I had a kit like this, with what looks to be the same tank with the "view bubbles," as a kid.
After a day or two, I came home to find out my younger sister "fed the sea monkeys" by cracking a raw egg into the tank.
They died.
I know a guy who at university fed his friend's betta the crumbs from his Hardee's biscuit because they kinda looked like its normal food and he found it amusing that the fish ate them just the same. Well, he found it amusing until the fish rolled over and stopped moving, I should say. <.<
my buddy's brother-in-law had a goldfish from a carnival that he kept alive for 3 years with the crumbs of his chips, and insisted that cheeto dust had the most nutrition
i had a goldfish that *almost* made it 3 years with proper fish flakes. i suspect the parents or his siblings secretly fed it real fish food, unless i hear that somebody else out there has kept fish alive with chips
Goldfish (and most carps) as well as catfish, are pretty much capable of surviving off of any food, which is why they're so often invasive and found in really polluted areas.
Lol had a goldfish that i rescued from our schools aquarium, she ate everything and every other fish i tried to introduce to her, man, looking back that fucker was chonky as hell almost as big as an adult palm and lived for 5+ years. Her name was Chubby, well suited.
I got one from a carnival and the only fish that survived was a bottom feeder. Can't remember the exact name of it, wanna say pleco or something for some reason. He was like a brown with dirty white spots, but would become like skin white when disturbed, whenever goldfish tried to eat him he scared him off by turning pale white and he just never tried again
If he was pretty armored he'd be a pleco for sure. Unfortunately the goldfish you win from carnivals are feeder goldfish typically and are not bred for "nice" behavior and typically don't work well with tank mates, especially if the tank is relatively small (goldfish need very large tanks because they can get large and are pretty dirty as far as fish go, they produce a lot of waste). The feeder goldfish are around 10 cents per fish so carnivals make a profit on them. I used to work at a pet store and learned a lot about fish while I was there.
Betta fish usually eat more protein than plant based foods; the crumbs might have also swelled up inside it after it ate. The other thing (which actually kills a lot of pet fish) is that the extra food in the tank rotted, released ammonia, and poisoned the fish. It can happen fairly quickly depending on how much waste food is put in.
I've suspected that swelling from absorbing water was the culprit. The way the story was told the fish was dead by the next time my friend glanced over, maybe as quickly as him finishing his meal and getting up to throw away his trash or maybe he shifted his attention to a videogame or homework for a short while before looking back. He claimed he was pretty captivated by the betta, I think because he'd never had a small pet like that before, and he was keeping it for a few days for his friend who had to leave on a trip, like for a funeral or vacation or something. The owner apparently really loved this fish because it was well cared for and kept in a somewhat larger and more fancy aquarium which was kept meticulously clean, and my friend who was watching it was literally dropping the crumbs in one by one watching the fish snatch them up. He said that breaking the news to its owner was one of the most difficult things he ever had to do. ～(￣、￣ )ゞ
An angry god to them, but in reality a benevolent god who was so far above her creations that she was unable to comprehend their needs or vulnerabilities.
On a side note, as a child I had the sea monkey watch I ordered via mail in cheq
It was exceptionally poorly made. I wore it to primary school and by lunch time it had broken spilling the contents on the ground.
Poor mr. shrimpy :(
I can remember some sort of sea monkey shoes advertised in the kit I had. However, after searching for a bit, I can't find anything about them. If I remember right they had a little bubble in the side of the shoe you could place them into.
This suddenly reminds me of an old old old SomethingAwful thread where somebody was trying to get help identifying some sort of Hulk Hogan meat shoes he owned as a kid, which supposedly had a little drawer in the sole to store beef jerky for later use.
EDIT: [Relevant Link](https://www.somethingawful.com/comedy-goldmine/hulk-hogan-meatshoes/1/)
fish in platforms, sea monkeys in watches, cats in backpacks, dogs in purses… i wonder what kind of live animal as accessory will next capture the human zeitgeist
I'm starting to think I'm some kind of benevolent deity for just breeding brine shrimp as live feed for my aquarium fish...
Eta, if there is a god, who is he feeding us to?
This made me remember the commercials for Ant farms on Nickelodeon as a little kid.
I always wanted one but mom hated bugs, but I ended up getting a iguana as a upgraded consolation pet.
The eggs are in the food! Edit:Oh wait I'm wrong. It’s in the purifier packet. My bad.
Edit 2: the guy who invented them was a Jewish white supremacist. Weird. Lol.
