Axolotl eggs!

[JoeysAxies]

Hello all,

I am brand new to this site.
So I have started 2018 with many Axolotl eggs layed by my Wild type Echo. I was away for a week over Christmas and had a friend pop in to feed the Axies but she didn’t notice the eggs as the aquarium light was left off. So not sure exactly when she layed them!
We have removed the eggs and put them in a small glass aquarium with a gentle aerator and temperature is at a consistent 22 C. I have another female Axolotl (Teddy - Golden Albino) in the aquarium but the reason I think it was Echo was because I saw a jelly substance hanging out her lady bum!! But did not see her lay the eggs!
I have had Axolotls for a couple of years but this is the first batch of eggs I will be rearing! If anyone has any further advice for me that would be great. Also I have noticed that some of the eggs are brown and others are white is that normal?
I am very excited and the eggs are fascinating to watch develop, I think they are at day 4/5 as most of the eggs have begun to develop into a curved shape!

Look forward to hearing from others. I am from the Uk and if anyone is interested in some baby Axolotls in a couple of months time then please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

[JoeysAxies]

Hello

This picture is just 3 of my Axolotl eggs. Would you agree they are on about day 6 of embryo development?

 

[JoeysAxies]

Re: Axolotl eggs! - When to setup bbs hatchery??

I have ordered some bbs eggs and hoping they will arrive in the next couple of days. If my dates are right babies are due to start hatching on Tuesday. Could someone please recommend when I should start setting up the hatchery so babies have food ready and waiting??

 

[Markaxolotl]

Re: Axolotl eggs! - When to setup bbs hatchery??

Hi
The eggs look great, I've been raising my first batch and its really fun to watch them develop. I started my hatchery as soon as i saw the first axolotl hatch and it worked out fine. They spend their first day or two after hatching digesting their yolk so by the time the bbs are ready, the axolotls will be ready to eat. Just make sure to wash the salt off them really well before feeding them to the axies.
Are the white eggs developing normally? Sometimes there's some unfertilized eggs which then go on to get infected so its good to take them out. They look like white fuzzy balls.
Hope it goes well, good luck!

 

[Cardosmf]

I too am a first-year axolotl owner got them in April 2017 they layed eggs for the first time DEC 8TH 2017 and they started hatching DEC 26TH by DEC 28 they were completely hatched u might have to help a few I used a turkey baster to break a few eggs that were left behind and I got to witness the dance the night before I have a golden albino female and wild type male typically the eggs first come out the color of the egg layer so if u have an albino female the eggs will be white and towards the nearing of hatching they will change color to the type of axolotl they will be. The best time to start your hatchery would be the day they start hatching and also choose brine shrimp with the highest hatch rate so you can get more bang for your buck and also less is more in this situation if u use too much brine shrimp eggs you can also mess up the hatch rate. I'm in New England in cold weather so room temperature was 68- 70 degrees so my brine shrimp took abt 36 hrs to hatch the colder the water the longer it takes to hatch recommended temp is 75-85 degrees Also when you first feed they may not eat right away but they will eventually and you can see their orange bellies. Unexpectedly after caring for the new babies I did a thorough water change and 2 days later I had 400 or so more eggs that they had laid so I have my work cut out for me in the next few weeks I'm hoping this has happened to someone else and can give me advice on how to find homes for these guys so far I have 3 pet stores interested lol hope this advice helps it's mating season in my house!!

 

[JoeysAxies]

It definitely seems like it’s mating season for our cheeky Axolotls. I’ve been told they normally decide to breed when you are not expecting it! Mine certainly did that to me.
Thank you for your replies. Most of the babies are brown but some are lighter I know Echo’s Mum is a leusistic so hopefully I will have some of them too. Some eggs haven’t developed and have cloudy centres it hard to remove them as some are stuck to the developing babies.
I think they are around 11 days now, they are twitching a lot and I can see their gills and eyes! Could hatch any day I guess!
I have everything ready bbs eggs have arrived so good to go when they start hatching.
It’s really exciting!

 

[JoeysAxies]

I have attached a picture of some of the babies! Do they look ready to hatch?

 

[JoeysAxies]

Hello All,

Another question, so my Axolotl babies are ready to hatch any day. They have developed really well and really quickly. I have noticed though that they don’t seem to be moving around in their eggs very much. Is that normal? Maybe I am just worrying too much.

