What do you think about a brine shrimp / sea monkey kit for a little kid who wants his own pets?

Question

My son has really gotten into taking care of his 2 new bettas and I was thinking about getting him one of those "themed" brine shrimp kits. He really wants his own pets "to be in his room" but he is too rough for a furry (besides we already have 8). How easy are brine shrimp tanks to take care of? How long do they live (e.g. will I have to pick out dead ones often)? I figure they might make good snacks for the bettas occasionally as well.

Also, has anyone had success with one of these "themed" kits (this is just one example of many different "themes http://www.officeplayground.com/seamonkeys.html ) or should I go for the more "scientific" kit ( http://search.discover-this.com/?query=sea+monkeys&catalog=discoverthis&imageField.x=10&imageField.y=6 ) ?

Thanks!
Deborah

P.S. He's 5 1/2 years old.

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask this too -- do ones that hatch from the kit eggs reproduce well or am I going to have to restock all the time?

Let me rephrase - he is not so rough with the cats that he hurts them -- he's just so rough that they are wary of snuggling and playing with him. Sometimes they let him pet them, but other times not.

Alternatively, how about a Triops kit http://www.spacetoys.com/proddetail.php?prod=TSK36 or a frog kit http://www.butterfly-gifts.com/grow-a-frog-kit.html#Large?

All of your answers were great and they've given me a lot of food for thought. Here is what I've decided to do after talking to my son and considering your answers.

1) As soon as our new fish tanks come in (today, I hope. . .) we're going to use the old tank to hatch brine shrimp, primarily as food for the bettas. This won't replace their regular food or anything. Milo says it will "teach the fish to fetch" (LOL). I think it will be good for the fish to have a workout chasing their food, anyway. That much will be fun to watch. Each week, we'll put in a few new eggs at feeding time. They sell the eggs by and prep solutions at the pet store, so it should be cheap and easy. If we lose interest, so be it -- we just won't add anymore eggs.
2) After summer starts, we're going to get a triops kit for him. We'll keep it going through summer. If he has fun with it, we'll buy some more eggs after it dies. If not, we won't. Anybody know if they make good tank-mates for bettas?

I ran out space. I'll continue.

3) We'll try the frog kit next summer, or if he's ready by then, I'll do it with his class this fall. I'm afraid he won't handle a frog right so my big concern is leaving it in his room with him when I'm not looking. I just don't know if he's gentle enough. That defeats the point of this exercise right now.

Thanks again for all your help.

Answer 1

I've had both sea monkeys and triops. And I liked both of them. I gave my niece some triops when she was about 5 and she loved them but she's been heavily into studying zoology since she was a toddler.

Sea monkeys will take a couple of weeks to grow big enough to easily see. I kept mine going for a few years but had problems with algae growing on the sides of the container (and the little sqeegie you can purchase didn't do a thing, too flimsy) and they did eventually all die out (um, every couple of months I'd add more eggs so that's how I kept mine going, new ones would be growing up by the time the old ones died). Their little bodies will disintegrate in the tank pretty quickly although it's better if you remove the dead ones. And I never got more an a dozen at any one time so feeding your fish probably wouldn't amount to much. You don't have to change their water or do any serious maintenance, just top off the container as the water evaporates.

Triops are a little more interesting. They look like miniature horseshoe crabs which were alive during the dinosaur times. They also grow unbelievably fast--generally doubling in size every day if fed regularly. They get to be 2-3" long if you keep them in a big enough tank, will eat anything including each other if they get hungry enough though. I changed out some of the water every couple of days just to keep the tank clean (they were in a 5 gal. tank--there were 3 or 4 of them and probably should have been in a bigger tank). These do need a certain amount of light, and don't do well if it gets too cool (room temp is ok but warmer is better). I think I kept mine going for 6 months, but they generally don't live that long. If you kid understands that things die, these might be an interesting study.

But he won't be able to truly interact with either of these things, no touchy-feely.

