Sea Monkeys

Remember in the post I wrote awhile ago about fish feeding? I am a little ashamed to admit it now, but, sea monkeys are brine shrimp! You know, those packaged kits that have eggs you grow and feed? What do you mean, huh? Oh, I had better start from the beginning.......  After I got a sea-monkey kit, my sister Emerson and I set to work putting water in it and putting in the water purifier. You have to wait a little while for the tablet to disintegrate before you pour the eggs inside. Sea-monkeys are basically a sort of shrimp that have been cross-bred to create a larger, longer-living pet. Original brine shrimp, which you may remember that were sold in kits when you were a kid, only live a few months, but these brine shrimp last two years if you feed them the food provided. I remember reading in an article about brine shrimp for snacks for fish, and I wrote about it in the blog a week or two ago. Now I feel different about feeding these little guys to a fish, especially if I raise them myself. In each packet of eggs there comes three 1 and a half-inch sized sea monkeys, five medium sized ones, and eight/nine small ones.

A Little About Sea-Monkeys

The amazing things about these pets is that, yes, they are alive. The egg doesn't hatch until fully submerged in water. They need a little oxygen, so you have to stir the container gently once a day to create bubbles that they use to breathe. The eggs are about as small as the period at the end of this sentence, but they grow overnight. They look kind of like a fish, but they are clear with black eyes. Some look like miniature hammerhead sharks, while others look like tiny x-ray fish. When the shrimp hatch and are big enough to see, I will most certainly take some pictures of them.

Fun Facts:

• Sea-monkeys, or brine shrimp, don't look a lot like the shrimp you'll find on your dinner plate. They are clearer looking, and are pretty cute!
• Sea-monkeys are great pets for people who don't have a lot of time to play with a pet. Lonely sea-monkeys enjoy "Crystal Balls". The balls are plastic floating balls that your monkeys will love to play and monkey around with. (That's where they got their name!) 

Moms love these pets, and kids do too! How come, you ask? These low-maintenance pets are a great learning experience, and they remind people of the ant farms you can order--but these pets swim!