When I was a kid, I remember having sea monkeys in the kitchen and watching them fascinated, we had loads in that little tank and it's something I've always wanted to do with the kids as they too got a little older.
Aqua Dragons are crustaceans and their real name is Artemia Selina. The eggs themselves are dried, but come to life when they come into contact with water at some point in the future, clever eh?
When the kit arrived the kids were super excited and were very careful helping me to read the instructions and make sure we set up the tank correctly. The kit itself contains;
- LED lit tank
- Aqua Dragon eggs
- Food
- Measuring spoon for food
- Magnifying glass
- Instructions
- Pipette for aerating water
The kit is really easy to set up, with the only additional need being bottled water for the tank. You can then pop the eggs in and that's it for a day or so until they need feeding. Quite soon after popping the eggs in the water, you get to see some minuscule dots of life swimming around, so it's nice and quick getting started, meaning the kids keep interested in the creatures as they grow. The tank is really good quality and can be used again and again when the circle of life does it's thing.
I had hoped that the dragons would keep thriving and take up permanent residence in Alf's room, where he could then take over their care and enjoy watching them swim around in their tank. Unfortunately, our dragons only survived around a week and they seemed to just vanish. We had a good number, so we were obviously pretty disappointed and I presume that even though we only fed as per the instructions, that perhaps we had over fed them as it does say this is the most common mistake and cause of killing them off. Sorry wee fellas!
On the bright side, you can buy eggs separately, so we will be giving it another go. The light on the tank was a great feature, but the kids were forever leaving it on for hours, so I did wonder if this too hadn't helped their survival? I was also slightly worried how I would change the batteries when it was full of water, which are in a compartment under the tank base.
The kids enjoyed the process up until the dragons sadly vanished, though we will definitely buy replacement eggs and make sure we put less food in next time. This is a great way of introducing kids to pet care, as well as learning about different creatures. Though I was glad my two weren't upset about the dragons dying, I guess some kids may be so possibly worth considering before you buy. If you have better luck, your dragons can grow to around 1cm and even have their own babies!
This deluxe set is available right now at an RRP of £19.99, which seems a great price if they live, less so if they don't - but obviously that was more likely down to our (my) wrong doing or over feeding. Although we didn't have success this time round, I do think this kit would make a great present for older kids (recommended 6+) and knowing how much I loved watching mine, I'm sure my kids would have loved these two if they'd lasted longer. We will be trying batch two as soon as I order some, so I'll update this post if we have more luck second time round!
You can find out all about Aqua Dragons on their website by clicking right here and this set is available right now from all good toy retailers.
