About Aquadragons
Aqua Dragons are live aquatic creatures with a scientific name, Artemia Salina from the crustacea family, their eggs have an amazing natural capacity called diapause which allows them to stay alive but hibernating in a dried state only to hatch many years later.
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!
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.
So the Aqua Dragons are real little time travellers which you can hatch and grow at home, waking them up from their hibernation.
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.
Aqua Dragons are comercialised in all included “Hatch and grow your own live pets” kits via this website and toy and pet stores all over the world.
From the moment we started working with these tiny unique creatures, we felt and still feel, that they are one of the all time best toys and pets ever, and have been putting our heart, soul and creative minds into innovating the concept so curious kids and animal lovers everywhere can access a kit and grow their own pets.
AQUA DRAGONS TOY
Aqua Dragons are fun for kids, and animal lovers who will choose the exact moment they will bring to life their beloved pets!
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.
Aqua Dragons are not actually toys, they are sold in toy shops as a science project for children and adults. Aqua Dragons grow into real creatures so should be taken care of as pets.
WHAT DO AQUA DRAGONS LOOK LIKE?
Each Aqua Dragon has three eyes, a set of two fins which work like gills to breathe and eat with as well as guide their swimming in the water. The males have a mane on their heads (which reminds me of stag horns) which they use to hold the female when mating. The females are longer and are often seen with a bulb on their backs which are actually a egg sacks, they’re pregnant and carrying their babies with them!
WHAT DO AQUA DRAGONS DO?
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:
WHAT IS THE LIFE CYCLE OF AQUA DRAGONS?
You can observe their life cycle in this diagram.
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.
HOW LONG DO AQUA DRAGONS LIVE?
If you take good care of your Aqua Dragons they could live up to 6 months each, it will depend in the conditions of water, light and temperature, but if they have good conditions, they will even reproduce in the tank. All animals have an end of the life cycle, but we should accept that is natures way. When that happens, leave the tank in direct sun until the water completely evaporates. When the tank is empty, fill it with water again and hatch those Aqua Dragons eggs that the females were carrying on their backs!
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: