The Joy of Seamonkeys
Published September 23, 2004
It's a funny thing. You've seen them in Toys 'R' Us since you were little, but if you've never had them as a child, chances are slim that you'll ever pick a set up. Most people don't even know if they're "real".
Seamonkeys — just a fanciful name for brine shrimp, it would seem. Granted that the name is rather misleading (they are and look nothing like monkeys), would you pick up a packet of eggs off the shelf labelled "shrimp as pets"? The website cites their tails as the reason for why the corporation marketed them under that name; a lame attempt, some might think, at masking just really good packaging skills.
But all profit-making aside, I never thought I'd be quite as caught up with the little critters as I have been. You read about people getting into these things: adults, with families and jobs and some semblance of a life. You can't imagine why someone would want these tiny little things swimming around a plastic tank on their desks.
But when a friend picked a set up for her brother, I thought, what the hell, I'll give it a shot too. I got the set with the little toy castle in the centre of the plastic tank. I followed the instructions (well-written and illustrated) to a T. They seemed to thrive, and I soon found myself with a tank of around 20 adult seamonkeys.
Then it fell to bits; I overfed them once, thinking they might have been starving, and overnight, I was picking up carcasses off the tank floor. All but two were gone. The two, however, consisted of an adult male and female.
Just as I was beginning to get used to the idea of having two seamonkeys flitting about till their eventual death, I noticed soon after that they were mating, and that the female was pregnant. Could this be? A signal that my seamonkey-rearing days weren't over?
And apparently, they aren't. I've spotted, at a go, 6 little baby seamonkeys swimming about. Could be more, only I keep losing count, because of how incredibly tiny (and identical) they are.
But the effect of having these is what I'm amazed at. I realise I'm checking on them when I wake, if I happen to be home in the day, and before I go to bed. They've provided my usually-haphazard schedule with some sort of anchor, some sort of routine, even. And as far as a kid may expend that tiny little bit of energy caring for something, the care that I'm providing for the seamonkeys is exceeding my usual apathy towards these things.
I had a cactus that died of neglect and dehydration.
But this time, I'm actually supplementing my personal blog with their updates. And people write to tell me they're following my online updates on their progress, and so on.
It's just... astonishing. I wouldn't go so far as to say it may be the same as caring for fish, or other aquatic pets, but damn, these shrimp seem to have a personality worth exploring. You just wouldn't know till you pick a set up for yourself.
- The Joy of Seamonkeys
- Published: September 23, 2004
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- Section: Culture
- Writer: Victoria Ho
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I never had sea monkeys as a kid. (I don't know why, just wasn't all that interested. I'm more interested now as an adult, actually.) I never even had an ant farm, because my mom just knew they'd get out and infest the house. I did have tadpoles for a while, but they didn't get out of the phase where they start growing legs, but still have a nub of a tail. I couldn't resist picking one of them up, and when I put him back in the water I noticed him struggling. He stopped moving pretty quickly and when I pulled him out I found a little gash in his side, I can only guess from a finger nail or something. Dogs, cats, I have good luck with them. Anything smaller than that . . . the outlook is pretty grim.
We had seamonkeys once, which I enjoyed a lot. Apparently the housekeeper didn't because she kindly washed out the container and put it, dry and empty, on the shelf.
Tom> Yikes, sorry to hear about the tadpoles. Yeah, I've had very dismal experiences with smaller creatures too. I think the cacti tops it though, it's really quite sad. So I think most of my excitement regarding the seamonkeys is that they're surviving despite my overfeeding -- and in spite of my terrible track record.
Memories flushing in. I saw them being advertised in stuff I read as a kid. They looked like being 'social', as if leading kind of family life.
This is ages, and now I'm reading about it on blogcritics ...
Dirk> Yeah! And they're still being sold now, too. The "social", family thing is a great marketing technique, I have to say. They don't look like they quite care about the others, and the adults don't "look after" their young.
when i first put the seamonkey eggs in the water none hatched and i was really sad but then i woke up the next day and there were about 5 seamonkeys I was so happy. The next day I woke up there was about 10 more I was even happier
:c)
my seamonkeys are mating right now! its funny because somehow all my other ones died and i was just left with these two. this morning when i checked them they were, well... 'bonding'. they are still bonding now! so how do you tell if the girl is pregnant? i am so excited now... im going to be a grandmother! *tear*
LOL! i can't quite remember the details, ashleigh, but i know from experience you can actually "see" her pregnant belly. okay, that's human-speak; you can see her eggs, rather, attached to her front.
i remember being left with two as well, but they got on pretty well, and had children. most luckily, the only two who survived with male and female -- i mean, what are the odds, right? :D
(makes me think about the whole darwin survival thing... hmm.)
My granddaughter wanted these little creatures so of course I bought them for her...somehow ( I dont really remember how it happened exactly!!) I inherited them..they now live on my kitchen table where I can watch them several times a day..I have a male and two females who are constantly pregnant!! I just love them..fascinating...I even keep a magnifying glass on the table so I can watch them more closely..you can actually see the egg "ball" on the back of the females...THEY ARE GREAT!!!
we had loads of sea monkeys, now there are only 3! there seems to be lots of green algae on the bottom of tank, should this be left there? & do we still have to tip back & forth into a jug? I dont know. we have had them about 6 months. HELP!
Actually, no, you're really lucky to have algae on the tanks! Free food for the seamonkeys. Heh. They eat it. It was pretty tough for me to "cultivate" algae for them, and they really love it.
There's a scooper thing you can buy for them that sucks up the algae and sort of feeds it to them. Point is, algae is great. :)
I think this is really cool! It helped me with a science fair project on seamonkeys!
I think this is really cool! It helped me with a science fair project on seamonkeys!
Anya> Thanks! :) Can't believe people are still reading this so long after I posted. Makes me want to restart a set of 'em...
i have many of tiny babie seamonkeys its like more than fitty and my tank came with tha aqua watch where you can take your seamonkeys with you it is so cool you can put them in the aqua watch!!!!! PLUS i see more ever day
this time it is more than fithy in the tank! when their adults i will take them with me in thye aqua watch
sea-monkeys are not brine shrimp. they are an animal all their own. they were created in a lab. you will NEVER find them in the wild, unles someone put them there.
live in india..gettin sea-monkeys from australia.
i was wonderin if u can just let them live on algae and not growth food coz they dont sell growth food in india :( and we dont have a credit card so we can't order the conditions in india are perfect for sea-monkeys and algae coz itz a tropical country..plz ans quickly..thx
Hi
I just wanted to let you know about my new range of products that are compatible with sea monkeys!
For the first time work has been done to find animals that will in fact coexist happily with them. I have two sea snails "teeny winkles" and coco snails that are about the same size as a sea monkey and another shrimp that looks completely different "sea bubbles" all these can be shipped world wide at little cost.
I also have range decorations that suit them too, there a "sea ferns" and colored coral and a large range of pretty gravels that they do well with too.
My favourite new product is these little round things I call Beach Balls that actually expand when they are placed in the tank. They grow from about 2 millimetres to about 6 millimetres in a few hours and the sea monkeys dragons love to play with them. Come and have a look.
john from
Little Aussie Products
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rock out VH! Seamonkeys are a way of life