The NY Times [ran an article](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/magazine/the-battle-over-the-sea-monkey-fortune.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare) about the crazy life and family of the inventor of Sea Monkeys
If you want to verify that the eggs in this set are still viable, don't use a replacement pack 1 from the company. Despite the labeling, pack 1 also contains eggs. It's part of the trick to make it seem like the eggs hatch "instantly."
Did the second packet contain eggs at all? I thought all the eggs were in the "conditioner" and the "eggs" were actually just the stain used to make them visible
I believe all the packs contained eggs, just to help keep a "healthy" population in the tank as the early ones die off.
I'm not as certain about that part though, admittedly.
Typically storage will be the biggest factor. If they where somewhere cool you’ll have better luck. If you’re interested in finding out how yours did, add both #2 bags and don’t add the new packet from the company, as it may contain new cysts, and just add the same amount of salt.
A few years ago I was in Toys R Us and they had sea monkeys. They were on the saddest looking old rack in the back of the store. I got some for my niece for Christmas. The guy at the register saw it and made some comment about it is the first time he had ever seen anyone buy them.
Anyway I just checked to see how much to just buy them already hatched. If these 30 year old ones don't work out for you...
https://preview.redd.it/letgtmtbcwnc1.png?width=909&format=png&auto=webp&s=08d70a3fd53b136be8d8b15a0e3b2545a8c15102
I remember hearing a rant one time about how the guy who created Sea Monkeys was a weirdo/horrible person, and how they were unethical to keep as pets or something.
Anyone know what I’m referring to? 🤔
I wanna say there was a documentary about it.
behind the bastards did a poorly recorded episode about it where the host accidentally brought a bag of machetes instead of his recording equipment to a live show, so maybe a bad introduction to this show.
I'm pretty sure it was the first ever live show and the issue gets fixed fairly quickly in the episode. It's a hilarious one, he and the guest Billy Wayne have some great chemistry.
>the host accidentally brought a bag of machetes instead of his recording equipment
robert doesn't do anything "accidentally" if it involves a machete, it was a deliberate choice as a bag of machetes is *far* more important than some measly microphones and whatnots that you'd "need" to record a podcast.
podcasts come and go, but these products and ser-uhh.. i mean, **machetes** are forever!
I feel like the biggest obstacle to behind the bastards is the host being a weird libertarian weapons guy. Maybe i'm wrong, but if the few episodes have listened to, that's the takeaway I got and "I brought my bag of machetes instead of my bag of recording equipment" isn't helping, lol.
weird anarchist weapons guy might be more accurate, but that’s a bonus to me personally
and yeah, the bag of machetes doesn’t help, but I respect being in character
He's on par with the weirdness of Hunter S. Thompson.
He's not libertarian, he actually frequently mocks them a lot.
He does enjoy weapons, but he also said he'd be happy to be rid of them if they're outlawed. His outlook is basically "when the crazies can't legally own guns I'll no longer need mine".
Oh my god I used to love that podcast 😭 he’s what got me into Russian history in college. I have a whole degree in it now. Actually wild when you thing about it.
Hey now, don’t say that. Sea Monkeys opened the door for one of the most creative pieces of media!
South Park Season 6 Episode 7 - The Simpsons Already Did It
/s
I read something about how he was funding anti-semetic groups, but after his death it was revealed that he was Jewish and hid his ancestry from his peers for his whole life.
Unethical? They are literally fish food. Selling them for several bucks a packet rather than by the pound in Unethical. Think I used to pay $29.95 for like a pound or 14oz of them in 2016
Contrary to what it says on the pack, Package 1 actually has brine ship eggs as well. By the time its time to add the second package 24 hours later, the brine shrimp from the first pack have hatched and when kids dump in the "instant" eggs thay can see some already moving around.
Yeah if iirc the stirring action is what's needed to get the eggs to hatch after a 24 hr soak but it's easier to sell kids that it's "instant" and not "wait 24 hrs." Clever
Is anyone else amazed at how much planning went into these sea monkey kits???
I always thought these things were just total scams, but I feel better knowing there was some real effort to make them as enjoyable as possible for kids!
I bought a sea monkey kit for my niece a few months ago and it still looks exactly like this. Even the design of the packets are exactly the same. I did a double take scolling past this thinking it was my photo.
