Ordering from Transcience

I was recently contacted by someone with a concern about an order they have made with Transcience Corp. Unfortunately, I am not affiliated with Transcience in any way, I’m merely a fan of their products just same as you, my dear readers, are. I have no way to help you with your order, so if [...]

Work Experiment ends

I started the experiment at work back in January and it has outlasted all the others, but finally came to an end today. I found the only surviving sea-monkey dead when I got to work today. I will begin a new experiment in a few day. I will post when I do.

Domestic Dispute ends in tragedy

Summer has hit and I am very busy, have little time to blog these days. Time for an update of what has been going on lately. The tank at work has had a tragedy… it seems that there has been fatal domestic dispute between Esmeralda and one of the males in the tank... The rest of this post is lost! :( from what I can remember... I had a tank that was down to two Sea-Monkeys, a male and a female and I they got into a fight and the male lost... big time.

I got my Doctorate!

My diploma has arrived from the Crustacean College of Sea-Monkey Knowledge. I am now officially a Doctor of Denizens of the Deep (Dd.D), a bonafied Sea-Monkey Scientist and certified U.F.O’S. (Unknown Forms Of Sealife) Investigator.

Work Tank Update

It’s been a while since I last updated, we just got back from vacation. The work tank is still doing about as well as it always has. Here are a few pictures of it on my desk. One of the males is mating with the female again today and I spotted a baby swimming around...

Home & work tank update

Home tank: The other male has met his end. I found him dead last night. The younglings have all disappeared as well. There are four females including Bertha left in the tank. Work tank: All three adults are still doing well. The small hatchlings are nowhere to be seen. No pictures this time…

Comic Ad Relook: The Case of the Missing Fruit Pie

Recently the hostess ad Hulk vs. The Roller Disco Devils was featured here and I noticed something odd, so I went to investigate. The Hulk looks like he is supposed to be holding something there in his hand in the last panel… it was obviously meant to be a fruit pie. Everyone who eats in these ads only uses their thumb and first three fingers, allowing thir pinkie to dangle freely. Check out the Hulk's hand it looks like he has an invisible fruit pie in it! Also when people eat their cheek bulges out like they have a chaw of tobacco in there... Lo and behold the Hulk's cheek is all bulged out, too. If he isn't eating a fruit pie, why draw him like he is?

Seems like he really was originally drawn eating that pie, but there was some rule that said while the super-heroes could be used to endorse the products they couldn't actually be shown consuming them... o.O Yeah, I don't get it either... anyway someone hastily erased the pie out of Hulks hand and figured no one would notice... Check out the picture below, I cut and pasted a pie into his hand and it fits perfectly!

Updated: Transcience Order Form

Here is the updated Transcience Order Form. It is in MS Excel 2010 format and will add your totals and calculate shipping automatically. There are some line items that are hidden on the form, mainly because they aren’t listed on the offical web site for Transcience Corporation, however, some of these items are available or [...] This post was recreated from the Internet Archive and ends here.

Sea-Monkeys® Order Form

Work Tank Update

Several babies have appeared in the work tank, I counted at least 4. I hope they are able to survive. As you can see one of the males is mating with Esmeralda again. Today is Plasma III day but I am going to skip that for a while. The water has evaporated down a bit [...]

Comic Ads: AAU Shuperstar takes on the Dirty Hippie Sneaker

Here we have a unique oddity from the late 1970's, a comic ad from the Intermark Shoe Company for their AAU brand of sneakers. This ad had me mesmerized as a child and seemed to be everywhere. In fact it only appeared on the back covers of DC comics dated November 1978 and features AAU's hero-spokesmodel, the AAU Shuperstar, battling... well... pretty much just a scroungy looking hippie known as The Dirty Sneaker. See, back in the late 70′s a unique superhero appeared on the back covers of comic books... the AAU Shuperstar, a pun-spouting “shoe”-perhero (get it?), all decked out in a garish blue tracksuit and armed with a good solid kick, he defended the world from vile footwear-related villains.

