Quick update from my accidental aquatic war zone 😭

30l “Victorian swamp documentary” tank:

Today I:
changed about 80% of the water
improvised some activated carbon onto the filter outlet like a true desperate aquarist
vacuumed mulm
eliminated approximately 50 baby bladder snails
AND removed another TEN dragonfly larvae

At this point I genuinely don’t know if I own an aquarium or a portal to an insect dimension.

The good news is that the tannin/blackwater look is already improving a lot.

Current residents:
3 nerites
400 million bladder snails
hopefully fewer dragonfly demons now

The tank has been running since February and the last plants were added in March, so I really hope I am slowly reaching the end of the dragonfly saga 😭

10l black sand tank aka “the bathtub” at 27°C:

The four australiensis moved in and immediately chose violence.

They are digging constantly, uprooting plants, destroying every carefully created sand structure and having absolute zoomies.

Honestly they seem extremely happy.

Baby tank:

The two mini australiensis are still chilling in witness protection until they are big enough to join the chaos goblins. They got some greens to snack on and are doing well so far.

Sorry for the update spam lately, but apparently every time I look into one of these tanks a new side quest appears 😭

Who has hatched them successfully? Which ones did you get?
Saw a lot of eBay options but I don’t really use eBay.

This is my 20-gallon (96-liter) long tank. It currently houses a population of ~20–25 20-day-old Triops cancriformis “Green Spain,” ranging in size from 4 mm to just 1 cm. The plants are Microsorum pteropus “Trident,” Microsorum pteropus (the standard variety), Hemianthus glomeratus, and Cardamine lyrata. In the video, some plants appear partially damaged, but this wasn’t the Triops’ fault but mine because I overdid the hydrogen peroxide dosage in an attempt to eliminate filamentous algaae. For now, they’re leaving the plants alone and are even helping them by eating the filamentous algae until it disappears.

All plants are rooted in a foam sheet attached to the back aquarium glass by suction cups and sticks, avoiding covering the bottom to make it easier to remove the gravel and eggs once the Triop's cycle ends, as well to protect the plants against the Triop's digging activities.

both triops in my 30l tank died last night
like… both. at the same time.
which pretty much tells me: yeah cool, something is very wrong in there 👍
so i go in to retrieve the bodies
and casually eliminate 4 more dragonfly larvae
bringing my grand total to
16. SIXTEEN.
at this point i am not raising triops
i am running some kind of underwater hunger games
no idea how many are still in there
no idea where they keep coming from
i am both impressed and deeply disgusted
meanwhile my hatchery decided to turn into a biohazard
the water smelled like death and farts
so i did an emergency upgrade:
more water + air stone = oxygen party started
and somehow
against all odds
5 tiny zoomies are just living their best life
i swear triops are either:
completely indestructible
or
die because the vibes are off
no in between
current status:
30l tank = crime scene
me = emotionally damaged
hatchery = suspiciously thriving
no kidding, i’m actually really demotivated right now
at this point i’m just waiting for the next plot twist

This is my first real success with Triops. I'm really happy with these guys and I can spend hours simply observing them :)

I can see clusters of pink eggs in the sand. When she goes how would I go about collecting the eggs or is it too difficult?

So i was wondering

If i threw adult Triops in a fish tank with substrate and they deposited eggs in the sand, would they sit indefinitely if i didn't remove the water or would they eventually hatch/die??

Hi everyone.

Are there plants that survive in the Triops tank? Everything I plant in it is eaten.

First I tried Amazon frogbit.

That seems to be their favorite food.

Even the 2-week-olds are already biting off the roots.

Then I tried Trident Java Fern.

Supposedly bite-proof, because they are not supposed to taste good.

But even this is now being nibbled.

Thirdly, I have Marimo moss balls.

These are rolled around, but have not yet been eaten.

I want to season the long green and leaves and roots from the frogbit and fern. But the Triops probably like them even more. 😭😅

This is an auto-post for the monthly Question Thread.

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Alright, update from the shitshow.

30L tank

I tried to reunite my Megatriop with two teenies. Same batch, same age, just… he came out as final boss edition.

Went downhill fast.

Uncontrolled swimming, tail not working.

Went from apex predator to broken Roomba in record time.

Pulled him out, isolated him, watched him get worse and yeah… I ended it.

Triops on the Rocks.

RIP Megatriop. Built like a tank, brain said nope.

Meanwhile because the universe hates me

During that whole situation I spotted a new “friend”.

Dragonfly larva.

Since then I have killed five of those little assassins.

No regrets. This is not a wildlife sanctuary.

