Babies- Good and bad news

[Rachael Lea]

Hello! My babies have been hatching since thursday! Some are growing nicely but at least half have died. I am worried about what they are eating - I can't hatch any brine shrimps. I have given them some crushed up axolotl pellets and some liquifry to try to tide them over, they must be eating something because they are GROWING so fast. I have about 20 really strong looking ones but a few die each day. Any suggestions on alternate food items while I continue to attempt to hatch brine shrimp.

 

[Aimzs Lotties]

Read through page 2 on this thread http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...ding/78006-when-can-i-stop-feeding-bbs-2.html

I don't know why so many of your babies are dying, it is very unfortunate. You say they started hatching thursday? That's only 4 days.. I doubt they would be dying of hunger so soon.. yellowpebble's lasted a week before being fed (due to bad BBS eggs). How is your water quality? Are you water changing daily?

Thanks

 

[Morrison]

Maybe you're already doing this, but... For babies (and axolotls without filters etc) you need to change the water daily. If the water gets a little dirty they can die because they're so vulnerable.

In january I had my first (and till now the last) batch of babies and they never really died spontaneously. Sometimes one got eaten or one just didn't eat and died. But I did water changes daily and it was a succesfull first batch.

About the food. You can also buy brine shrimps and/or daphnia/other tiny water creatures at some pet stores. I sometimes feed them crushed pellets as a little snack but they will foul the water quickly if left uneaten (and I don't think they'll eat it pretty well because when they're so young they only like to eat things that are moving) and they're not that good as a sole diet (too fat).

Or maybe you can find daphnia somewhere in a pond. (But rinse very well before feeding it to your babies)

 

[laalflaach]

Be patient and the brine shrimp will definitely hatch, I know how worrying it is waiting, but if you have done it right, after 24 hours if you look closely with a magnifying glass you can see tiny dots moving about, when you let the water settle, the unhatched eggs are on the bottom, the hatched eggs are on the surface, and the shrimp are somewhere in the middle in a little orange mass ready to be turkey basted out, and washed. I found that the brine shrimp and daphnia that you buy in bags here, were far too big for my newborns, but were ok after about a month to six weeks. I would recommend you invest in a daphnia farm, I started one about 5 weeks ago, purchased off ebay, it was a tubifex/ daphnia setup, with food, sand and critters, the daphnia feed off the tubifex waste, they are no where near as big as the ones you get in bags, but they have had babies, so they are definitely working out, apparently all the daphnia are born female and all are pregnant, so yay, unlimited food. So remember water changes and Good luck!!