Our Sea Monkeys

Sea Monkeys

C and D are both taking a Marine Biology course this year in coop, Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 2 Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day.  At the end of January, they both brought home a sea monkey kit.  We set them up and it has been fun to watch them hatch and grow.

We started our kits with bottled water.  You can also use distilled water but you should try to avoid tap water.

Our kits came with the water purifier.  We added it to the bottled water and waited 24 hours.

24 hours later our tank had numerous bubbles on it

Next, we added the sea monkey pouch to the water.

This made the water a brown, yellow color.

C and D observed their tanks everyday.  They also stirred their tanks everyday to ensure aeration and that the sea monkeys would have enough oxygen in their water.  It took about 2 days for the sea monkeys to hatch and they were super tiny.  It's nice that the tanks have a few magnifying bubbles on them for viewing the sea monkeys as they grow.  Our kits also came with a tiny spoon and food.  Five days after the eggs were hatched the kids began feeding the sea monkeys every few days.  If the water became cloudy they waited an extra day to feed them.  This was a fun experience and the kids are really enjoying them.  I'm not sure how long they will live but we shall see.

In the short video above you will see our sea monkeys ~ 10 days ago.  We have since added water.  As the water evaporates, you need to add water to the water fill line in the tank.

 Here are our sea monkeys now, about 1 month from starting the tank.  You can see a large sea monkey in the bottom magnifying bubble.

 Both kids have a thriving sea monkey colony.  You can see in the photo above 9 sea monkeys from this view.

 

And here is the photo without all the red circles!

Have you ever had sea monkeys?  I'd love to hear your experience if so.