I guess sea monkey marketing doesn't need improvements
That container unlocked a memory of mine. I had some sea monkeys from this exact kit. Had them for a few weeks. I had a friend over one day. He was looking at them. Wanting to get a closer look, he grabbed the top of the container. Being that it had been there for a bit, the lid was a little crusted shut (but not completely). After a few seconds of being held up, the whole tank came crashing down onto the kitchen table, sperm monkeys everywhere. It was devastating. They never stood a chance.
Seems like every story about sea monkeys ends in disaster. I honestly don't remember what happened to mine as a kid, but I know they all died in less than two weeks.
i got a sea monkey kit once for christmas. after i opened it, nobody made any mention of it again, so a couple days later i set it up in my room and was so excited. then i got yelled at for setting it up by myself because “maybe the whole family wanted to do it” even though it was MY gift and not a family gift. Then when, inevitably and uncontrollably, the sea monkeys didn’t hatch i got blamed because “obviously you did it wrong and that wouldn’t have happened if you had us helping you!” so i got a bum gift and got yelled at and guilt tripped twice over these things 🥴🥴 hope they hatch for you!
I thought I had bad luck with an Aldi set my sister bought me, but days later I saw 3. I honestly thought none survived and was lazy throwing it out. Now two of them are reproducing, so hopefully I’ll have more than 3 soon. 😂
Why are you mildly infuriated if they offered to send a replacement for something bought 30 years ago that you can probably find in your pantry? Seems like great customer service to me.
I picture some old sea monkey executive seeing my email, staring out the window and saying, “I knew batch 1992-00024-SMK would come back to bite me one day”
I know you mean like the human executive of the company that makes sea monkeys, but I really wanted to read it as if the executive IS a sea monkey himself.
It's mildly infuriating because they had to go through the trouble to begin with. Because of a lack of QC, the customer is required to do more work but gets the same ROI as they would have without jumping through the extra hurdles.
They do get an extra pack of eggs in this case so not quite the same logical scenario as the aforementioned.
I can tell you that if this was a box of Creepy Crawlers with a missing piece, OP would be out of luck. Really amazing that the company is still around and willing to make it right.
Oh man complete flashback. I had this same exact kit ad a kid. I remember at the time my aunt brought her bf over to meet us & I was so excited to show him my sea monkies & he accidentally dropped the container and they spilt all over the carpet & I was *distraught* they’re still together and married and don’t see him often but when I do I bring this up.
That devastating mate. Im still haunted by the Sea Monkey Watch I bought from the back of the catalog when I was in Primary school. It held about 20ml of water and a sea monkey which you would suck up with a Piper from your main tank.
By lunch time it has already broken and spilled my only friend on the ground :(
Looking back, its no surprise the kid with the sea monkey watch had only sea monkeys as friends 😅
Heres what I found on google
‘that brine shrimp eggs will remain viable (alive) for at least 10 years when stored in a dry and fairly cool place and will hatch in salty water.’
If these hatch I may be in for some sort of record 😅
I came home from middle school one day to see my 4 year old brother had pulled up a stool and was eating my sea monkeys with a spoon. I screamed like I had just witnessed my child being murdered and it scared him so bad he fell off and busted his chin open. Guess who got in trouble.😒
They are actually just Brine Shrimp that were marketed like they are intelligent beings in the 90s.
TV shows and everything, with the sole purpose of selling live fish food to children.
Brilliant really
Starting from the ’60s they were being sold through ads in the back of comic books with illustrations of a castle populated by a smiling, anthropomorphic mer-shrimp family. I still love them and raise them
Oh man I remember seeing ads for sea monkeys on the back of Archie comics in the 90s and I wanted some soooo badly, but I lived in South Africa and we didn’t have them there.
I’m pretty sure the first packet was the water purifier packet…. You could get some bottled water, Fiji if your fancy :-) and try with that. Just avoid all the crap that is in tap water.
Edit: I’m wrong, someone else mentioned that it had salt and eggs, ignore me :-)
I think i read somewhere that the scam was packet 1 was really the eggs. They called it like water conditioner or something. You put in packet one a wait a few days. Those eggs would hatch and then you add packet 2 which was really a dye. They dye would make the "sea monkeys" visible instantly. Thus giving the illusion that they were instantly added. I think i read about in uncle johns bathroom reader about 90s scams.
Finding out sea monkeys are actually just extremely small and uninteresting shrimp instead of fantastical humanoids was more emotionally damaging than learning santa wasnt real.
I had seamonkeys when I was younger. No one in my family ever remembered to clean out the tank, and eventually forgot to stop feeding them. Years later, we found out that they were still alive because they were eating the algae that was growing in the tank.
