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What to Do About Sea Monkey Eggs Not Hatching

What to Do About Sea Monkey Eggs Not Hatching

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The purpose of this blog is to share general information and is written to the author's best knowledge. It is not intended to be used in place of veterinary advice. For health concerns, please seek proper veterinary care. In addition, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sea monkeys are a type of aquarium pet that many people like to keep in their homes. They’re actually a hybrid breed of brine shrimp known as Artemia NYOS that was invented in the ’50s, and they’ve been marketed in hatching kits as a novelty ever since.

You might have recently purchased some sea monkeys to hatch, but it’ll be a bit alarming if things aren’t going as they’re supposed to. You’re supposed to be able to place the eggs in water and have them hatch, but what if things aren’t going as planned?

Well, there are actually several potential issues that you might have to address. Keep reading to learn about the reasons why sea monkey eggs will have problems hatching and what you can do to fix things.

1 – You Used the Wrong Amount of Water

Fishbowl Filled With Water and Decor

It’s actually more important to use the specific amount of water requested in the instructions than you would initially think. Some people will just fill a tank with water that seems as if it’s about as much as the instructions asked for.

If you use too much water or too little water, then it could throw things off quite a bit. You might assume that your miscalculation has ruined things and that you’ll need to buy new sea monkeys, but this isn’t the case either.

Generally, a mistake when measuring the water is going to lead to a delay. This means that the sea monkeys could still hatch, but it might take longer than it normally would.

You should be patient and give it a couple of days to see what happens. In the end, everything might work out fine despite your little mistake.

Next time that you try to hatch sea monkeys, it’s going to be a good idea to meticulously measure the water. This will make it so that you’ll have a much smoother experience.

2 – You Used Water That Has Too Many Chemicals in it

There is a possibility that you might have used water that has too many chemicals in it. Some people have tap water that contains chemicals that could throw off the process of the sea monkeys hatching.

This is why most sea monkey enthusiasts recommend using distilled water instead. If you use distilled water, then you’re going to have an easier time getting the sea monkeys to hatch in a timely fashion.

It just makes it so the sea monkeys have the ideal conditions to hatch and go about things as normal. This doesn’t mean that tap water can’t be used, though, and you can also use spring water if that’s what you happen to have.

If you’ve used tap water and the sea monkeys aren’t hatching, then it could be a case where you just need to wait some more. Give it some time to see if there are any changes and ensure that you’ve followed the rest of the instructions properly.

3 – The Sea Monkeys Aren’t Getting Enough Heat

Electric Blanket Controls Against Blue Electric Blanket

Heat is a key component that will help the sea monkeys to hatch, but the aquarium that you’re using might not be getting enough of it. If you’re having a tough time heating up the aquarium, then you might not be able to hatch the eggs until you solve the issue.

Placing the aquarium in the sunlight might help it to heat up to the required temperature. Some people have also used things such as heating pads to help warm aquariums up so that sea monkeys could hatch.

Sometimes just moving the location of the tank is enough to get things hot enough. You might have your tank in a cool spot of your home that isn’t ideal right now.

Consider what you can do to provide the necessary heat for the sea monkeys to hatch. This is a very common issue, and it’s one that can be solved without it being too big of a deal.

4 – You Followed the Instructions Wrong

Following the instructions wrong can lead to issues when trying to hatch sea monkeys, too. The most common error that people make when misreading the instructions is that they add the two packets that they receive to the water at the same time.

Generally, sea monkey hatching kits come with two packets, and you’re supposed to add one to the water and then wait a day to add the second packet. If you added both packets at once, then things aren’t going to happen on time.

Basically, the first packet that you use is to purify the water, and you’re supposed to wait for a day to then add packet two. Some kits say that it can take up to 36 hours for the water to be purified, though, and this means that it might be necessary to wait longer than a day to add the second packet.

Thankfully, making a mistake such as this and adding both packets at once doesn’t mean that your sea monkeys won’t hatch at all. It just means that the schedule has been thrown off.

Instead of seeing the sea monkeys hatch on time, it’s going to take an extra day or so. You should just set things aside for a day and then come back to see if the sea monkeys are hatching.

5 – You Actually Just Failed to Notice the Sea Monkeys

Brine Shrimp Swimming in Water

Many people underestimate how small sea monkeys are as well. Sometimes they hatch and people don’t notice because of how small they are.

It’s possible that the sea monkeys did hatch and you just haven’t looked closely enough to spot them in the tank. They should appear as tiny little dots in the tank, and not all of the sea monkeys will hatch at once.

Take a good look at your tank and try to see if you notice any specks that might be the sea monkeys. It’s possible that some of them may have hatched without you noticing.

If this isn’t the case, then you might just need to exercise a bit more patience. Turn to the advice above to see if there’s anything that you did wrong that needs to be remedied.

Once your sea monkeys are hatched, be sure to feed them properly with their first meal about 5 days after hatching.

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