Question: Axolotl Eggs, Feeding, and Blackworms

[LakeJeffler]

Hi, all!

Last weekend my axies decided to surprise me with a clutch of eggs. Needless to say I was surprised ... and unprepared.

I currently have them separated out in a shallow container, anxiously trying to figure out what to do when they hatch. Right now I'm guesstimating that I have about 6 days before they hatch. Which brings me to my questions:

Firstly, I've never cultured brine shrimp. As a college student, I'm really not sure that I'm going to have the time needed to devote to hatching bring shrimp. Will new hatchlings eat very finely chopped blackworms? I got my axies when they were about 2 inches long, so I know how to handle blackworms.

Secondly, where on earth do I get my hands on some blackworms? I've scoured the internet, but found nothing promising. Suggestions?

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

Hey there! I had the same problem 2 weeks ago
I have gone with brine shrimp; once you set up your hatchery they're easy to culture. Just set up the bubbler and lamp, then leave it!

They'll hatch in a day or two. I used an eye dropper to suck some up and put them in with my larvae. You can order brine shrimp eggs online easy-peazy. Then you just need a bubbler, airline tubing, and two 2 litre pop bottles. Plug it in, put a bright light (lamp) on it, and away it goes!

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

Oh - and larvae only respond to live (moving) food! So chopping black worms won't work!

 

[LakeJeffler]

Hey there! I had the same problem 2 weeks ago
I have gone with brine shrimp; once you set up your hatchery they're easy to culture. Just set up the bubbler and lamp, then leave it!

They'll hatch in a day or two. I used an eye dropper to suck some up and put them in with my larvae. You can order brine shrimp eggs online easy-peazy. Then you just need a bubbler, airline tubing, and two 2 litre pop bottles. Plug it in, put a bright light (lamp) on it, and away it goes!

Thanks! I think I'm going to attempt to hatch some brine shrimp to feed when my eggs hatch (I hope I get them in time!).

I read somewhere that you can store the hatched brine shrimp in the fridge and they will live for several days for feeding. How often did you hatch new brine shrimp? Did you store yours at all between hatchings?

Also, how often do I need to feed my baby lotls?

Thanks so much for your advice!!

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

I'm not sure how temperature affects the bbs (baby brine shrimp) but I know they will perish within several hours, in fresh water. So, my advise is to collect a meal's worth from your hatcher - leave the rest in there with the bubbler and salty water. Oh! My bbs eggs came with pre-salted dry mix already in there. So watch out for that when you buy - you want salt in with the egg mix. When they hatch they should be sustained in the brine water for a day or two. But honestly you'll get millions from one hatching session so you can't possibly use them all before they die anyway

Also, I'm a super newbie with this hatching thing so take my advise with a grain of salt!

Apparently hard boiled egg yolk is used to feed larvae with success too, which goes against the widely accepted belief that larvae won't go for anything that isn't alive.

Store your un-used bbs eggs in an air tight container in the fridge, as you should only use 1 table spoon of eggs per session. Otherwise you'll have pounds of dead bbs you can't use quickly enough! So I run bbs hatches every day or two to have a constant fresh supply.

You should feed your larvae once or even twice daily if you can manage!

Keep them together - I read this teaches them friend from food when they're raised as a group, as opposed to being separated them grouped when they're larger. You also need to freshen up their water every day especially when feeding. Dead bbs or egg yolk debris will breed bacteria and poison the water!

 

[LakeJeffler]

Thank you so much for your help, Cheyenne!

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

I just tried hard boiled chicken egg yolk today and my larvae weren't interested.

When you hatch your bbs you're supposed to rinse them through a fine filter to remove any remaining outer shell from their egg. You can see with the naked eye - brown debris in with the bright orange bbs. I haven't done this myself, as I can see only one or two specs in with the whole cup; but something to be mindful of. You can use those pale blue "Jesso" cloths that are disposable, fine mesh things. Or coffee filters.

Also, it is rather important to use 2 litre pop bottles for your hatchery. The funnel shape of the upper portion helps the aerated water circulate everything inside, so it keeps the eggs tumbling into fresh air instead of collecting in corners or seams where they can't get oxygen and die. Temperature is important too - if they're too warm, it decreases the amount of oxygen in their water and suffocates them. Keep a bright light on them constantly for the duration - it stimulates hatching!

Good luck! Let us know how it goes. My 15 larvae don't seem to be eating the fresh bbs shrimp I slaved over all day! Haha