Question: 4 day old larvae still not eating?

[AmberLouiseT]

My 4 day old Axolotl larvae are still not eating. I'm literally using a pipette to suck out the tiniest daphnia, rinse them & then put them into the larvae tub. There are LOADS in there yet the two little larvae just aren't eating?
I'm getting really stressed, I'm convinced I'm going to lose them. About 30 mins ago I separated the two babies into smaller tubs, and put extra daphnia in each tub so there are literally about 50 or more baby daphnia in each little tub - to entice them to snap and eat.
However, my little white/gold larvae is barely even twitching anymore.
Is there a way I can check if they're eating? Like, is there a line I can see if I use a magnifying glass from the underside of the tub?
The daphnia have more life in them than my little babies. I'm genuinely close to tears as I've done everything I can to keep these babies safe, well fed and happy. Yet I'm clearly failing.

Can someone PLEASE tell me if there's a way I can see if they've got food in their tummies?
Or are these babies just destined to die after their dramatic hatching in the post.
I feel like an utter failure, I'm so disheartened and frustrated. All I ever wanted to do was love these little Axolotl's and watch them grow up.

 

[AxolotlChris]

The daphnia doesn't look that small to me, compared to how small they can be. Perhaps that is the issue? Plus its not that densely populated with daphnia as it could be.

This is what my larvae look like when feeding:




I would say add more daphnia, and give it time!

 

[AmberLouiseT]

Lovely picture of your babies, my larvae aren't as big as yours, they're not even a centimeter long (is this normal?).
I've magnified them when taking a picture, but my axolotl's still look tiny - the daphnia in the pictures are the tiniest in the culture. I'm at a loss of what to do.
I'll put more daphnia in each tub, as you've recommended but aside from that I don't know what I can do.
I've ordered several more bags of daphnia in the hopes there'll be smaller babies in there. They'll arrive tomorrow.
The amount of research I did prior to purchasing Axolotl eggs seems ridiculous now, everything I do seems to be failing.

 

[Oddish]

Mine too are 4 day old and less. Still a few to hatch. I have yet to witness any eating so I feel your pain!

Bit of a waiting game I guess but we will just have to keep the faith.

Perhaps watch for growth. One or two of mine have grown a shade so that makes me feel more encouraged.

Size wise, yours look like my biggest!

Keep feeling tempted to try egg yolk.. Have you tried that?

 

[AxolotlChris]

There's not much to do other than make sure there is plenty of food and perform a few weekly water changes. Not all bags of daphnia will come with a lot of the smaller babies its just luck. I'd stick with the daphnia and give it time. They probably eat when your not looking. They are freshly hatched so they I wouldn't really expect them to be much bigger than what you have

 

[Oddish]

Yes. I suppose the time to reassess is if one starts to look poorly but so far so good.

I don't know about Amber's but mine just sit still and don't do much yet. Presumably because they are housed individually so not bumping into each other. The daphnia sometimes make them jump.

 

[Canecorsonewt]

Larvae don't tend to move much unless provoking them. When they eat they only move a centimeter or two. I think Axolotlchris is right there food looks big. If you use baby brine shrimp you can see there bellys turn pink/orange . I think they are smaller than the food you have in the picture. The newt larvae I have don't eat for about about 3 to 6 days after hatching. Best of luck to you.

 

[AmberLouiseT]

I'd say mine have eaten as they're still alive.. The pale one isn't doing too well though. I'm doing 100% daily water changes, making sure there's more than enough daphnia in each container (as advised by Chris - seems to have worked) and making sure they always have fresh, dechlorinated water that's the same temp as the water they're in. Unfortunately, my little white/gold/albino one just isn't doing well at all.
I never tried the egg yolk method, just kept adding more and more baby daphnia into the tubs.
Funny thing it, it's almost as if the daphnia are eating or attacking the pale baby. They seem to be drawn to him/her and constantly make him/her jump and twist away from them. And that's another thing.. the pale baby has started swimming really strange. Like, twisting erratically, zooming to the surface and then just floating back down. I've also noticed that this little one just isn't growing compared to the darker, speckled baby.
I'm at a complete loss of what to do, I just keep hovering over the tubs with a magnifying glass - desperately hoping to see an improvement. I just wanted the best possible life for them, I wanted to see them thrive and live happy little lives. I feel so frustrated and upset, constantly wondering what I'm doing wrong, doing more research and frantically checking on the babies every 20 minutes or so - afraid that I'll go up and one will be dead.
I've literally gone by the book (how everyone on here seems to raise larvae) and still, one of my babies is struggling.
Ugh.
Sorry for the rant, I'm a bit emotional right now.

 

[AxolotlChris]

Some larvae are just not viable. Even if you give them every opportunity they may not survive, its nothing to worry about. Some breeders raise thousands of Axolotls a year, large numbers of larvae may not be viable and die off either straight away or after awhile.

Perhaps don't do water changes everyday, since there isn't even enough ammonia to build up and become toxic after a day. It could be stressful on the larvae depending on how your doing the water changes, plus I would expect your loosing valuable daphnia each water change. Otherwise your doing it all as I would. There's no reason to blame your self for something out of your control

 

[AmberLouiseT]

Chris, could you please help me to figure out what is happening to my pale baby? I posted a new thread as I noticed a red dot on the larvae. There's something wrong and I can't understand what is happening.. I do lose daphnia, yeah, but I have several more bags of live daphnia arriving in the future so I'm not too worried about that. I'm more worried they'll die in the tub with the baby and foul the water, hence the 100% daily water changes.
It doesn't seem to bother the other baby but I shall definitely slow down on the water changes, thanks.
I'm sorry to have posted a new thread but it's a completely different topic to this one - sorry if I'm confusing anyone.
I am so sorry for always asking for advice too.