Answer 2

Of the two choices, I'd go with the triops. Neither lives that long and it's hard to get the brine shrimp to a large size. At least the triops will mature and lay eggs in the tank. They also look "cooler".

I had the brine shrimp when I was young and the interest wore off in about a week after they hatched.

Judging by the number of questions I've answered on the forum about them, triops at least seems to hold people's interest, and you can preserve the eggs that are laid and hatch a new generation. Some of the websites I've come across with care directions for them:
http://mytriops.com/ http://filebox.vt.edu/c/channum/triops_care.htm

Frogs are cool, but there's often a temptation to want to handle them - not good for the frogs, and sometimes not good for the child. One of the smaller aquatics (fire-bellied toad) produces a mild toxin, but is a good pet and quite colorful - it can change color from green to brown depending on the color of it's environment and it's stress level, and has a black and orange-red belly.

Hermit crabs can be a good choice with proper care, and can be handled (as long as you don't mind an occassional pinch).
http://www.thecrabbagepatch.com/
http://www.hermit-crabs.com/

Answer 3

Hi,

The sea monkey kit are interesting if you explain to them whats happening. The idea to to let them know that the packet your adding into the brine are actually brine shrimp eggs that been dried out and they're gonna hatch after you add them in the brine.

The great thing about brine shrimp is that the hatch within 48 hours any longer and kid would probably lose interest. It would be interesting for them to see something alive swimming in the water. The bad that about newly hatch brine shrimps it that they're really really small. So you probably have to take a dropper and pick a couple of them up for the kid to look under a magnifying glass or better a microscope. Show him a picture of whats it's like magnified ( should be able to find it on the web). After that you can feed them to your Beta, if you want to. Don't beat yourself up if they die after a couple of days. That's normal, I hatch brine shrimps for my frys. They last about a week or less in my case.

And yes I have a seven and a nine. I show them the brine shrimp hatching last year. The interest didn't last very long but thats just kids, hopefully they learnt something from it :)

Answer 4

My 6 yr old twins each have a betta that they have religiously cared for: Killerfish and Alien Slugfish :)
We have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 3 fish tanks, 3 betta tanks. So when they asked for something else..something they could "touch", we started looking as you are. I know for a fact sea monkeys suck. My sister had them. Triops die off every 3 months, but they do look pretty cool if your son has like a dinosaur room theme or something :)
What we went with were hermit crabs. The kids got to do a tropical small tank with it (palm trees..crabby swimming pool..etc) to go with their Spongebob Tank and Undersea Adventure Tank. They get to take the crabs out to walk along their hands, etc. PLUS..you have to provide the crabs with an assortment of shells. The pet store has them with Batman or other superhero logos, etc. They think they're pretty cool and their friends also think it's neat.

Answer 5

the kits work well they come with all the food you need but they dont last more than 3 months 90 days then yu have to buy a new kit personally I think this is a poor choice for a pet your son will feel like he killed them and if yu replace them the cycle will happen again and he will think he cant grow anything with out killing it. If he is too rough with pets then he is not ready for them.

Answer 6

I got my for almost a month now. I read that with proper care they can last you 9mths. (Not the original ones. They hatch new ones every three weeks.) I have them in the office. Not much interaction and very little care and time needed. Makes grest office pets. Not really kids. (I got the seamonkeys on mars) Cause it’s in a jar which the cap can not be sealed.

Henry Singapore!

Answer 7

My dad thought they would be a great "starter pet" for me when I was a kid. I was so excited when we got them, but then very very disappointed...half of them just floated on top of the water and the rest died within days. Besides, what fun are a bunch of dots? Maybe a turtle? Relatively low maintenance, portable, and they have that protective shell thing going on to save them from over zealous little boys...Good luck!

Answer 8

Brine shrimp don't live long. How about ghost shrimps? thy're less than a dollar, they live longer, it's interesting to watch them shed and eat food (by the way you don't have to remove the old skin becausde the shrimps will eat those), and if you buy more than one you only have to remove the last shrimp when it dies because dead shrimps= live shrimps eating dead shrimp

Answer 9

they r really small and i didnt like mine