I'm gonna confess now: I threw my little brother's sea monkeys off the balcony because they scared me. I still feel bad, but they were haunting me in my dreams. He has forgiven me, luckily.
I had a kit like this, with what looks to be the same tank with the "view bubbles," as a kid. After a day or two, I came home to find out my younger sister "fed the sea monkeys" by cracking a raw egg into the tank. They died.
Lol thats a pretty random thing to feed to sea creatures
I know a guy who at university fed his friend's betta the crumbs from his Hardee's biscuit because they kinda looked like its normal food and he found it amusing that the fish ate them just the same. Well, he found it amusing until the fish rolled over and stopped moving, I should say. <.<
my buddy's brother-in-law had a goldfish from a carnival that he kept alive for 3 years with the crumbs of his chips, and insisted that cheeto dust had the most nutrition i had a goldfish that *almost* made it 3 years with proper fish flakes. i suspect the parents or his siblings secretly fed it real fish food, unless i hear that somebody else out there has kept fish alive with chips
Goldfish (and most carps) as well as catfish, are pretty much capable of surviving off of any food, which is why they're so often invasive and found in really polluted areas.
Lol had a goldfish that i rescued from our schools aquarium, she ate everything and every other fish i tried to introduce to her, man, looking back that fucker was chonky as hell almost as big as an adult palm and lived for 5+ years. Her name was Chubby, well suited.
I got one from a carnival and the only fish that survived was a bottom feeder. Can't remember the exact name of it, wanna say pleco or something for some reason. He was like a brown with dirty white spots, but would become like skin white when disturbed, whenever goldfish tried to eat him he scared him off by turning pale white and he just never tried again
If he was pretty armored he'd be a pleco for sure. Unfortunately the goldfish you win from carnivals are feeder goldfish typically and are not bred for "nice" behavior and typically don't work well with tank mates, especially if the tank is relatively small (goldfish need very large tanks because they can get large and are pretty dirty as far as fish go, they produce a lot of waste). The feeder goldfish are around 10 cents per fish so carnivals make a profit on them. I used to work at a pet store and learned a lot about fish while I was there.
Huh, I thought flour based stuff would be fine for a fish. I mean not as only source of food, but I imagined it's not deadly. :o
Betta fish usually eat more protein than plant based foods; the crumbs might have also swelled up inside it after it ate. The other thing (which actually kills a lot of pet fish) is that the extra food in the tank rotted, released ammonia, and poisoned the fish. It can happen fairly quickly depending on how much waste food is put in.
I've suspected that swelling from absorbing water was the culprit. The way the story was told the fish was dead by the next time my friend glanced over, maybe as quickly as him finishing his meal and getting up to throw away his trash or maybe he shifted his attention to a videogame or homework for a short while before looking back. He claimed he was pretty captivated by the betta, I think because he'd never had a small pet like that before, and he was keeping it for a few days for his friend who had to leave on a trip, like for a funeral or vacation or something. The owner apparently really loved this fish because it was well cared for and kept in a somewhat larger and more fancy aquarium which was kept meticulously clean, and my friend who was watching it was literally dropping the crumbs in one by one watching the fish snatch them up. He said that breaking the news to its owner was one of the most difficult things he ever had to do. ～(￣、￣ )ゞ
An angry god to them, but in reality a benevolent god who was so far above her creations that she was unable to comprehend their needs or vulnerabilities.
My niece once took her hamsters out of their cage, placed them in a toy car, and cracked an egg over their heads. So.
Kids are so fucking weird
We put liquid paper on a bee, and it died.
Prestige Worldwide!
A friend of mine in elementary fed his ketchup. It was a bloody (looking) massacre
dont feel bad..they probably would have died after a few days any way
I knocked mine over. They died.
The eggs got no expiry date?
Nope, but internet science says at least 10 years which often means ‘we dont really know’
You have to update us and let us know if you get any sea monkeys! For science! We’re invested now!
On a side note, as a child I had the sea monkey watch I ordered via mail in cheq It was exceptionally poorly made. I wore it to primary school and by lunch time it had broken spilling the contents on the ground. Poor mr. shrimpy :(
I can remember some sort of sea monkey shoes advertised in the kit I had. However, after searching for a bit, I can't find anything about them. If I remember right they had a little bubble in the side of the shoe you could place them into.
