I received the "Ocean of Wonder" kit at a White Elephant party and thought that it would be great to put it on my desk at work... so I did! The little guys have been doing great and really seem to enjoy the environment they're in. While keeping them, I began keeping information about my experience so I decided to put it all on here for everyone to enjoy.

A little about their care: I feed them about every week and a half and put in plasma about once a month. I try to aerate the water every day or every other day though sometimes it tends to go long periods between this activity. I haven't noticed much difference except that the Monkeys get a little sluggish. Some people have commented about brain damage but I maintain that they were bumping into the walls and tank floor even when I was aerating the water religiously.

Head over to Sea-Monkey Central for more info and fun on these creatures.

01.25.01
I am starting to see some but I really can't tell how many - they wont hold still to be counted no matter how many times I've asked. Best guess about 30 or so...

01.26.01
Okay, I was way off. I see around 9 or 10 now. Maybe I was hallucinating? Maybe they eat each other?

02.06.01
I have 2 adults, 2 adolescents and a bunch of tiny ones - possibly the second generation?

02.15.01
Here is the first clear picture of one of my seamonkeys. (ed. I have some better ones now, see below)

02.21.01
There's around 11 adults and bunch of tiny ones - possibly the third generation already?

03.01.01
I actually have pregnant females!! (fourth generation?) This is the first time that I've seen them pregnant. The mating rituals can get aggressive! I had someone in the office ask why they were following each other so "closely." *sighs*

03.14.01
Uh oh. Many of them have died off and I don't see any females any more (denoted by their abdominal pouch). This generation (fourth by my count) could be the last generation.

03.28.01
Still no new babies and no visible females... things don't look good.

04.06.01
Cleaned up the water a little, aerated it and gave them a double dose of plasma.

04.09.01
Hurrah!! Actual pregnant females again! There are even visible infants! Whew!! By my count, this is the fifth generation.

04.18.01
Not many of the infants made it to adolescence. I wonder if they're eaten for food or if they die off because the ecology can't support that many. I currently have eight adults (two females) and no visible infants. I do have pregnant females so I'll possibly have a sixth generation soon.

04.21.01
Some more infants are swimming around but I don't see many. It appears that one of the females is on her way out. I've noticed that the Monkeys tend to "flounder" around on the bottom of the tank before they die. I don't know why this is because they seem to exhibit the same amount of swimming movements as the other "healthy" ones - their movements don't seem to be inhibited in any way. Indeed, I can stir the water a little and they dying ones will rouse themselves from the floor to swim against the current only to return to the floor once the water settles again. Maybe they don't like their dead carcass to float in the water after they die? Possibly a mechinism whereby they keep the water clean for the others? The other oddity is that I no longer see any of the carcasses in the muck at the bottom which kind of grosses me out... let's not speculate on what happened to them, okay?

05.16.01
I currently have 4 adults, 2 "new" adults (recent adults), and about 20 infants. The adults are 4 females (all pregnant) and 2 males. They seem to be going strong. I lost the little guy that I termed "my bull" - he was rather large and had a huge set of forearms... he was also horny as hell! Everytime I saw him, he was on a female. It was rather a sad day when he disappeared. I say disappeared because I certainly didn't see him die or his carcass float to the bottom.... maybe the females got tired of him. I can't even begin to guess the generation at this point. Seventh maybe?

Here's a new picture of the tank.

05.22.01
I'm going nuts! I've purchased two new kits for my SeaMonkeys (I don't have them here right now, however). I'm going to try an experiment with the new tanks, I'll have more on that later. Right now I have around 10 adolescents and 6 adults. I haven't seen many new babies lately but there's a "whole lotta shakin going on," so I expect some soon.

05.29.01
There appears to be something wrong with the water; the debris is 'floating' rather than settling to the bottom and the sea-monkeys don't appear to be very energetic (yes, I've aerated the water). I think I bought the new tanks just in time.

07.26.01
Sorry I haven't had an update lately... I've been well meaning but never could seem to find the time. Now I sit with heavy heart and regret to announce the death of my small World of Wonder (tm). This past Monday afternoon, my small friends plunged to their death. I didn't have a backup tank ready so I had to stand idly by and watch them suffocate in the open air. My consoling fact is that I seem to be among the few that have been able to keep them alive for a significant amount of time - 6 months (according to some of the websites on the 'net that actually mention Sea Monkeys). I still have my two new tanks that I haven't done anything with so sometime soon, I'll be back with another tank of Sea Monkey fun!

For those keeping track, I believe that I was well into the 12th generation or so. I had five adults and a swarm of small infants.

08.14.01
New birth! That's right - I've set up my new tank and hatched a new brood. I see quite a few of them wiggling around in there but its still too early to tell how many.

08.17.01
First feeding. I've been leaving the tank undisturbed for a few days so that my new family will grow on their own. Until today of course... time for their first feeding. Best counts put the number of monkeys at around 40!! This new brood and new tank are great! I'll try to get a picture of the new tank up soon.

09.08.01
I know - I haven't updated this page in awhile. I got quite a scare about a week ago. I looked at the tank (I've been feeding them regularly) and there were no SeaMonkeys! After looking at it for a bit I noticed that many of them were very low in the water - on the tank floor even - and were very sluggish. Oops - time to aerate! Its a little harder with the new tank but I was able to get a "Million Bubbles" (TM) wand and the Monkeys are doing much better. Whew! I think they overpopulated the tank with their initial hatching because many of them died off but the number seems to have stabalized around 10. So far, I'm still on the first generation - no new broods yet but I'm keeping an eye out.

I was looking through the manual and it was talking about keeping the tank out of direct sunlight but to tell the truth, I think they love it. My old tank was doing excellent and they got sunlight every morning for about four hours. Unfortunately, that's where the tank was when it got dumped last time so I'm going to have to find a new place to put it besides just on my desk.

Sorry - still no new pictures but I hope to have one soon.

09.20.01
I don't seem to be keeping you, the reader, as up to date on my new tank as I was with the old one. I've just been busy at work and I don't get to devote as much time to this tank as I was the other one.

I think I have four monkeys left but some will soon be on the way! Today I found two of them mating! Maybe I'll finally have a second generation. Once I see the new babies, I'll let you know.

09.25.01
I'm down to three monkeys. It looks like two females and one male. I know they were mating and I think the male has mated with both of the females (they're different sizes) so hopefully, I can keep them alive long enough for them to spawn.

If you're keeping track, this is still the first generation.

Oh yeah! Finally - a picture of the new tank!

10.10.01
I'm now down to two monkeys. I know that one of them is a pregnant female so there's still hope. I have a rough idea on the gestation period and it should be any day now but I still have yet to see some new infants.

10.29.01
Babies! I finally have some infants! I'm still down to two and they both appear to be pregnant females but I do see some infants swimming around in there now so maybe they wont be alone anymore. A word for those of you with the same "Martian landscape" tank that I have (see the link above), don't leave the magnifing glass top on all the time. It was causing all kinds of problems with the tank.

2.27.02
Finally, an update, I know! Previously, I didn't have a problem with sunlight and the tank but now, I'm having a big problem with algae. It almost seems like a cancerous weed. Unfortunately, I'm down to one Sea-Monkey and he's a he so it looks like the end of the line for this tank. I'll have to pick up another kit and start over soon but I'm going to wait it out and see what this guy does. I've seen rumors that a tank will "change" according to the environment so I'm curious to see what will happen. Likely, I'll just have a floater but stay tuned.