Triop World Nick Baker Instructions - Interplay

two long tails of this species;longi = long, caudata = tail.Designed forchildren byNature ExpertsYour Triops can grow to 7-8cm long but moreusually 4-5 cm is expected from the Long-Tailedspecies. The British species can grow even biggerand sometimes reach over 10cm in length.Like all arthropods (a group which includes theinsects, arachnids, crustaceans, centipedes andmillipedes) Triops have a skeleton on the outsidecalled an exoskeleton. This is very useful asit acts almost like a suit of armour protectingall the soft and delicate bits inside but thedownside is it needs to be taken off and moultedif the animal is to grow. Your Triops will moultmany times in its life cycle, each time gettingbigger and bigger. You will see evidence of thisprocess in the pale clear washed out lookingskins left behind in your tank.I tend to leave mine in place and in time theywill soften up and get eaten and recycled bytheir previous owners! You can however carefullyremove the empty skins when you fi nd them(use a spoon) and then if you are very careful,pop them on a piece of absorbent kitchen paper,W O R L Dand using a pin you can arrange it nicely andthen let it dry out until crispy - you now haveyour own souvenir Triop exoskeleton.If your Triops have trouble moulting it maybebecause they don’t have enough of a chemicalcalled iodine in their diet. This can be easilyrectifi ed by simply adding a bit of pond weedto the tank or a small piece of kelp tablet(available from chemists or health food stores)Watch your Triops feeding, they grovel aroundin the sand and any detritus in the tank andas they do so they rapidly wave their limbs,particularly the ones towards the back whichare fl attened and paddle shaped. These setup currents in the water and food is thendrawn into the groove on the underside ofthe Triop’s body and passed up the middletowards the mouth.137957 Triop World Instructions.indd 14 19/11/2012 10:17