Technical Difficulties

Please be patient my blog provider Blog.com is experiencing problems again today. If you get any errors please try reloading the page.

Work Tank Update

The work tank has one female and two males. The three seem to be doing well and are quite active in the tank. Their antics in the tank, when I have it on my desk, usually attracts the attention of students entertains any students passing by. The female is named Esmeralda, so I need to [...]

Home tank update

One of the male adults died recently, but the rest of the adults seem to be doing well. There are many small Sea-Monkeys in the tank and they seem to be surviving and thriving as well. Here is a nice long video of the Mars tank. In addition to the adults if you look closely [...]

Q & A

A visitor asked me recently how to make a larger tank for her Sea-Monkeys. It’s certainly possible. Although I have never done it, I have thought about it in the past. Transcience used to carry a product called Jumbo Plasma, each packet would make about 1 quart of water and you would add one packet number one to it to make a quart tank of sea-monkeys.

They no longer carry this product and the last time I ordered from them Ms. Yolanda informed me that to go big you would have to use enough water purifier packets to make the size tank you want. One water purifier will make 12 to 16 oz. of water.

For example:
a 1 gallon beta tank = 128 oz.
128 / 12 = 10.667 or about 12 water purifiers

Comics-Ads: The Incredible Hulk Vs. The Roller Disco Devils

Click to enlarge

Ah another classic comic ad. Back in the day, Hostess® bakery, makers of Cupcakes, Twinkies, and Fruit Pies, decided to reach the kiddies through comic book ads. The ads ingeniously used all the popular superheroes of the day in full page spreads in the hopes that it would lure the little rag-a-muffins into reading them. The villains usually had to be one-shot villains with incredibly lame themes: ergo the Roller Disco Devils. These z-grade super-villains were mostly defeated by distracting them with the glorious taste of delicious Hostess confections. However this wasn't always the case, there were exceptions... such as this, rather extreme, exception.

Home tank: aeration and feeding

Work Tank Update

Today is the last day before Easter break and the work tank will be unattended until Monday. There are three adults (two males and one female, Esmeralda) and lots and lots of new babies. This tank was fed last on 3/25 and will feed again on 4/1 when I return to work. Plasma will be at least three or four days after feeding.

Everyone moves to Mars!

The other female in the Blue ocean zoo was found dead, Bertha is still going strong. There was only one live sea-monkey in the magic castle tank. The green ocen zoo was devoid of life and the red  zoo had one lone survivor. They were all transferred to the Mars tank tonight. The Mars tank was then aerated and growth food was added. The blue ocean zoo and the magic castle tank are now set aside to allow all the water to evaporate from them.

Work Tank Update

Two adult males and one adult female (Esmeralda). Small hatchlings are visible in the tank. Plasma III was added on March 19th. I aerated the tank and added growth food this morning when I got to work. One of the new males is mating with Esmeralda.

Welcome back...

Blog.com has been offline for last 36 hours. For now the site will stay here but I am going to have to move if this keeps up. I will most likely move to wordpress but I will lose features when I do that. I am trying now to figure out how to get the blog backed up so the move will be easy. I will certainly post a link to the new site if and when I get it ready.

Home tanks update

Here are the home experiments in their new spot in the kitchen.

Home Tanks Update

I came in and inspected the tanks this afternoon and sadly I must report that the male sea-monkey in the blue ocean zoo has died. Bertha is still going strong and the other female appears to be OK as well. I gave the tank a dose of Sea-Medic just to be on the safe side though. I did notice some small babies swimming. I hate to do it but I may have to retire this tank soon. I think I will just let the water evaporate out of it if I transfer the sea-monkeys to another tank.

Work Tank Update

After a week of spring break, I was anxious to see how the red Ocean Zoo at work was doing. I was relieved to find everything just fine. The work tank has three adults in it now, Esmeralda and a male and another female. They were fed this morning and I will give the tank a dose of plasma in a couple of days.

Comics-Ads: Count Dante - The Deadliest Man Alive!

