Aqua Dragons Starter/Refill, Kit

Product Information

Aqua Dragons are fun for kids, and animal lovers who will choose the exact moment they will bring to life their beloved pets! In the wild Aqua Dragons (Artemia Salina) still live in salty lakes, they only eat microscopic algae particles, by foraging and filtering along tiny hair like structures on their legs which they move in a rhythmic mantoray motion as they swim. I kept the tank going for a further week just in case they were hiding, aerating the tank every now and then, but alas, our dragons had ceased to be. They were ex-aqua dragons. RIP little buddies. Despite following the instructions to the letter,a few days afterwards I could only see one little guy moving around… and then there was nothing.

Actually, that’s not a tail….it’s poo! Sometimes it forms a string and stays attached to the Aqua Dragon for a while before eventually dropping off. It’s perfectly normal and doesn’t do the Aqua Dragon any harm. Aqua Dragons have been living in the sea and in salty lakes on the earth for millions of years including while dinosaurs roamed the Earth!

Hatching your Aqua Dragons

They eat, swim, fight, reproduce, lay eggs or they give birth to their babies and much more… They have a lot of different ways of behaving, you can see what they do and what it means in the diagram below: Under optimal conditions - if you care for your Aqua Dragons very well - they can live for a few months. This is their normal life cycle and it is completely normal for them to die within a few months, so when this happens, don’t worry that you have done something wrong.

Having had Sea Monkeys when I was young and been entirely underwhelmed, I wondered what the children would make of the the tiny aquatic Aqua Dragons. Here is a short video about what to do to help your Aqua Dragons thrive when they are not doing well, and also how you can get them to hatch again after the life cycle has finished in your tank:When you feed the Aqua Dragons, don’t use more than one level spoonful of food - and always use the special tiny spoon that comes with your Aqua Dragons kit. It’s very important to follow all the instructions carefully. You can find a full set of instructions here , with a video (in English). Take the time to read them carefully before you start - if you don’t follow the instructions your Aqua Dragons might not hatch!

We received the Aqua Dragons Deluxe Deep Sea Habitat with LED lights free for the purposes of this review but words and pictures are my own. Two days after set up, start feeding with one small level aqua dragons feeding spoon full. Step four: Care for your Aqua Dragons and watch them grow. Their very efficient way of living and reproducing has enabled them to arrive to today’s day almost exactly as they were millions of years ago. Tests have found that eggs kept in air sealed containers for up to 20 years still hatched when they were returned to water.The egg has a strong shell that takes 24 hours to break through, releasing a nauplii which is an artemia salina in its larval stage. The larvae emerge swimming and growing rapidly and after a few more weeks it grows into a young adult. There were probably more than a dozen, not even a millimetre long. I got stupidly excited, and so did the kids… and then DISASTER. While you’re waiting for your Aqua Dragons to hatch, make sure the water remains at the correct temperature (17-30 °C) and the tank gets plenty of natural light. Yes, sunlight is good, as long as it doesn’t cause the water to overheat (it should be between 17ºC and 30ºC) so be careful in summer.

If you follow the instructions carefully, you should see some tiny white Aqua Dragons swimming within 48-72 hours of adding the sachet to your tank. With a magnifying glass, you may be able to see some signs of life as early as 24 hours after setting up your tank.

What did we think?

Hatching and growing Aqua Dragons helps children learn important values like caring for a living being, being responsible by remembering to feed and care for them, and treating live animals with respect. The project is also highly educational in terms of science, anatomy, biology, marine biology and even history and geography where our activity and instruction booklet covers all these areas in an enjoyable way. As a general guide, you would normally feed Aqua Dragons every 2-3 days if you have many Aqua Dragons, and every 3-4 days if you have fewer. The light was a nice addition; it could be used as a nightlight in an older and more trustworthy child’s room, although you can’t really replace the batteries with ease once it’s filled so I’d be nervous about leaving the light on too much. It’s important not to overfeed your Aqua Dragons. How often to feed them depends on the number of Aqua Dragons there are and how much food there is remaining in the tank. So the Aqua Dragons are real little time travellers which you can hatch and grow at home, waking them up from their hibernation.