 

[Cardosmf]

Yes that's normal baby axolotls aren't too active until they start feeding I noticed with mine it took some time to get them eating at first then by day 2 they were a little more active probably started getting hungry lol when they get older they are more active and usually more at night than the day they are considered nocturnal and also axolotls shouldn't be overly active because that can give an indication of stress in the animal but juveniles are a bit more active than adults but trust you will know the difference of them having fun in the tank vs something is bothering him.

 

[JoeysAxies]

Yey! 3 babies have hatched!!
2 of them look great but the 3rd looks bent (excuse the term no other way to describe it) and a lot smaller! Maybe hatched to early?

Thank you for the reply Cardosmf.

 

[JoeysAxies]

I have set up the bbs hatchery so hopefully should have baby shrimp tomorrow :happy:

 

[Cardosmf]

Here are my lil guys at 1.5 wks old

 

[Cardosmf]

No problem believe it or not I have one that's a complete right angle and he is alive but he might be eaten later if he doesn't grow properly lol I'll share a pic of him later

 

[JoeysAxies]

Sooo cute! Lovely golden’s
Had 15 in total hatched by this morning they had their first meal tonight and all seemed to eat well! The bbs hatchery produced enough to eat but the hatch rate seemed to be poor. I was guaranteed 95% to hatch but no way near that!
Is it ok to use the remaining bbs for tomorrow? How long can they keep in the hatchery setup?
I have two hatcherys I set the other one up with eggs this evening.

By this evening another 80 hatched!!! Eeeek!! all pretty much at the same time
Now at 100 ish babies with more to follow.
How many did you have?

 

[Cardosmf]

I didn't count but judging by your amount I have about 300 and about 400 more eggs that's the second batch that needs to hatch I got 4 new tanks that I got a great deal on and can't wait to find homes for them.

 

[Cardosmf]

My brine shrimp seem to last a day or so but u need to keep up with water changes everyday and to save you the trouble keep using a new batch of shrimp you just need to let them sit in the hatchery a little longer to get better hatch rate between 24--36hrs I feed my baby axies every other day because the bbs I have seem to last 24hrs or so in the water again this all depends on your bbs brand and of course change the water everyday it doesn't have to be 100% just remove waste with turkey baster and replace what you remove eventually you will need a 100%because of the left over bbs eggs :-\it's very tedious but my axies have been growing well some more than others it's time to separate them already

 

[JoeysAxies]

1 week old today!! (Most of them,some a few days older)
My little cherubs...
Wildtype possible melanoid and leusistic??

Had a nightmare with the bbs hatchery not getting a high hatch rate and end up with lots of eggs mixed in! I’ve tried everything to improve hatch rate. I contacted where I brought them from but they can’t be bothered to reply!!
Limited where I can buy eggs where I am, thinking of trying daphnia instead are they easier to hatch/culture etc??
How are your guys doing? When do they start growing their front legs?

It is Axolotl madness at my house! How on earth do you cope with 400?

 

[JoeysAxies]

When I mean nightmare with bbs it takes about 2-3 days for a low hatch rate!!

 

[Cardosmf]

O wow that is a long time mine takes a day in a half the longest and I use golden artemia bbs it has a 90% hatch rate I paid 23$ for 50 grams on Amazon it comes in a golden package so I feel they hatch pretty good I still get some egg shells in the water that's why I said it was very tedious when it comes to daily water changes you might have to do more water changes remove the fry put them somewhere safe and just clean out the container with water completely that's the easiest way is a 100% water change and it won't hurt the fry it will actually help hem grow btw my axies are about a month old it's hard to see on some of them but their buds to their legs are actually coming in it almost looks like it's apart of their gills but they are coming out right behind their head u can see well if you look at them in the turkey baster I know temperature and light has alot to do with it never shut your light off and never stop the water from circulating I took out my air stone pointed the light to the bottom of the hatchery to separate the bbs from eggs shells totally forgot abt it because I was cleaning up a tank in my fish room then 4 hrs later I went omg ran upstairs to collect bbs and they mostly died so that's 1 mistake I made and also make sure your light on your bbs is at least 40 watt bulb for lighting hope this helps!!

 

[Nycolebayne]

I hatch bbs and raise daphnia for my babies. I have a super high hatch rate after just 12 hours!! I use a 2 gallon glass fish bowl (the drum style) with a heater. 8 tbsp aquarium salt. 1/4tsp bbs eggs san francisco brand off amazon. Hook up airstone and airpump and plop in there and voila! Make sure you start with luke warm water. Not too cold and not too hot.