Today I am rolling out a new feature... Vintage comics ads! Not just of Sea-Monkeys either. These were the ads that caught our attention and imaginations back in the day... Get muscles and learn karate to beat up the bullies! Learn the secrets of hypnotism and get everything you ever wanted... such as making girls like you!

Tank consolidation

Today I decided to consolidate the tanks and retire two tanks. I took the Male and two females from the new style Mars tank and transferred them to the old style Mars tank and I took the male and female from the new style Castle tank and put them in the blue Ocean Zoo with Bertha

More video of Mars

Here is another video of the babies in the Mars tank!

New Martians have arrived!

New life has erupted in the old style mars tank.


I changed out the water in the old style Mars tank and transferred a female from the other mars tank over to it yesterday.

  
Here you can see how the tank looked before and what it looks like after.

Mars tank maintenance

I decided that the old style Mars tank needed a bit of maintenance. First of all the water was too orange and it was hard to see the Sea-Monkeys in the tank, especially any tiny babies that were in there. First I prepared a quart of water. Jumbo Plasma makes a quart of water, too bad they don't sell it any more... I am down to my last pouch! Then I used the aqua-leash to get the two males out of the tank and transferred them to a waiting Ocean Zoo. After this I poured off about 2/3 of the tank into another Ocean Zoo, then I topped off the Mars tank with clear plasma water and transferred the males back into the tank.

To clean, or not to clean?:

As your Sea-Monkeys age, sediment will begin to gather in the bottom of your tank -- a combination of food, algae, waste and un-hatched eggs. This is a natural part of the process and is not necessarily harmful to your pets. In fact, the Sea-Monkeys seem to enjoy routing around the murky basin. I choose not to clean my tanks -- rather let the process in their ecosystem continue naturally.

Home tanks update 03-10-2013

Ocean Zoo - Now sports a binocular cover. Bertha is still going strong. I haven't seen any other Sea-Monkeys in the tank today. Fed a half small scoop of Red Magic for feeding. Also here is a sweet close-up of Bertha. Shakey stands to the side and observes.

Sea-Monkeys® Ads

Here are a couple of old ads for Sea-Monkeys® that I found today:

  

New Blog Theme

I have been searching for a nice easy loading blog theme and I think I have finally found it. I switched to Headlines by Woo Themes, it is nice and clean, easy to read and navigate, and it has a nice variety of options.

Do pardon my dust as I tweak this theme in the next few days.

Fixed: Email Subscriptions

If you have been trying to subscribe to the blog using the email subscription widget, it is fixed now and directs properly.

Transcience order arrived!

  

Imagine my surprise as I was handed my mail to discover that my Transcience order had arrived. Yay!

This is definitely not the commercially available kit from a couple of years ago. This kit is exclusively available from Transcience. Here's what you get: A nice black old school style Ocean Zoo with Regular lid, A binocular lid, a basic kit (packets 1, 2, & 3), Plasma III, Sea-Diamonds, and a feeding spoon.

Come on in, the water's fine:

To help keep your Sea-Monkeys water at a cozy 70+ degrees, pick up an aquarium thermometer from your local pet store (Wal-Mart...). These inexpensive units are a thin, smallish piece of plastic that will stick right on the OUTSIDE of your Ocean-Zoo tank and help you chart the comfort-zone within.

Magic Castle (old style) video update

Look at all the Sea-Monkeys in the old style Magic Castle tank! Shakey thinks they are cool.

The Carbonic Plague

The first seven days of a Sea-Monkey's life are critical. I highly recommend aerating the tank EVERY DAY for the FIRST WEEK. One of the greatest enemies for Sea-Monkeys is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a gas which all animals naturally produce but is more important to underwater animals than to land animals. In water, some of the carbon dioxide forms a compound called carbonic acid. This is a very weak acid but it is strong enough to kill Brine Shrimp. If there is too much carbonic acid present in your tank, Sea-Monkeys cannot make use of the oxygen that is available to them. As a result, they suffocate. So for the best results (and as a precautionary measure), aerate on a daily basis the first week. And if your Sea-Monkeys begin swimming in a sluggish manner, START AERATING again immediately to supply them with oxygen and help fight off the toxic carbonic acid.

