Sea-Monkeys the Easiest Pets of all
85What Sea-Monkeys are Marketed as Looking Like.
What Sea-Monkeys Actually Look Like.
I was given my first Sea-Monkeys kit as a child of about 6 years old, and I was instantly captivated by the exciting cartoon of smiling creatures waving on the front of the box.
The kit consisted of three packets full of dried ingredients.
Packet 1 contained the Water Purifier, which you added to the appropriate amount of water and mixed together before leaving for 24 hours to purify.
Packet 2contained the 'Instant Life' powder, (or eggs I am guessing). This you mixed in with your purified water, stirred for a minute or so and then if you held up the container to the light you could see tiny white vibrating dots trying to swim against the current. They had hatched immediately upon contact with the water. By day two they have doubled in size, and after this continue to grow very quickly.
Packet 3 contained the special growth food, and after 5 days you can give your baby Sea-Monkeys their first meal using a tiny measuring spoon provided.
Aquariums
At first I was fairly disillusioned with my Sea-Monkeys, because in spite of waiting and waiting for them to begin to resemble the human-like, web footed, smiling characters on the front of the box, they simply grew to look more and more like my second picture at the top of this hub. It was some years later I found out that a Sea-Monkey is just a glorified Brine Shrimp, (similar in type to the ones you buy in Aquatic Shops so that you can feed them to your tropical fish as live food).
However, in spite of the fact they never did grow into the human-like sea creatures I expected, they did begin to fascinate me, especially when they got to the stage of having interesting little wavy fins, and then they began to mate by swimming around attached to each other in pairs. Sometime later they had babies of their own, and as a child I was incredibly proud of myself for helping them to achieve this.
What's more, you could have quite good fun with them, for instance, if you put them in the dark for a while, and then brought them out into the light, they would seem to be performing major acrobatics around their tank, (my guess now is that it was because they were blinded by the sudden light and couldn't see where they were going).
The marketing behind Sea-Monkeys was brilliant. You could purchase all different kinds of accessories for them such as the Micro View Ocean Zoo, (small tank with magnifying glasses built into the sides), or the Aqua-Leash, (a mini turkey baster for sucking them up into if you needed to transfer them anywhere else, an air pump, (essentially the same as the leash only you used it to blow bubbles into the tank rather than suck Sea-Monkeys out). In fact there were even such strange accessories as a necklace which consisted of a miniature bowl with a lid so that you could wear a few Sea-Monkeys around your neck in their own tiny tank, or a pen that had a tiny tank built into it for the same kind of purpose.
Sea-Monkeys are still available today, only you can get even more exciting accessories for them, such as a 'Light Up Aquarium Cover' and various new design Aquariums.
Other Accessories
For a child's first pet I think these little critters are great, as they don't require vets, they only live a couple of years, and if you get truly fed up of them you can feed them to your tropical fish. If you don't want to spend lots of money on gadgets and accessories for them, then a large jam jar works just as well as an aquarium and they need little else other than occasional feeding. You can start the whole set-up for about £3 if you provide your own 'Aquarium/jar', but even the 'Micro View Tanks' start at about £5 only. There are various combined kits I have featured that would make an interesting an exciting present for a child at Christmas or for their Birthday.
Make sure your child keeps them somewhere out of direct Sunlight, and where their tank won't accidentally get knocked over. As a young child one of my first couple of batches of Sea-Monkeys were knocked over by myself and I was mortified. It ended up being a complete pantomime of my entire family grovelling around on the carpet, picking the poor little stranded, fluff covered Sea-Monkeys up and replacing them in the dregs of their tank water. Needless to say they all died and I lived with the terrible guilt that only a child knows, for months afterwards.
These also make a great novely gift for adults as my Sister bought me some more when I was in my twenties just for the nostalgic value. I have to confess second time around mine didn't last as long as first time around, but it was fun whilst they lasted.