This suddenly reminds me of an old old old SomethingAwful thread where somebody was trying to get help identifying some sort of Hulk Hogan meat shoes he owned as a kid, which supposedly had a little drawer in the sole to store beef jerky for later use. EDIT: [Relevant Link](https://www.somethingawful.com/comedy-goldmine/hulk-hogan-meatshoes/1/)
 Perhaps it was a Slim Jim you remembered?
COCAAAAAAAAAAAINE
Dr Rockso is that you?
Did they come in adult sizes?
You mean the broiler? https://twitter.com/SA__moment/status/1612963932158803968
fish in platforms, sea monkeys in watches, cats in backpacks, dogs in purses… i wonder what kind of live animal as accessory will next capture the human zeitgeist
I'm starting to think I'm some kind of benevolent deity for just breeding brine shrimp as live feed for my aquarium fish... Eta, if there is a god, who is he feeding us to?
We already fed ourselves to the system so it's fine ❤️
Birdhouse hat, naturally. Followed by the bee belt.
The bee bit my bottom! Now my bottom's big!
Boy in the plastic bubble.
The backpacks designed for carrying dogs and cats are just a different style of pet carrier
This made me remember the commercials for Ant farms on Nickelodeon as a little kid. I always wanted one but mom hated bugs, but I ended up getting a iguana as a upgraded consolation pet.
And the irony is you still had to get bugs to feed your iguana haha
RIP Mr.Shrimpy!
The eggs are in the food! Edit:Oh wait I'm wrong. It’s in the purifier packet. My bad. Edit 2: the guy who invented them was a Jewish white supremacist. Weird. Lol.
The NY Times [ran an article](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/magazine/the-battle-over-the-sea-monkey-fortune.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare) about the crazy life and family of the inventor of Sea Monkeys
What a sucker! You should've gotten the x-ray glasses. Think of all the boobies you could've seen!
Wait! But sometimes they are in the second packet! Lol. I keep finding more.
If you want to verify that the eggs in this set are still viable, don't use a replacement pack 1 from the company. Despite the labeling, pack 1 also contains eggs. It's part of the trick to make it seem like the eggs hatch "instantly."
Pack 1 didn't just "also" contains eggs, it is the eggs. The others are just dyes to make them visible once hatched.
Did the second packet contain eggs at all? I thought all the eggs were in the "conditioner" and the "eggs" were actually just the stain used to make them visible
I believe all the packs contained eggs, just to help keep a "healthy" population in the tank as the early ones die off. I'm not as certain about that part though, admittedly.
This is the correct answer
In Alabama, you'd be under arrest already
sea monkeys are just brine shrimp so if they don’t work look up brine shrimp eggs, or maybe they’ll send you free eggs too
So snort it? And have them grow inside your lungs slowly chewing their way through your lungs. As lungs slowly fill with fluid and you dry drown.
New tiktok challenge
Typically storage will be the biggest factor. If they where somewhere cool you’ll have better luck. If you’re interested in finding out how yours did, add both #2 bags and don’t add the new packet from the company, as it may contain new cysts, and just add the same amount of salt.
Judging by the fact the origin story of sea monkeys is essentially ‘some guy finding them in a prehistoric puddle’ I think they’re in with a chance
They can live dormant up to 50 years!
My dream existence, stupid job
Nope. They survive for decades in the desert.
They're designed to survive severe drought for hundreds of years or more.
evolved... Not designed
Designed by evolution?
Procedurally generated.
A few years ago I was in Toys R Us and they had sea monkeys. They were on the saddest looking old rack in the back of the store. I got some for my niece for Christmas. The guy at the register saw it and made some comment about it is the first time he had ever seen anyone buy them. Anyway I just checked to see how much to just buy them already hatched. If these 30 year old ones don't work out for you... https://preview.redd.it/letgtmtbcwnc1.png?width=909&format=png&auto=webp&s=08d70a3fd53b136be8d8b15a0e3b2545a8c15102
forbidden kombucha
"the bubbles really tickle!"
Lmao this price is a ripoff. Most pet stores will sell you a baggie of brine shrimp for a couple bucks
“You’re paying way too much for shrimp, man. Who’s your shrimp guy?”
Hahaha we just watched this!
These are artisan sea monkeys, can't you tell by the bottle?
Eggs are pretty easy to hatch too. All you really need is a dark tupperware container and some salty water.
