Sea-Monkeys® Instant Life - World's Only Instant Pets® - Ages 6+ (Pack of 1)

These seem to take quite awhile to hatch, so be patient

Nothing hatched. Reorder a second pack followed all instructions both times. Again nothing. Waste of money and disappointed.

After having a mixed experience with the tiny 10oz Sea Monkeys kit I decided to use a far larger tank (1.5 gallons) and the results were astonishing. It's very easy to mix your own water (just get Instant Ocean salt, distilled water and a cheap hydrometer at 28-32 ppm), a 10-15 watt adjustable heater @ 74-80F (this is important or the eggs will not hatch), a small air pump* and off you go. Do not use any type of filter as brine shrimp are filter feeders and the food needs to stay in suspension. Brine shrimp are very adaptable to water conditions so you don't need much to provide optimum conditions, just consistency. They grow much faster than with the tiny kit tank and started reproducing by the second week. I now have over 20 adult critters and countless babies three weeks later. The advantages of a larger tank are numerous: it's easier to keep a constant temperature, it is much less stressful to the shrimp when doing weekly 10% water changes and it's easier for the kids to see them. Using your own tank is more expensive than the $20 kit (I spent about $75) but you'll have a self-sustaining tank that can last for years, not 3-4 months like the kit. *(edit) Do not use an airstone, the tiny bubbles produced can interfere with their respiration. Use an open airline tube with a adjustable valve to provide 2-3 bubbles a second. This will provide enough turbulence to promote oxygen exchange without unduly disturbing the shrimp. *July 2024 Update* The tank is still going strong with hundreds of adults and hordes of little ones. Brine shrimp will slow down reproduction once the tank reaches its limits so you needn't worry about overcrowding. Tank algae is a problem once you have a large population so weekly 10-15% water changes are extremely important to reduce nitrate levels. No one likes mucky green aquarium water.

Love it for the kids

Awesome product. The monkeys are fun and interesting to watch. I wouldnt buy them in winter, or in the colder months, because sometimes the sea monkeys have trouble hatching or won't hatch at all. If you have a heater for them then they'll be fine. I recommend a bubblier too, so you don't have to do it by hand every day.

I bought a kit. No one hatched. Thinking maybe we got a bad batch, I bought a second one. Out twice the money and not a critter to be found. Dont waste your money.

I wanted this to be a gift for a friends kids. Problem was it doesn’t come with a tank or jar or anything. I went under the “buy again” option as I got this same “kit” last year but it came with a house for them. Now my friend has to shop for a container. It’s like buying a gift the kids can’t use right away because it needs batteries. I will say this is the best hatch rate I’ve ever seen in all the many many kids I’ve bought.

Didn’t get to do it

I bought these in August to make a custom sea monkey tank. My tank is 0.5 gallons, but ended up being a bit less than that once I filled it with water. The packets are good for 10 oz to 12 oz of water, so I used 5 packages for my tank. I put all of the packets in my tank following the instructions carefully, saw a couple of baby sea monkeys and then they died and nothing else happened. The tank had also turned quite green after adding the egg packets. I was bummed, but thought I'd leave the tank to see what happened. Saw one more hatch a while later, it died, so I left it again. Fast forward to early November when my tank was over half evaporated and I was waiting for it to fully evaporate so I could try refilling it to trigger a second hatching (as I saw mentioned online). Looked in and to my surprise there were two almost adult sea monkeys in there with a few more babies besides! I was in a bit of a conundrum as the tank was now over half evaporated, and I was planning on pulling out the gravel on the bottom as I read after the fact that they can get trapped in that and die. I ended up pulling out all of the gravel even with them in there, surprisingly they made it through fine and then I started topping up the water incrementally so as not to change it too quickly on them. They're doing fantastic now, and there are loads of babies coming along! I'm so thrilled. So don't give up if your tank doesn't do anything right away. I didn't feed my tank at all since first starting it, though I was aerating periodically. I still haven't fed my tank actually, because the water is still cloudy as there was so much food in there from the start. I can't comment on the more recent reviews of bad packets, mine came in perfect condition and were shipped with Canada Post with no issues.

Eggs didn't hatch

Bought two packs and neither hatched. Have had sea monkeys for 2 years so do know how to hatch. Bought two packs to start a new one, but nothing at all hatched.

Sea Monkeys are so cute and entertaining. They are a wonderful “low maintenance” pet, and will thrive if cared for correctly. This kit doesn’t come with a tank, which means if you don’t already have an Ocean Zoo tank, you need to measure out the correct amount of room temperature distilled water. Each pack of water purifier works for 12oz of water. The purifier adds the correct amount of salt needed for these little fellas to survive. The second important thing is water temperature. My tank stays at 25°C , and I had eggs hatching in less than 24 hours of adding them to the water. Not all the eggs hatch at the same time, be patient! Use a small aquarium thermometer to monitor the temperature. Aerate the tank! A small pipette to make bubbles is the perfect thing, do this a couple times a day to keep the tank oxygenated. Follow the feeding guide, keep the tank out of direct light, and your new friends will thrive happily. They don’t need any tank decorations, however if you want to use some, make sure it’s aquarium safe. They might not all survive, if you notice they all disappear after a few days, don’t get discouraged or give up! Check the temperature, aerate the tank, and stay patient, more eggs will hatch. :)

Only a dozen or so hatched but they lived a long time. Eventually the cat knocked it onto the floor.