Sea monkeys are popular pets aimed mainly at children but are suitable for all ages. They are small, they are cute and they are easy to take care off.

So the question is, what are they?. Let us start with what their called, sea monkeys.

A gentlemen by the name of Harold Von Braunhut patented the name "sea monkeys" in 1957.

Do you remember those quirky advertisements on comic books about 20 years ago?.

Almost all those ads were put there by Von Braunhut. A genius at mail order marketing, he was the one that was placing most of those ads on comic books back then.

Besides marketing these creatures as "sea monkeys", he is also famous for a few classics such as the famous X-Ray Specs. With the emergence of the internet as a marketing tool, he soon set up his own website to sell from.

But back to the first question, what are sea monkeys?.

Sea monkeys are a very primitive crustacean that live mainly in bodies of saline water.

These creatures are not only important in aquaculture but are also common throughout the aquarium industry.

They are sold as eggs off the shelf which are then put in saltwater where they will hatch within 24 hours.

Newly hatched sea monkeys have a yolk sac that will feed them for the first 12 hours.

As state earlier, they are sold in egg form but live brine shrimp can also be purchased mainly from pet shops.

The eggs are dumped into a container holding saltwater (salt is usually included with the sea monkeys).

Some form of circulation like an air pump is used to keep the eggs suspended and they usually hatch after 24 hours.

They are born with a yolk sac that will last about a day. After that they require food that is small enough for them to consume.

Small packets of sea monkes are sold seperately and to tell you the truth, i have no idea what they contain.

As a marine aquarium hobbyists however, i can tell you what else they'll eat. Phytoplankton (live or died powder form), yeast, crushed flake food, cyclopeeze, basically anything that is small enough for them to consume. Breeders usually use newly hatched seamonkeys to feed the larvae of a wide variety of fishes and invertabrates.

Read more :- Artemia, Brine Shrimp