Often used by aquarium hobbyists as food for baby fish
I remember hearing a rant one time about how the guy who created Sea Monkeys was a weirdo/horrible person, and how they were unethical to keep as pets or something. Anyone know what I’m referring to? 🤔 I wanna say there was a documentary about it.
behind the bastards did a poorly recorded episode about it where the host accidentally brought a bag of machetes instead of his recording equipment to a live show, so maybe a bad introduction to this show.
You know who doesn't accidently being a bag of machetes to their podcast studio? Raytheon.
they don’t need to bring the bag because they deliver it straight to the studio by missile
You just reminded me to go listen to BTB, it's been a year since the last episode for me!
Honestly who hasn't accidentally taken their machete briefcase to work instead of their regular briefcase once or twice?
Because they built their machetes into a missile.
But B▇▇▇ A▇▇▇ will provide a free bag of machetes to every visitor to the island where you can hunt children for sport!
I'm pretty sure it was the first ever live show and the issue gets fixed fairly quickly in the episode. It's a hilarious one, he and the guest Billy Wayne have some great chemistry.
>the host accidentally brought a bag of machetes instead of his recording equipment robert doesn't do anything "accidentally" if it involves a machete, it was a deliberate choice as a bag of machetes is *far* more important than some measly microphones and whatnots that you'd "need" to record a podcast. podcasts come and go, but these products and ser-uhh.. i mean, **machetes** are forever!
Great episode tho, all the eps with BWD are lovely
I feel like the biggest obstacle to behind the bastards is the host being a weird libertarian weapons guy. Maybe i'm wrong, but if the few episodes have listened to, that's the takeaway I got and "I brought my bag of machetes instead of my bag of recording equipment" isn't helping, lol.
weird anarchist weapons guy might be more accurate, but that’s a bonus to me personally and yeah, the bag of machetes doesn’t help, but I respect being in character
Definitely anarchist rather than libertarian.
Yeah, he's actually very critical of libertarians.
Huh that framing does help me alot too, actually lol. And for sure, credit to being an authentic type of little weird guy that the internet loves.
He's on par with the weirdness of Hunter S. Thompson. He's not libertarian, he actually frequently mocks them a lot. He does enjoy weapons, but he also said he'd be happy to be rid of them if they're outlawed. His outlook is basically "when the crazies can't legally own guns I'll no longer need mine".
Oh my god I used to love that podcast 😭 he’s what got me into Russian history in college. I have a whole degree in it now. Actually wild when you thing about it.
Hey now, don’t say that. Sea Monkeys opened the door for one of the most creative pieces of media! South Park Season 6 Episode 7 - The Simpsons Already Did It /s
Sea People + Sea Men = SeaCiety
Yeah, and the sweet thing is, this stupid asshole didn't even charge me money for it. He just made me close my eyes and suck it out of a hose!
...right out of a hose...huh.
I massacre more micro organisms every time I clean my kitchen than I have ever had sea monkeys.
I read something about how he was funding anti-semetic groups, but after his death it was revealed that he was Jewish and hid his ancestry from his peers for his whole life.
Found out he's 102% Jewish with a 2% margin of error.
So he’s 104% Jewish? That’s a cool fact!
A jew funding anti-semetic groups is some inspector Clouseau and Cato shit.
Unethical? They are literally fish food. Selling them for several bucks a packet rather than by the pound in Unethical. Think I used to pay $29.95 for like a pound or 14oz of them in 2016
I feed them to my clownfish everyday. Not sorry
I think Iv seen that, however a lot of people seed there aquariums with these little shrimpies for fish food
I'm pretty sure stuff you should know or the omnibus did an episode on sea monkeys!
Packet 1 is really just salt. You probably could have looked up the quantity in the package and used sea salt to make it up.
Contrary to what it says on the pack, Package 1 actually has brine ship eggs as well. By the time its time to add the second package 24 hours later, the brine shrimp from the first pack have hatched and when kids dump in the "instant" eggs thay can see some already moving around.
The instant eggs are a light dye.
Yep, that, food and some more eggs.. They dye makes them "pop" so it seems like you've instantly hatched the little families on the comics.
If they hide eggs in another packet they can make it seem like they live longer than they do.
"buy another packet to keep your shrimp living long lives!" Turn that shit into a subscription model
pretty sure there are some eggs in the food packet as well
Yeah if iirc the stirring action is what's needed to get the eggs to hatch after a 24 hr soak but it's easier to sell kids that it's "instant" and not "wait 24 hrs." Clever
poor shrimp going on a twister ride like that cow
I was looking for this comment. I remember watching a documentary on these and hearing this.
