If you grew up reading comic books, then you’re probably familiar with the ads they had for sea monkies – right next to the x-ray specs and pet rocks! When I was 10, I got a set of sea monkies for my birthday, along with an ant farm – my very first pets! Sadly, I didn’t have much luck with either, despite my tender loving care. I got maybe 1 or two brine shrimp growing, who soon perished. I remember filling in the “Sea monkey insurance” form for another packet of eggs, which I don’t think I ever tried to hatch. (My ant farm also met its demise when they gorged themselves to death on a few granules of sugar that 10-year-old-me thought would be a nice little treat for them.)
Jai, on the other hand, is Mr. Aquariums, so I actually bought him a brine shrimp kit a few years back just for fun. He had no problem keeping a thriving little colony going, so when I had the chance to review a complimentary set of Aqua Dragons, I thought this would be a fun little project for him, since we’ve been planning on getting an aquarium of some sorts going and brine shrimp can be a good addition to that!
We received two sets: An Aqua Dragons Deep Sea Habitat with LED lights and a Aqua Dragons Underwater World in tray. The packaging has cartoon brine shrimp on the cover, which are a little cuter than real brine shrimp, but nowhere near as over-the-top as the packages you used to see that boasted human-like creatures waiting to play baseball with you! 😉 The sets are cute, and we particularly liked the LED version, since it allows you to illuminate the case at night to more easily watch the brine shrimp swimming along.
We went through the familiar process of adding the egg packet to the water and stirring. Sure enough, we saw the brine shrimp pop up within 48 hours are promised, and a week and a half later, we have a healthy little population swimming around – way better luck than when I was 10. 😉 Jai actually decided to put the other batch in a fish tank that we have in our bathroom, since we want to get a little goldfish for it soon. Although that population is not being grown in its Aqua Dragons case, it’s still doing great.
I’m no Jacques Cousteau, so photographing our shrimp proved somewhat challenging, but they’re in there, I promise you!
For more on Aqua Dragons, check them out on Facebook.
Did you have a set of brine shrimp as a kid?
I never had brine shrimp but I always wanted some of those Sea Monkeys when I was a kid. What a cool kit. I think the kids would like this too.
Ha! I always wanted to buy those sea monkey kits!! This looks way cooler, I might have to get one for my toddler! He would love it
this looks like so much fun we always liked sea monkeys too.
Oh how fun is this! My son would adore one of these sets!
i never had these as a kid but they look like fun!
I never had brine shrimp but I had most every other pet you can think of! My boys have asked for something similar to this but I am unsure if I want to deal with it. LOL! Great review!
that is a blast from the past
Wow! I forgot all about these..Thanks for sharing!
Lol…my husband is a comic collector so I’ve seen tons of ads for sea monkies. I’ve never seen anyone that actually got them going…Yay for Jai!
I wonder is my kiddos would enjoy a bit of nostalgia?
I want this so that I can use it with my son!
my son wants these critters so badly! I keep telling him I have enough pets already but he things they are so cool!