Tank?

[u/Proof-Condition4614]

just a question. I’ve got a ten gallon fish tank I’ve had for years and isn’t being used. could I turn it into a massive enclosure for them? would that be too big, would I have to do something special for food if I did do something that massive? I had triops forever ago when I was little. where do I even get them ethically? I’d have to look back into their care cause it’s been literal years since I’ve had them. I do wanna put shrimp in, but I’m gonna guess it’s going to need to be a one or the other. do these guys work for a clean up crew instead of shrimp? could you co house? (don’t be mean if you cant, i only remembered about triops like five minutes ago). would smaller tanks be better?

[u/Sad_Big_1471]

You definitely can keep triops in a 10 gallon, i’m keeping some in my 20 right now, you’ll just need a smaller nursery container for about five days or so and after very slowly acclimating them to the big 10 gallon’s water, you can move them in, for shrimp you can keep them together, but the triops will try to eat them however, they’re far too slow to actually catch any, you can get some eggs from Arizonafairyshrimp.com (but last time I checked a week ago they were out) green water farms, triop world(just scroll down and you’ll find the simple eggs plus food refill for seven dollars) or a random triop hatching kit.

[u/Proof-Condition4614 → u/Sad_Big_1471]

Oooh, ok thank youuu

[u/Zathura2 → u/Proof-Condition4614]

If you're a crafty sort, you can make a little nursery cup out of needlepoint grid and pantyhose, to sit inside the larger tank's water.

I would recommend doing what you can to cycle the larger tank. If you have a pet-store nearby, see if they'll let you have 1/4C of substrate and a bit of water from an old, mature tank. Drop a couple small pieces of veggie, or some fish-flakes into the tank along with the seasoned substrate, and let it sit for a couple weeks, "feeding" it occasionally as the food disappears. An airstone-powered sponge-filter with a coarse ppi is also safe for triops (Even my nauplii survive it, but probably best not to tempt fate and wait until they're big enough to not get sucked through it. 😅) But a sponge-filter will help provide a little gentle mechanical filtration and, more importantly, a *massive* surface area for your nitrifying bacteria to grow and process the water.

The goal is to get biofilm on every surface and, if you have test-strips, zero ammonia and low to zero nitrites.

Nitrates can build up to a certain extent before they become dangerous, and in a mature tank are the only reason water changes really need to be done, provided you're not putting more food in than the tank's bacterial population can handle.

Plants will help enormously by eating nitrates and extending time between water changes. Pothos stems can be snipped and rooted directly in the tank water, with the leaves trailing out over the tank edge.

And finally, if you end up with several adults, keep an eye on your water hardness. GH measures dissolved calcium and magnesium, and these are important for triops to create their new exoskeletons, and due to how often triops molt, they burn through calcium like crazy, and may not be getting enough from their diet alone.

So in my tanks I try to make sure GH stays between 100-200 ppm, and when it's time for water-changes, I pre-treat my well-water (which is soft) with measured portions of calcium sulfate (gypsum) and magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) to hit my target hardness.

(Edit: Oh, and for feeding, I really like the scatter-feeding method. It tickles their natural instincts and keeps them busy and occupied and not eating each-other. The diet I feed them is a mixture of dried sakura shrimp (1-2 per adult triops), bloodworms (2-4 per adult), and the bulk of it with a quality, animal-based fish-flake (I'm using Aquatic Foods & California Blackworm Co community fish-flakes). I mash them in a few drops of tank water and then dip the container into the water and let it fall down like a snowglobe. The triops go nuts for it and it's fun to watch. ^_^ I give them that twice a day, and usually leave in a couple small pieces of mixed veggies in there for them to graze on. Peas, carrot, sweet potato, green-bean, and squash all get two cercopods up.)

[u/Proof-Condition4614 → u/Zathura2]

HOLLY PARAGRAPHS!!! THANK YOU! SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!! Would you rather I DM you, or give you a list of my questions? 

