A couple weeks ago, my oldest daughter saw one of our local department stores was selling an Amazing Live Sea Monkeys kit and, after some pestering, convinced my wife to buy it for her (it was about $10).
This is a product I remember seeing advertised in comic books when I was a kid (I think they always had a picture of a Sea Monkey family sitting around a kitchen table) and was always curious about it. However, even as a kid, I had doubts about it and, as a result, never was anxious to spend my money on them. So, when I saw my wife finally did it, I was definitely worried she wasted our money.
However, after setting this up, I am now convinced this is a great product.
When we first opened the packaging, we were a bit disappointed by the “tank” that came with the kit because it was made out of flimsy plastic. In fact, if I had known we weren’t required to use that (I found this out later when I looked at their web site ), I probably would have picked a habitat that was a little sturdier; especially since things tend to get knocked over pretty easily in our house.
Also, when my wife added the Sea Monkey eggs (after waiting the required 24 hours from the time we added the special water purifier), we were concerned they wouldn’t do anything. I guess that’s because we thought it was very unlikely a water creature could live inside a package that didn’t have water in it for very long.
We were wrong.
Less than one day after adding the eggs to the water (it was about 14 hours), my wife happened to notice something really small moving around in the tank and, using the magnifying glass that came with the kit, we could see several of these specially bred brine shrimp. By that afternoon, there were at least a dozen swimming around.
The thing that really amazes me is how easy it is to take care of these creatures. They need special food that can only be ordered from the company itself (it costs $3). But, they only need to be fed a small amount once each week and there isn’t a whole lot of other care needed. In other words, if you were looking for a good starter pet for a child, this is actually a better choice than a goldfish.
Another thing that I like about the Amazing Live Sea Monkeys is the fact you really are raising a family. The Sea Monkeys grow up and have kids of their own and, after a while, you have more than one generation to care for. I have to admit, that’s pretty neat.
If your child sees this product at the store or comes across an advertisement for it in a magazine and asks you to buy it for them; do it. It is well worth the money.
