Didn't know I had a breeding pair till now...

[lmk0053]

I bought two axolotls back in February but had no clue what the sexes were. One of them started to get pretty plump recently and we joked that he is a she and must be pregnant. Well the joke became reality on Saturday when I found hundreds of eggs in the tank. I separated out probably around 300 eggs and have them in a 10 gallon with an air stone. I was just wondering if anyone knows how many might hatch from this clutch and where I can sell/adopt out when they are ready? I'm in the St. Louis area. I already ordered some brine shrimp to grow up for when the axolotls hatch. The male is leucistic and the female is either WT or melanoid (I can't remember-she's very dark but still has spots).

 

[Viking]

I hatched 400 eggs last spring. It is hard to raise that many because you will need many tanks to raise that many. I would suggest you sell part of the eggs. The color depends on genetics of the dark wild one. Luecistic is a recessive trait. It would have to be ll or la to be white.a =albino l = luecistic W = wild type Wa or Wl would appear wild type. Since your female is dark all that eggs will appear dark until just before they. Lucy or albinos will appear white when they hatch.

If the couple did things right most of the eggs hatch. You will know if the eggs are good if they do not fungus. The will bean meaning the embryo is shaped like a bean instead of being round. The embryo is c shaped just before hatching with six gills visible.

Does that answer your questions?

 

[lmk0053]

I just have no idea where to sell them. Also, do I need to do water changes for the eggs? Even if the water is clear? If so, how often?

 

[Viking]

The eggs are fine if in enough water. You leave the eggs in the tank and moves parents. I like to put green water and Daphnia over the eggs. The greenwater will absorbs any ammonia which is very low. The will hatch it 2 weeks more or less depending on temp.

I like to lower water is I can sometimes the eggs are on the glass near the surface. When they newly hatched shallow water will keep the live food near the floor. They are not good swimmers for the first 2 weeks. I tend not to change the water. I keep adding water each day. In a 20 gallon tank with hornwort will greatly help with water quality. A sponge filter all helps. Of course with some many it is not the end of the world if you lose a couple. They are very hardy. My first batch of eggs I raised all 46 except 1. It was killed when siphoning water to clean the water.

Use a smaller siphon hose and Tulle cloth to prevent them being sucked up. Of course there is more one way to do this.