- Sea-Monkeys
The Official Sea-Monkeys Web-Site
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Comments
Hey never mind Spryte, you can still buy them for a few pounds and even the Aquariums are mostly in the £5-£10 bracket. No idea what the crystal farm is, but may be similar to a "Grow your own Crystal" set I bought my Sister as a laugh recently. Thanks for popping by :)
spryte - As a child I was permitted to get the Sea Monkeys, but not permitted to put them in water. How weird is that? I had some shrimp later for my aquarium, though.
misty - very good hub, especially the comparison photos!
I am guessing that the pictures convinced even your parents that these were going to be a major pet and they didn't realise how tiny and insignificant these little creatures really are. Thanks for commenting :)
Patty!! OMG! That would be like getting a bike and not being able to take it outside! Or a sled and you live where it never snows!
Hmmm...one year my parents bought me a Barbie pool...and they wouldn't let me add water for a more realistic effect. Of course, years later, when I handed it down to my younger sister...that never stopped her from filling it up and sliding her hamster down the slide...
Still. Sea monkeys and no water...that's just not right. :)
Poor hamster Spryte ahhhhhhh:)
*grins wickedly*
Oh that hamster had it good...and when I finish the hub I'm writing, you'll understand that statement ;)
look forward to it :)
I have never heard of these guys! Very interesting. I wonder if my little friends would like to have some?
Very informative! Thanks,
Madison
Great fun, you should give them a go, I am sure your little friends will love them :)
I remember sea monkeys! I so brought mine to science class in elementary school. I forget why, but I remember getting playfully picked on for months. LOL
Great Hub, we saw them advertised in the comics.
Alas, I too am one of those unfortunates who did not have Sea Monkeys. As I do not think that they would have lasted going through the maws of the postal system of both the States and then also the South African side.
I also do not think we were allowed to bring Livestock into here from other countries, as we had to smuggle some finches from the Cape into Transvaal, when returning from a holiday with Grand parents.
Although I wanted them not even sure if we were allowed to spend money overseas, as I was still only a kid of 8 or so.
Needless to say we had a whole range of local monkeys and marmosets of our own, especially the most popular being, a cute little character called a "Nagappie" translated would come out as a little night ape. This poppet would fit in a soup bowl, or coffee mug, and had the cutest big eyes that always stared at you.
Misty, great hub. Wonderful pictures! I got sea monkeys when I was ten. I was terribly disappointed when they didn't actually look like monkeys or the pictures in the ad. What I really wanted was a monkey.
Ummm, spryte - I was allowed to have a bike at 10 but only to ride it around the backyard grass twice. Then my father hung it in the basement and used it to go to the auto parts store whenever he fixed his car. Also had a sled hung in the basement, never used. I was allowed to pull my wagon around the grass though.
Thanks for stopping by Aya, yes I was disappointed too, but the fascination did grow on me once I accepted they were never going to be monkey-like. :)
Patty, gosh, your family were really cruel to you weren't they? First they let you buy Sea-monkeys, but don't allow you to add water to them, then they get you a bike you are only allowed to ride twice!! I would have asked to be adopted out if I were you :)
I think the pet rock I had when I was a kid could give sea-monkies a run for their money in terms of ease. But the sea-monkies would probably be more fun. Thanks for the trip down memory lane to my childhood.
Thanks for your comment, yes you are probably right, I am guessing Sea-Monkeys were at least more active than a pet rock :)
i think that sea monkeys are better than the animated picture on the box
you should try to keep your sea monkeys as happy as possible as they are living breathing fish NOT TOYS!!!
i have sea monkeys and i thought they were not going to hatch so i thought i would throw them out but i gave them a chance and the next morning bang there was sea monkeys the size of pinpriks swimming around in the tank.I went to school(ballerkameen)and i was exited all day!!! Now my sea monkeys have grown i am feeding then once every 5 days and we are all happy!!!
Thanks freeeest, I actually enjoyed owning Sea-Monkeys too after I got over the disappointment of them not looking like the picture on the box :)
i heve a question.There are black dots in my tank are they poo?If so what do i do about it?
Well, I am no expert on the care of Sea-Monkey's, I simply found them fun. I suggest you go to the Sea-Monkey's website and ask the same question there. Good luck :)
i have loads of sea monkeys now and they are getting bigger!!!
what are the crystals?and how big do sea monkeys grow?