[u/Zathura2 → u/Proof-Condition4614]

Haha, you can DM me, it's fine. ^_^

[u/Proof-Condition4614 → u/Zathura2]

It’s not letting me Dm you :( 

[u/Zathura2 → u/Proof-Condition4614]

Not sure why, but go ahead and post them here then.

[u/Proof-Condition4614 → u/Zathura2]

K. So one, how would breeding them go? Would I let them stay in the tank and just hope the babies live, or would I need to get a smaller tank and put like a male and a couple females in there and once there’s eggs then put the adults back? Not sure if I want to have to repeatedly buy eggs.

What are the best plants to have in there. And what are plants to avoid. 

Best filter/pump for the ten gallon tank, haven’t done tons of research in that part yet. Do they need a super high quality one, or would a basic one work? 

How often for water changes. Will they keep the tank mostly clean then I go and occasionally clean the glass? And if I do need to clean it, will they try to eat my hand even if it’s probably not gonna hurt. 

Do you have snails with them? What’s been the experience with that. Not entirely sure if I want snails or not, had an explosion of them back when I did use the tank. 

[u/Zathura2 → u/Proof-Condition4614]

For breeding it depends on the species. T. longicaudatus is hermaphroditic and a single healthy adult will fill your sand with eggs.

I don't have experience with cancriformis or the other sexually-reproducing species, sorry. I imagine you would just have to cross your fingers you got a breeding pair.

For the eggs. Collection and drying is a whole separate thing and I recommend checking out the video by Triassic in the subreddit's FAQ.

For filter, if you buy one, get a *decent* one, or you can make one really easily. I only say that because if you try to cheap out you're probably going to be disappointed, but it's really simple to make one that works.

For a sponge-filter, you want the airlift height to be as close to your water height as possible. You also want ultra-fine bubbles, not big glugs of air.

I made one with a piece of pvc pipe, a pvc cap, and a deli-cup full of granite gravel. 😅The pvc just needs to be drilled out really well and then wrapped with about 1/2" thickness of coarse filter foam, which you can probably grab at a pet-store.

Avoid using filter-floss / Polyfil *long-term*. It's fine for temporary mechanical filtration, like if you want to clear your tank water in a hurry, but it builds up and can become toxic and doesn't release debris cleanly like a sponge does.

As for how long between water changes, I recommend some test-strips, and go by that. With a new tank that isn't fully cycled, and a lot of adults eating and pooping, you may find that nitrites specifically are getting high. I have a nano-tank and it was overstocked, and I was doing 50% twice-daily changes for like two weeks while my bacterial population was catching up, just to keep nitrites at safe levels.

Now I don't have to touch it for like a week at a time except to top off evaporated water.

And triops won't hurt you. :p They're oblivious and you'll probably have to nudge them in their dumb little faces so they scoot away from whatever you're messing with in the tank, lol.

If your bacterial population is healthy and there's not a weird imbalance of light and nutrients your glass should stay clear. Algae can only really out-compete bacteria when something's off about the water chemistry. (Edit: This may not be entirely accurate. I think I just have a weird tank. XD I am seeing some diatoms for the first time, likely because I've reduced how much I'm doing water changes and nitrates are able to linger, plus dissolved silica from the sand is actually able to build up in the water and not being flushed out with water changes. I don't know if algae will show up or not, honestly. More vigorous plant growth should help with both if they're bothersome, but diatoms are actually really cool little things; they build shells out of glass.)

And I do happen to have a snail, but it's a harmless variety, a common river snail and biofilm grazer. Some snails can be pests, or even predators, so do research before deciding to introduce one.

(Edit: Plants;

You can put whatever in there, but root-feeding plants won't fare well with Triops digging behavior. There are ways around that, like putting them in pots and covering them with stones and stuff, but there are also plenty of free-drifting or floating plants and mosses. Nothing in my reading so far has indicated there are any plants to really avoid, except for hacky things you see in clickbaity youtube videos like garlic and green onions. Avoid things with known anti-microbial or strong chemical compounds.)