Meet Shakey! (Home Tanks Update)

Meet Shakey, he's my new Sea-Monkey Bobble Head. He will be posing with the tanks in todays home tanks update.

In oldest Mars experiment the sea-monkeys are still mating. I was able to get a good close up of them.

In the old style mars tank the two boys have been joined by some more new borns as a few more eggs must have hatched in last day or so.

Work Tank update.

Esmeralda is rooting around on the bottom this morning, she has a full egg sac, also one young adult and a couple of juveniles are visible swimming about.

There are several students who stop occasionally to check on the Sea-Monkeys to see how they are progressing.

Why Can't I Grow My Sea-Monkeys?

Most people don't like Sea-Monkeys because they can't grow them. They really aren't hard to raise at all. First, you have to prepare the water. Most people mix everything together at once and expect the Sea-Monkeys to be born. Well, you don't get anything but a jar of dirty water if you do that. Here's some tips to keep them alive.

Who was Harold von Braunhut?

Who in their Right Mind Could Think of Fish Food as Pets? None other than the guy who invented X-ray Spex! A man by the name of Harold von Braunhut. This man saw a great, instant pet that could teach children around the world the oddities of nature. Harold decided to market Sea-Monkeys in 1957.

What is a Sea-Monkey®?

You might well ask the question, 'What is a sea monkey?'. Well, the sea monkey (artemia NYOS) is a relative of the brine shrimp (artemia salina), and looks like a very hairy version of a mosquito larva. These creatures will end up growing to about a quarter of an inch (about 0.6cm) in length.

Home Tanks Update

Last night the old style Castle and Mars tanks were given their initial dose of plasma. I observed the male in the blue Ocean Zoo in distress so I gave the zoo a dose of Sea-Medic and for good measures I gave the other Mars and Castle a dose as well. For fun I added some Sea Diamonds to the three older experiments.

Parthenogenesis & Sea-Monkeys

Parthenogenesis (pron.: /ˌpɑrθənoʊˈdʒɛnəsɨs/) is a form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization.

Water Temperature

Water temperature is pretty important. According to the hatching guide optimal hatching temperature is between 75°F and 80°F.

Here comes Esmeralda!

I took the digital camera to work today and was able to get some pretty good high res shots of Esmeralda and a nice video her and her babies playing in the tank. They like to root around that junk at the bottom of the tank and kick it all over the place.

Review: The Basic Ocean-Zoo

Here is the Basic Ocean-Zoo® kit produced by Big Time Toys that is sold in stores today. It consists of an Ocean-Zoo in a variety of colors with new design aero-vent castle top cover, Packet 1 Water Purifier, Packet 2 Instant Live Eggs, Packet 3 Growth Food, and a feeding spoon.

That's a lot for only $4.99 at Wal-Mart! It costs more to get the same kit from Transcience: $9.00 to be exact. You have everything you need to start your colony of Sea-Monkeys. You don't get a packet of Plasma III nor a Million-Bubble air pump, and those are essential for a tank to thrive, especially the air pump.

Work tank update

Here are some snapshots of the Ocean-Zoo on my desk at work. I was able to count 3 juvenile sea-monkeys this morning. Esmeralda still seems healthy and active. I am worried about how she will fair over spring break here in a couple of weeks.

Monkey Love On Mars

I was able to get some close-up snap shots and a video of the mating Martian Sea-Monkeys.

[singlepic id=44 w=320 h=240 mode=watermark float=center]

[singlepic id=45 w=320 h=240 mode=watermark float=center]

What is the Professional Hobby Center?

