Hello everyone, Josh here. In Science I am studying triops. What are Triops?

Triops are small, freshwater shrimp that grow from tiny eggs.

The eggs are so small that you have to use a magnifying glass to see them.

Below is a picture of our triop set-up.  We have a tank filled with Spring Water - not distilled water, not tap water, you can only use Spring Water.  We had to heat the water with a lamp to raise the temperature to between 74 degrees and 85 degrees.

Once the temperature was up to 74 degrees we poured, approximately, 16 triop eggs into the hatchery tank (the eggs are so small, that we had to pour them on a sheet of white paper first so we could see them - so I think there were 16).  The orange flakes in the water are carrot pieces, which they can eat after they hatch.

We put the eggs into the water this past Monday.  Every day we had to make sure that the temperature of the water was between 74 and 85 degrees.  We also had to replace the water that evaporated each day with fresh Spring Water, and keep the eggs towards the center of the bowl, so that they wouldn't stick to the sides.  Today, 2 eggs hatched!!  When they first hatch they are really hard to see. You have to look hard with your eye, or use a magnifying glass.

Today we start feeding them.  For the next 3 days we will feed them 3 times a day with triop baby food.  After 8 days in the hatchery tank, we will move them to the bigger tank.

Then they will start to look more like this:

They are called Triops because they have three eyes (tri=3, ops=eyes). The third eye is located above the other two and is covered by a layer of thin, transparent skin.  If you look closely you can see the third eye.

They can grow up to 6-8 cm (about 3 inches), not including their tail. They are related to crabs, lobsters, and shrimp. When they eat, they float on their backs and push the food into their mouth with their feet.  After 3-4 weeks the triops are fully matured and ready to lay eggs.  Sadly, they only live for 20 to 90 days

They make good pets because of their acrobatic skills, they are fun to watch.  They are very flexible and can swim up, down, left, and right. When they swim,  their body bends like a wave, propelling them forward.

I will post more pictures as they grow so keep checking back.   :]