The crystals look like tiny diamonds, (not sure what they are made of), and the sea monkeys seem to play with them and 'surf' around through the water on them. Sea Monkeys seem to grow to be about 1cm long in my experience.
Hope this has helped. :)
thank you for answering my questions!!!
You are welcome freeeest :)
how long did your sea monkeys take to growfull size?
It was a long time ago now freeeest, but I estimate it was about 3 months.
all my sea monkey food has run out and i cant gt any food in the shops because they dont get it in stock allot can i feed them normal fish food crushed up because my sea monkeys are going to die otherwise?
i know how to get on sea monkey site but how do u ask qs on the site?
i dont have an email how do i ask qs?
I don't think normal fish food will work freeest, and I don't know how long you have owned your Sea-Monkeys for, but the small sachet of food usually lasts months. To get an email address you can go to any server such as www.yahoo.co.uk and click on the 'sign up' or 'register' link. Fill in the boxes and you will get a free email address. You can then go to the Sea-Monkeys website and either ask questions, or order replacement food. You will need a credit card or Paypal account to pay for it though, but as I am assuming you probably don't have one of these yet, I suggest asking your parents to use theirs to make the payment for you. There are also other sites on the Internet that sell Sea-Monkeys and their food, so if you are in the UK you may find it easier to go to the UK site.
I truly hope this has helped and you manage to get your Sea-Monkeys their food okay. :)
*peeks in and pats Misty on the head*
You are such a great sea monkey guru :)
Thanks Spryte, I try my best :)
lol. I actually have an executive set on my desk. An executive set of sea monkeys. yep its true. Im the only one in this office with pizzaz. lol. Loved the hub, and the pics!
Wow Mellasviews, how cool, I am almost tempted to get more myself after reading your comment :)
my sea monkeys are dead now so ive got tadpoles instead have you got one of these pages about tadpoles???
Hi Freeeest, so sorry to hear about your Sea Monkeys. I sadly don't have a page about Tadpoles as they are not something I spent enough time keeping to learn much about. I am sure if you do a search on the Internet for "Keeping Tadpoles" you will get loads of sites come up that can help though. You could also consider Hermit Crabs as pets, and the same people who sell Sea Monkeys used to do these, (they were called "Happy Hermits"). They were interesting too, as you could buy all different shells for them to change over to when they outgrew their existing shells.
Lol when I came to the bit that says "And if you get truly fed up of them you can feed them to your tropical fish"... Tee hee. Glad to see you recovered from the guilt caused by your early spills.
Thanks Mandy, the guilt has worn off now thankfully :)
For Patty: after a couple of unusual really snowy winters, my parents finally bought us a sled when I was about 13 and almost too large to use it. We lived in Oklahoma and never had enough snow for it again until I was 18.
They are a special strain of brine shrimp.
I know this Nicko, and did mention this in the hub, but thanks for commenting.
where can i buy the sea monkeys
Hi Rainey. Click on any of the links above for the Sea-Monkey equipment and it will take you to the site that sells them. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did. :)
lol - Good old Sea Monkeys - I had to grow thousands of them for my dissertation. Sadly, I had to feed them to fish, and did feel a little guilty...
LOL Sufi, what a great comment, yet so tragic at the same time!!!
I have always wondered what a sea-monkey REALLY looked like, thanks for sharing!
I just had a flash back of being 10 years old again...
Thanks for the wonderfully worded hub, I enjoyed reading it with a smile.
Thanks H.C. Porter, they do bring back happy memories don't they. A fun first pet for a young child, as well as being quite fascinating :)
Haha. I remember having one of these when I was a kid. Fun! :)
Thanks for commenting festersporling1, I had several of them as the novelty factor was great once you realised that they weren't going to grow into the cartoon images depicted on the packet, and enjoyed them for what they were :)
spryte says:
14 months ago
I never got to have sea monkeys when I was a kid...but I always wanted to (especially because of that picture!). Instead, my parents bought me that crystal farm thing...I forget what that was called.