Question: Brand new owner tons of eggs need some advice

[Murphy family]

We just got our first axolotls two days ago and she is in the process of laying eggs, lots of eggs.

We are preparing the following plan, looking for any advice on what we are missing;

1. Looking for a new tank on craigslist to transfer eggs into once she is done laying. We will use the water from the existing tank.

2. Purchasing brine shrimp eggs to feed babies. I assume this is what they will eat.

Does anyone where I can peruse a timetable or guide on raising them, what to feed them, house them, etc ????

We are a little lost as to how to properly care for babies.

 

[Lexolotl]

Hello! There are several links posted at the top of the forum about this subject.

From egg to adult:
Axolotls - Rearing from Egg to Adult

Hatching brine shrimp:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...rine-shrimp-hatching-harvesting-tutorial.html

 

[Murphy family]

THANK YOU, looks like I have a lot of work to do today

 

[xxianxx]

Dont worry about buying tanks for larvae , plastic tubs suffice. You have to decide how many axolotls you wish to raise. If you attempt a full batch you are creating a load of work and will probably kill most of them or if you are successful have hundreds of them to re home. Decide upon a figure you want to raise (10-20 is a sensible amount) and give away, sell or cull the rest of the eggs. The link is to my technique for using baby brine shrimp to raise axolotls, I forgot to mention that the tubs need to be wiped down daily to prevent a bacterial build up which will kill the larvae at some point. If you want to raise 10-20 larvae you need to hatch a quarter of a tea spoon of eggs per day to start with.
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...sing-baby-axolotls-baby-brine-shrimp-bbs.html

 

[auntiejude]

What are you planning on doing?

You can't raise them all unless you have
A. a lot of space
B. a lot of money
C. a lot of time.

I suggest you read the articlesmentioned above, sell/give away some eggs, and raise a handful yourself (I'd suggest 10-20). If you freeze the rest of the eggs it's the kindest way to cull them, but you should do it within the first week.

 

[usafaux2004]

Welcome to the club! My girl laid her eggs on the 27-28th. Willowcat has graciously offered to take them all, and I've also been reading the sticky topics here for the advice. We have an interesting situation, as 2 weeks falls right in the middle of our vacation. I read that keeping then at a cooler temp will prolong the cycle, so if we keep a few, we might just do that.

 

[10fenny]

hehehe ya it will be a lot of work. Aunt jude is right on the time space and money. I hatched over 300 this summer. Wow that was a lot of work. I had about 50 per huge tupperware container to start. Water changes at LEAST ever other day after they hatched. Constantly hatching BBS and feeding them like crazy. Like 3 times a day. I had a whole room devoted to it. My girlfriends called in the nursery or hatchery. Everyone thought I was the crazy lotl man. My gf thought I was crazy. Then to top it off you have to find homes for these guys. One petstore is no way going to take 300 freshly hatched. They gotta be eating semi regular food. I had baby axies all over town. I pretty much just broke even with all the supplies and food costs... so good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!