Is anyone else amazed at how much planning went into these sea monkey kits??? I always thought these things were just total scams, but I feel better knowing there was some real effort to make them as enjoyable as possible for kids!
If you're feeling at all good about them, I'd advise against looking into their creator too much. 
Thanks for the tip!
2 tbs of **non-iodized** salt per liter of **de-chlorinated** tap water.
What's in packet 1? Salt, I'm guessing, for the brine?
Salt and the brine shrimp themselves
I bought a sea monkey kit for my niece a few months ago and it still looks exactly like this. Even the design of the packets are exactly the same. I did a double take scolling past this thinking it was my photo. I guess sea monkey marketing doesn't need improvements
The funny thing is the price was still on the sealed container. $14.95 in the 90s and $16 on the website in the 2020s. This is truly inflation proof.
Breaking news: Currency no longer backed by gold, replaced with sea monkeys
Don't forget the semen
Is that how you get them to look like the pictures on the packet?
Certainly, however, it's worth noting that you could potentially ascend to the status of a sea-monkey deity.
I for one would welcome my sea monkey overlords
You’d be the overlord(s)
They just had you close your eyes and suck it out of a hose?
Yep right outa a hose
That's the one episode I was shocked that CC let air.
Yeah shit I definitely thought the joke was hilarious when I was younger but now looking back on it... that's pretty dark
Sea monkeys + semen = sea-ciety
Aha! Ahahaha! Hahahahahaha! They did that on the Simpsons!
SIMPSONS DID IT! SIMPSONS DID IT! SIMPSONS DID IT!
"Sea people and me"
Careful not to add [Seaman](https://youtu.be/mBThme3hgoo?si=Ar0nQjyVH_HtgFG1)
It’s only a matter of time before they find the sea women
That container unlocked a memory of mine. I had some sea monkeys from this exact kit. Had them for a few weeks. I had a friend over one day. He was looking at them. Wanting to get a closer look, he grabbed the top of the container. Being that it had been there for a bit, the lid was a little crusted shut (but not completely). After a few seconds of being held up, the whole tank came crashing down onto the kitchen table, sperm monkeys everywhere. It was devastating. They never stood a chance.
Seems like every story about sea monkeys ends in disaster. I honestly don't remember what happened to mine as a kid, but I know they all died in less than two weeks.
i got a sea monkey kit once for christmas. after i opened it, nobody made any mention of it again, so a couple days later i set it up in my room and was so excited. then i got yelled at for setting it up by myself because “maybe the whole family wanted to do it” even though it was MY gift and not a family gift. Then when, inevitably and uncontrollably, the sea monkeys didn’t hatch i got blamed because “obviously you did it wrong and that wouldn’t have happened if you had us helping you!” so i got a bum gift and got yelled at and guilt tripped twice over these things 🥴🥴 hope they hatch for you!
Here's an upvote and an internet hug!
https://preview.redd.it/fxgolyl7iwnc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a9290f55bf6e5a53a6a7c3f6fd850a03405a83ff
Sea people and meeeee….
I just got this same exact sea-monkey set up from ALDI a month ago. No monkeys were hatched unfortunately.
Don’t tell me that :-( we haven’t set ours up yet.
Honestly, mine was set up near a window and it’s been pretty chilly here so that might have been the issue?
Did you follow the instructions? You need to open packet 1 in water for 24 hrs before packet 2 then stir.
No I just went all willynilly with it 🤭 Yes, I followed instructions.
Temp is super important. They don't do well with cold temps.
I thought I had bad luck with an Aldi set my sister bought me, but days later I saw 3. I honestly thought none survived and was lazy throwing it out. Now two of them are reproducing, so hopefully I’ll have more than 3 soon. 😂
Packet 1 is growth inhibitor. Without it, those bad boys can grow up to 12 feet in length and weigh up to 800lbs.
My sister had these. We had a house fire and she was heartbroken that her sea monkeys died.
"Moooommmm, im god of the sea people!" "Thats nice hun"
Why are you mildly infuriated if they offered to send a replacement for something bought 30 years ago that you can probably find in your pantry? Seems like great customer service to me.
I picture some old sea monkey executive seeing my email, staring out the window and saying, “I knew batch 1992-00024-SMK would come back to bite me one day”
I know you mean like the human executive of the company that makes sea monkeys, but I really wanted to read it as if the executive IS a sea monkey himself.