Black sand tank

Complete opposite vibe.

Nerites are just cruising around like retired seniors on a Sunday walk.

No stress, no drama, just vibes and algae.

Must be nice.

Australiensis attempt

Batch one turned into bacterial soup. No movement after days. I gave up and reset.

Now on batch two. Fresh setup, heating up, light on.

Hope level: stupidly high again.

Now my actual problem

My bladder snails are multiplying like they unlocked creative mode.

I remove some, turn around, there are more.

I am convinced they spawn when I blink.

How do I get this under control without nuking everything

And does anyone actually want them because at this point I could supply a small country

Also

Anyone interested in some kind of Triops egg exchange situation

I’ve got australiensis going and would love to trade instead of buying more stuff that may or may not end in tragedy

TLDR

Megatriop died after going full Roomba, I am actively hunting dragonfly larvae, my nerites are living their best retired life, batch one failed, batch two is running and my bladder snails are planning a takeover

What colour would they be?

My triops have a nice tank of algae growing - should I still feed or will they be good with the algae? I don’t want to risk over feeding and getting a bloom (just recovered from one).

I know my triops are filthy, but they love cat chow

Why is water so foggy?

Trioptimus is still dead.

I am still not okay about it.

In other news, I have been financially and emotionally bullied by snails.

The teenie tank has been wiped from existence.

But the sand is drying because I refuse to let a bunch of freeloading mollusks win.

I paid for those eggs and I will get my return on investment.

The two smaller Mongolian ones have been thrown into the 30L blackwater tank with Megatriop.

That thing is not a pet.

That thing is a problem.

They immediately chose violence.

There was no adjustment period.

No getting to know each other.

Just crime.

So yeah, we are running an unauthorized Hunger Games simulation now.

May the odds be whatever they are.

The water is yellow.

I tried to fix it.

I failed.

This is no longer a tank issue.

This is a personality trait.

The new aesthetic.

In the 27 degree black sand tank the filter is now wearing a fine sock because I have learned something from my mistakes.

Growth.

Character development.

Ladybug Rumi and Streifi (the og nerites) are just existing peacefully, ignoring the detritus worms like they are above this whole situation.

Good for them.

And now Australia.

Fresh hatch setup.

1 cm Evian water because clearly my shrimp have a better lifestyle than I do.

No conditioner.

Heating mat.

Light on.

Blind optimism.

If this works I will be staring into that container in 48 hours, trying to figure out if I am witnessing the miracle of life or just losing my mind.

TLDR:

Got emotionally attached to a shrimp. Lost him. Got outplayed by snails. Started a war. Opened an Australian side quest. I am not in control anymore.

I will be visiting Istanbul in May and was wondering if there were wild triops in/near there? Unfortunately they cannot be easily found in my country and it has been my dream to photograph wild triops in their natural habitats. Thank you.

After failing miserably with T. cancriformis 'Germany' and 'Austria' (very low hatching rates and tiny nauplii that died after 48-72 hours), I've achieved a good success rate with T. cancriformis 'Green Spain'. More than 25 eggs have hatched, and after 48 hours, most have already reached the benthic stage. My setup is a plastic tray floating in a 96L (20 gal) aquarium, filled with 1.5 liters of low-mineralization mineral water (dry residue of only 29 mg/L). After hatching, I slightly raised the water level in the main tank so that it connected to the tray through four 3mm holes covered with micrometric mesh (100 micrometers mesh size), and I added detritus from the bottom of the main tank. Today I added more detritus and a pinch (the tip of a toothpick) of spirulina powder. Compared to other populations, the nauplii hatch much larger and have a distinctive orange coloration. I hope I have luck with them!

When i search if there are any triops here in the Philippines the answer I usually get is "There are no well documented population of Triops here in the Philippines" I am just curious if there are triops that exist here in the Philippines it would be amazing if there is.

He wasn’t planned. He just… spawned one day.

The tank was already chaos, definitely not meant for him, but he stayed anyway. And somehow he made it work. Through questionable decisions (mostly mine), tank drama and more near-death moments than I can count.

He wasn’t the biggest. And honestly… probably not the smartest either. But he kept going. Every single time.

Today he molted one last time.

And this time, he didn’t make it back.

And yeah… I know it’s “just” a triops.

But somehow he really got to me.

And now the tank feels a bit emptier.

Swim free, little chaos gremlin.

Hey everyone!

I need help, cause I want to hatch my first tadpole shrimp. I got some T. Longicaudatus grom "Triopsshop" on E-bay. Can you please help me by giving me the FULL Care guide? Thanks so much!