Sea Monkeys look weird and do some weird stuff. That may be why I get a lot of weird questions about sea monkeys. Recently, someone even asked me “Do sea monkeys eat each other?”
Sea monkeys don’t eat each other because they are not carnivores, they are herbivores with a voracious appetite. However, male sea monkeys will attempt to crush each other to death in a battle for females and will hold the female when they are mating, so it may appear like they are trying to eat each other but they aren’t.
You see, sea monkeys don’t eat each other because they can’t – they are filter feeders that filter whatever is in the water and shove it down their mouth. Other sea monkeys would be too large for them to eat and they lack any sort of teeth to chew their mates down.
Okay, since we established that they don’t eat each other, what do sea monkeys eat?
Let’s find out!
Original Sea Monkey Food
Sea monkeys are a hybrid form of brine shrimp bred specifically to be larger and live longer than normal brine shrimp, making them suitable as pets. So the best food to feed them is the growth food formulated specifically for them.
So what is in sea monkey food
The growth food is basically spirulina and yeast that you can buy on Amazon.
There are other foods you can buy for normal brine shrimp that you can feed to sea monkeys as well. The best formulation to get would include spirulina.
Since sea monkeys are a type of brine shrimp, you can also find foods at your local pet store explicitly created for brine shrimp.
The sea monkey food you find in the pet store will contain powdered algae, wheat flour, yeast, and egg yolks.
What Do Sea Monkeys Eat In The Wild
Sea monkeys are known as filter feeders, which means they are part of the group of animals that naturally filter the water, so sea monkeys get their food from the water.
Sea monkeys are an artificial breed of brine shrimp. In the wild, brine shrimps mainly eat algae and phytoplankton.
If you do live next to a lake or the ocean, please don’t try to gather your own algae plankton and dump it into your aquarium.
If you do, you could introduce bacteria and parasites into your tank.
Related Questions to “Do Sea Monkeys Eat Each Other?”
Do Sea Monkeys Kill Each Other
Male sea monkeys will attack each other when they are ready to mate. If two sea monkeys want the same female, they will attack each other with their long arms and either fight until one dies or gives up; sometimes they both die.
So even though they don’t eat each other, sea monkeys can kill each other. This is bad news for you, but you have no choice but to accept it.
Luckily, sea monkeys come in such great quantities that it won’t make a big difference.
Why Are My Sea Monkeys Attached to Each Other
If you see two sea monkeys attached to each other, it could mean the sea monkeys are fighting or else mating.
The male sea monkey will use its long arms to hold the female during mating for several minutes to an hour until all the eggs are fertilized.
So how do you figure out whether they are making war or love? Males have whiskers under their mouth, so if both of them have whiskers, they are definitely fighting.
Can Fish Eat Sea Monkeys
Your fish will gobble up sea monkeys. These tiny wriggling creatures are hard to resist for most fish. Bettas, Goldfish, Angelfish, and Guppies will all enjoy a hearty meal of sea monkeys.
So if you intend to keep them as pets, do not introduce fish into the tank.
If you are looking to feed your fish, get brine shrimp instead of sea monkeys – the latter is intended as pets and is more expensive.
Can Sea Monkeys Eat Fish Food
We already saw that sea monkeys are filter feeders. Most of what they eat is so small – in fact microscopic. So they will not consume your fish pellets or flakes as they are simply too large.
You could try crushing them into a fine powder and feeding it to your sea monkeys. Alternatively, you can get specialized sea monkey food such as yeast, spirulina, wheat flour, etc.
How Often Do You Feed Sea Monkeys
You should feed your sea monkeys about once a week. The amount you feed depends on the population; a small spoon or even a pinch of feed would do.
Feeding them too much can make the water cloudy. Reduce the feeding frequency if this happens.
Sea monkeys have a translucent body and their digestive tracts will be visible. If you see a dark line down their middle, it means they are being well-fed. You can use this indicator to adjust the feeding rate.
Conclusion
So, now that you know that sea monkeys don’t eat each other, I hope this doesn’t make you think they aren’t exciting pets.
When your child gets the sea monkey kit, they are supposed to add the water purifier which includes salt to distilled, spring, or tap water.
What they don’t know is that the packet contains some eggs as well.
They are supposed to wait 24 hours before they add the egg packet which contains a blue dye and some more eggs.
The inventor Harold Von Braunhut knew that the sea monkey eggs would hatch instantly but you wouldn’t be able to see them right away.
After 24 hours, when the child adds the second pack which they think is nothing but eggs, the blue dye attaches to the already living sea monkeys and you can see them swimming around instantly.
It is a small white lie but the whole process is outlined in Harold’s patent. It is all a part of the ‘magical’ experience for your child waiting in anticipation for 24 hours to watch their sea monkeys hatch.
Enjoy your sea monkeys!