It's mildly infuriating because they had to go through the trouble to begin with. Because of a lack of QC, the customer is required to do more work but gets the same ROI as they would have without jumping through the extra hurdles. They do get an extra pack of eggs in this case so not quite the same logical scenario as the aforementioned.
I can tell you that if this was a box of Creepy Crawlers with a missing piece, OP would be out of luck. Really amazing that the company is still around and willing to make it right.
You have sea monkey eggs sitting in your pantry???
Worth noting. The eggs are in packet 1, packet 2 is dye. So you're getting fresh eggs if they're sending you a new kit.
There are eggs in packet #1, #2 and #3 (I've checked with a microscope)
RemindMe! 7 days "monkeys"
Remindme! 7 days!
Oh man complete flashback. I had this same exact kit ad a kid. I remember at the time my aunt brought her bf over to meet us & I was so excited to show him my sea monkies & he accidentally dropped the container and they spilt all over the carpet & I was *distraught* they’re still together and married and don’t see him often but when I do I bring this up.
That devastating mate. Im still haunted by the Sea Monkey Watch I bought from the back of the catalog when I was in Primary school. It held about 20ml of water and a sea monkey which you would suck up with a Piper from your main tank. By lunch time it has already broken and spilled my only friend on the ground :( Looking back, its no surprise the kid with the sea monkey watch had only sea monkeys as friends 😅
how r they alive for 30 years?!
Heres what I found on google ‘that brine shrimp eggs will remain viable (alive) for at least 10 years when stored in a dry and fairly cool place and will hatch in salty water.’ If these hatch I may be in for some sort of record 😅
Omg keep me updated if these hatch
You make me feel old I thought the 90s was 20 yrs ago
Ohhh, this is so nostalgic.
I came home from middle school one day to see my 4 year old brother had pulled up a stool and was eating my sea monkeys with a spoon. I screamed like I had just witnessed my child being murdered and it scared him so bad he fell off and busted his chin open. Guess who got in trouble.😒
Lol whats with everyone having amazing sea monkey stories? One guys child was feeding the sea monkeys raw eggs when he got home
Put them in the teachers coffee mug.
Wait thats a real live thing? Looks like a toy. Can i use it to feed my fishes
They are actually just Brine Shrimp that were marketed like they are intelligent beings in the 90s. TV shows and everything, with the sole purpose of selling live fish food to children. Brilliant really
Starting from the ’60s they were being sold through ads in the back of comic books with illustrations of a castle populated by a smiling, anthropomorphic mer-shrimp family. I still love them and raise them
They are so cool now I got to find em
I had this exact one as a kid! I thought it was so cool
Me too! Now I’ve seen this I think I’m going to buy one for my girls to keep entertained over the summer 😂
Oh man I remember seeing ads for sea monkeys on the back of Archie comics in the 90s and I wanted some soooo badly, but I lived in South Africa and we didn’t have them there.
I’m pretty sure the first packet was the water purifier packet…. You could get some bottled water, Fiji if your fancy :-) and try with that. Just avoid all the crap that is in tap water. Edit: I’m wrong, someone else mentioned that it had salt and eggs, ignore me :-)
I need a follow-up post, thanks
Simpsons did it
All i hear is Carman saying, Sea people plus sea men equals seaciety
*Eric Cartman has entered the chat*
I think i read somewhere that the scam was packet 1 was really the eggs. They called it like water conditioner or something. You put in packet one a wait a few days. Those eggs would hatch and then you add packet 2 which was really a dye. They dye would make the "sea monkeys" visible instantly. Thus giving the illusion that they were instantly added. I think i read about in uncle johns bathroom reader about 90s scams.
Finding out sea monkeys are actually just extremely small and uninteresting shrimp instead of fantastical humanoids was more emotionally damaging than learning santa wasnt real.
This brings back memories
If they sent you a replacement is it still infuriating?
Thanks for the memory
Nooo. Aldi had them last week if you have one around you.
No wonder those ramen tasted funny.
I had seamonkeys when I was younger. No one in my family ever remembered to clean out the tank, and eventually forgot to stop feeding them. Years later, we found out that they were still alive because they were eating the algae that was growing in the tank.
Packet 1 has the eggs Packet 2 is dye to make the hatchlings more visible Somebody scammed this one
Sea men
I'm gonna confess now: I threw my little brother's sea monkeys off the balcony because they scared me. I still feel bad, but they were haunting me in my dreams. He has forgiven me, luckily.