you feed them?

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## silane

Used to keep them quite sometime back. After the first few days, you can feed them with almost anything, I feed them with CRS food.

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## Shi Xuan

Hi dkk08,

These are very interesting creatures! Glad that you showed them, now I'm intrigued. :Grin:  I've never keep/breed them before so I decided to browse through the net & got a handful of information about them. This is one of the site that I found about these shrimps,
http://mytriops.com/articles/triops_care.stm

It seems that they breed like annual killies & their eggs are able to endure harsh weathers. Very old creatures but the least concern. Let us know if you manage to breed them successfully and probably tell us about your tank setup that trigger them to spawn, I guess many will be interested to know. :Smile: 

greetings,
Shi Xuan

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## Fuzzy

Not difficult to breed them, just use bottled spring or mineral water all the time. 

And make sure you have a layer of sand / very fine gravel substrate in your tank.

At the end of their 2 - 3 month lifespan, pour the sand out onto some paper and lay out to sun dry. 

You can either sift through the sand to find the eggs to store or hatch, or just submerge the sand after that to start the second generation.

I've grown 2 generations in the past, but gave those eggs and that tank away when I moved.

Planning to restart on these cute critters soon.

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## dkk08

Still setting up a tank for them... since they do not need a "partner" to breed and can be housed alone, I'm planning to divide a tank of 2 or 3 ft into a few sections and monitor their growth... I believe we can scoop out the eggs and let it dry after they lay them right? 

And regarding purchasing them, you can try googling... that's what I did, and surprisingly, you can get the Australian species and the European species as well  :Grin:

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## louis_last

i would love to have these in a permanent planted set up but in my experience eggs just don't hatch unless you dry them out first. It is very unfortunate.

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## louis_last

Actually i was thinking more about this last night and you could probably make an interesting seasonal, aquarium / vivarium for these guys using plants like Anastatica hierochuntica and Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides that is allowed to dry out for several months during which the triop are replaced with a small tortoise or another reptile that would fertilise the substrate before being removed for its own hibernation.
After that point you can re-fill the tank and watch your many triops hatching out and the plants reviving before the cycle begins again. I may look into plants that are capable of surviving a pretty dry season, or even plants that might lay down seeds prior to the artificial dry season.

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## dkk08

very interesting idea Louis, however we do not have 4 seasons here in Singapore hence we would have to artificially simulate the hibernation period and erm reptiles are considered illegal here  :Exasperated:

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## louis_last

alas. I have no such problems living in Scotland, Fortunately we never have to worry about chillers either unless you want to keep some really cold water fauna. Why are reptiles illegal in Singapore?

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## Fuzzy

> alas. I have no such problems living in Scotland, Fortunately we never have to worry about chillers either unless you want to keep some really cold water fauna. Why are reptiles illegal in Singapore?


They're illegal to keep as pets. We're all on a small island, so any that get loose, especially the larger species will not only wreck havoc with the ecosystem, but potentially be a nuisance or hazard to others.

That's the official line, but really I think our authorities just don't want us to have any fun  :Laughing:

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## dkk08

> They're illegal to keep as pets. We're all on a small island, so any that get loose, especially the larger species will not only wreck havoc with the ecosystem, but potentially be a nuisance or hazard to others.
> 
> That's the official line, but really I think our authorities just don't want us to have any fun


Bro fuzzy, I guess both our authorities and public just need some education, I mean come on, I'm sure smoking (no offense to smokers), prostitution or even nuclear energy(if in the near future we build our own nuclear power station) are more harmful to ourselves and even our environment compared to foreign animal species, but with the due care and education I'm sure we can work something out, right? 

Anyway I might not be able to discuss about this here, if not the mods will come down on me again  :Razz:

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## Fuzzy

Back on Topic, I just poured in my Triops eggs in preparation of starting up another generation! Will post most updates as they hatch.

And possibly pictures when they're bigger.

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## dkk08

as for me I started hatching the eggs last wed and I had like 6 hatched triops on the 3rd day sadly lost 5 over the past 3 days and now only 1 sole survivor and its already 1cm big... wish me luck  :Huh?:

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## Fuzzy

doh! how big is your tank? I'm using one of those larger sized acrylic toy tanks. 5L capacity.

I've put 1 liter of distilled water in, sand/gravel substrate from last generation.

What are you using for substrate, all hope is not lost yet! you can still get eggs!

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## johannes

wow...!!! i didnt know got such shrimp... :Shocked: 

i love prehistoric things... and these shrimps look really really cool!!! :Shocked:

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## dkk08

> doh! how big is your tank? I'm using one of those larger sized acrylic toy tanks. 5L capacity.
> 
> I've put 1 liter of distilled water in, sand/gravel substrate from last generation.
> 
> What are you using for substrate, all hope is not lost yet! you can still get eggs!


I'm using similar tanks, as for substrate I'm using GeX soil (Red Packet)... was thinking of using pure "beach sand"

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## louis_last

I find that these do really well on sand and seem to much prefer a fine substrate as with our other aquarium shrimps. 
I would love on day to breed some of the larger species such as this
http://mytriops.com/articles/images/..._numidicus.jpg

I was refining my seasonal tank plan at work today and i am now considering a frog that comes from comparatively arid conditions rather than a tortoise or other such reptile as this would allow it to aestivate in the tank. Dwarf African bull frogs, spade foot toads or dwarf budgetts frogs seem to be the obvious choices and they could breed during the 'wet season', I need to consider the impact triops would have on the tadpoles though as they are very voracious, i think it is probably the case that a kind of equilibrium would be reached if the tank was large enough as the young tadpoles would fall prey to the triops early on but grow quickly and are very aggressive carnivores themselves. I need to find some more plants that would thrive in this set up though, this is where i am lacking in experience.

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## dkk08

I'm a survivor! The only survivor!  :Surprised:  :Grin: 





sorry guys, he's just too fast those are the 3 best shot I took  :Jump for joy: 
Not to forget, he's already almost 1 inch big now!

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## Fuzzy

Ahrgh no hatching from my last batch of sand. Going to have to break out a fresh pack and give it a try.

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## silane

Maybe you dont have male in previous batch. It is easy to get famales, but no male.

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## dkk08

Hi Folks, I need some advise.

Today is Day 14 since my Triops hatched and I've yet to transfer it to a bigger tank as I'm afraid if I do so the little fella will die on me. I just did some tests on the bigger tank (With mosses and Gex Soil "Red Packet") and a small hang on filter, the following are the test results

Bigger Tank
PH 6.4
KH 6
GH <14
NO2 0
NO3 10
Temp 22.8-24

Currently reading from its small hatchery
PH 6.4
KH 6
GH <3
NO2 o
NO3 10
Temp 22.8-24

the thing I'm worried is the GH difference, should I transfer the little Triops to the bigger tank?

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## windcharm

Very interesting little creatures. To bad they can only survive for 50 - 65 days...

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