Looking at the official Transcience Parts & Supplies list you may have noticed an interesting item:

Item No. 132
Professional Sea-Monkey Hobby Center . . . $10.00
Created for AVID Sea-Monkey fans or as a GREAT GIFT. The Hobby Center comes with a Sea-Monkey aquarium PLUS more than $13.00 in assorted supplies including the complete Sea-Monkey hatching and growing system among all the extras. An INCREDIBLE "buy" available ONLY through THIS offer!!!

Close-up Pictures of Sea-Monkeys on Mars

I was able to get some incredible close-up shots of some of the Sea-Monkeys in the Mars tank!

[These images are lost, unfortunately]

Home tanks update

The home tanks are doing well. The first Mars experiment is doing quite well with several large adults swimming about. The first Magic Castle tank is down to 2 adults, a male and a female. The Ocean Zoo tank is hanging in there with two adults, a male and a female. The newest experiments are as follows: The Magic Castle in the original style tank really took off! It is teaming with freshly hatched newborns! The original style Mars tank has newborns in it but not as spectacularly as the magic castle.

Magic Castle update

Update on the newest Magic Castle Experiment Feb. 23, 2013. The tank is teaming with newly born Sea-Monkeys!

Transcience Order Form

Here is an order form created in Excel that can be used to order Sea-Monkeys® supplies from Transcience. I just choose the items I want and hide the rest. The form will do all the math for you, just print it off and mail it in with your money order. This form will always be available in the sidebar under Downloads.

ORDER FORM

Plasma III

I always use Plasma III with my experiments. I have noticed that kits being made these days aren't including it like they used to... I have a good supply from Transcience, So I always have a packet to add to any new experiment I begin. On the tenth day I add three large scoops of plasma and one large scoop every 10 days afterwards until it is all gone. It it adds a few extra eggs to water so you might see a few newborns a couple of days later.

Work tank update

Work tank is still holding only one adult female. I call her Esmeralda. She has a full egg sac and there are a few babies in the tank. I am hoping that the tank repopulates in the next few weeks. I gave the tank a dose of Plasma III this morning and a good oxygen bath with the Million-Bubble air pump.

Video update of newest experiments

How do you begin your experiments?

When I start new experiments, I don't wait 24 hours any longer before adding packet 2. I just mix packet 1 and 2 at the same time. I feed every 5 to 7 days and add 3 large scoops of plasma III on the tenth day and one large scoop every 10 days thereafter until the packet is gone. If the first hatching dies off, the experiment doesn't end. More will likely hatch later. If at least one female survives she will usually have more babies after a few days. An experiment can go on indefinitely as there will always be a new hatching every few weeks.

One lone survivor...

There is only one surviving Sea-monkey in the work tank... A female that I will call Esmerelda. She has had a few babies though and I can see them swimming about.

My latest experiments

Mars Tank Video

Sea-Monkeys in the Mars tank.

Tragedy Strikes!

The sea-monkeys have begun dying in the tank at work. I came in  this morning and noticed only three survivors...  one just died leaving only two.

Video update

The Ocean Zoo and the Mars tanks have pregnant females.

Home tanks video

A short video of the home tanks taken on Feb. 10, 2013

Work Tank

Sea-Monkeys are playing in their Ocean Zoo this morning.

The miracle of instant life

I arrived at work this morning to find an Ocean Zoo teaming with Sea-Monkeys! My skeptical co-workers were astounded, the students are delighted. They are about a week old and have been fed.

Started Tank at Work

I decided to start a colony of Sea-Monkeys at work, LOL.

Here is their little Ocean-Zoo tank on my desk. They are 2 days old now and are just visible in the pic. Look for the little white dots.

Welcome

Welcome to Bill's Sea-Monkeys® Adventures, a journal of my latest Sea-Monkeys® experiments. You might wonder how and why all this got started... Years ago, on a lark, I purchased a Sea-Monkey kit for my daughter. We had so much fun with them that I decided to compile as much information on them as I could and put it all in one convenient place for her. It started out with just one page and a journal of our adventures with Sea-Monkeys. As an amateur web designer, I eventually decided to apply my skills to creating an actual website.