Feeding the babies

S

susan

Guest
I have eggs which are just starting to hatch. I am trying to hatch brine shrimp to feed them but so far no luck - the first brine shrimp did nothing and I have just started a new lot today. I followed the instructions on the Ambystoma Genetic Stock centre web site
Any suggestions to guarantee the shrimp hatch. If not any ideas on what else they can eat? I can't find daphnia anywhere in Sydney either.
Also, if they live, I will post on the trade section if anyone wants some.
 
Hello Susan
If you live near a fresh water pond or lake look for large amount of fresh water plants that are found submerge under the water and grab some of them and shake them over a plastic container that has some water in it. You should see lots of very small organism about the size of the period on the end of my sentence.
Your larvas will eat them!
Good luck!
P.S. if you need more advice just ask!
 
Thats sounds like a good way to give them diseases lol. personally I wouldnt do that. Keep trying your shrimp.
 
That was one of two methods that I use for years with out any problems to feed my newt larvas and the only problem that I had was, what to do with so many larvas turning into healthy newts.
 
Thanks Alberto
I went down to the wetlands near my house and have a bucket with something in it - not sure if anything is alive. If the shrimp don't hatch I will look more closely in the bucket. There were no plants I could pick up and shake out without going into the water and that was not very appealing, so I took the water from where the plants were leaning in. I may try again later - there are plants in the pond in my back yard - there might be something healthier lurking in there. At least I know where the water came from.
 
are you sure the shrimp are not hatching? maybe leave them for a day longer. if the temp is low then they will take longer to hatch then if the temp was at 27. i find it very hard to look at my brine shrimp and sometimes need a magnifying glass to see them but once i focus on then i can see 1000's.
 
I am thinking maybe they were hatched and I couldn't tell the difference even with a magnifying glass. The instructions said they would be orange. I looked up pictures on the web but think maybe they were adults not hatchlings. I left the first lot for 5 days before giving up. I am thinking of putting them under a heat lamp to keep them warm. I hope the new ones work because I have lots of babies.
 
5 days is a loooong time. i only have mine going for 1-2 days. to me they look more like white things swimming around but they are orange. i can tell when my babies eat them because there bellies shine bright orange. a heat lamp will help, just use a ordanary 50 watt bulb they heat up enough to keep the brine shrimp hatchery at around 27.
 
Hello Susan
This is the other method that I use to use! I use to get a glass jar filled with water and I will add lettuce to it and then I waited for about 4 or 5 days. By that time the lettuce in the jar will be decomposing and it will be filled with mostly protozoan.
Then I will use a nose dropper to suck up some of the protozoan and I would drop them into the container that had the newt larvas and the larvas will eat them.
That is also what I did by the method that I wrote to you above on this post!
I also left a jar out side my house with water and wait for mosquitos to lay there eggs in the jar and when the newt larvas got a little bit bigger I will feed them the mosquito larvas!
I hope that you found this information helpful!
If you want more tips just ask!
Good luck!
 
Hey Alberto
I have a frog pond in my yard - it should be full of something alive, and also a lilly pond with no fish - from what you say I can probably use this water and it will already have something alive in it. I guess that just because I can't see something doesn't mean it isn't there. I will also do the lettuce thing. Thanks for all these great ideas. I thought I had a breeding ground for mosquitos but the temperature dropped and there are hardly any anymore.
 
Hello Susan
You should be able to see tiny little dots swimming around in the water with the naked eye or for sure with the aid of a magnified glass.
Look for slime on the leaves of your water plants that are submerge under the water or in the bottom of the pond.
How big are you Axolotl larvas?
 
susan- the method alberto is talking about (jar and lettuce) is called infusoria, axie can eat larger food as their first foods and this method is normally only used for very very small fry.

i would be careful just fishing food out of a pond, all sorts can be in there including those fry eating things (the ones that look like jelly fish sorta). i would mature any culture you get for a while, and even then it might not be totally safe.

its not too hard to hatch BBS once you get the hang of it, just gotta practise a few times
happy.gif
 
my larva are about 15mm long - they started hatching on Saturday the 10th. I have had one lot of brine shrimp which I think were ok and one definitely successful hatching now that I know what I am looking for. I am not sure if they were eaten, as there was no feeding frenzy when I put them in but also there don't seem to be any deaths in the tank yet. I have put some water out of the pond in a jar and will age it a bit. I can't see anything in there bigger than a dot in the water but thought in the right light that I saw something tiny swimming around, I am hoping for daphnia. I know I have to be wary of strange creatures so have only taken water from the pond without fish. I was also given some worms with a friend who breeds axies. She says the axies can eat the baby worms if I can separate them from the full size ones, I am not sure how this will work either. How big do the babies have to be before they can eat something easier to provide?
 
Hello Susan
The way that I told you is the way that always work for me and I also will get a large container and will add lots of under water plants making sure that no large insect larvas were in the under water plants and let the newt larvas feed for up to a week at a time. I will then do the same thing again. Till the newt larvas started to get bigger and then I will use larger food for them like blood worms and mosquito larvas!
I agree with Sharn that you can start to try feeding your larvas a little bit bigger food but please be carful that your larvas do not choke on food that is to big for them. They can choke to death.
Good luck!
 
susan- the bellies of your axies will show orange if they have been eating. they probably dont have legs yet so they just snap and hope they get a mouth full of food lol.

chopped up bloodworms or blackworms are often noted, but i have never raised young axies so im unsure on that one.
 
The babies are now 4 weeks old and are still not quite 20mm long. This seems a bit slow growing. I am giving them brine shrimp every day - should I feed them more often? I am using decapsulated shrimp as that is all the pet store had - I don't think the yield is as high as the ordinary kind but it is good not having to separate shrimp from shells.
The water temperature is 15 degrees celsius so I am thinking that maybe they are growing slowly because of the cold. I don't have a heater but have moved them to a warmer part of the house.
I would like them big enough to eat something easier, like frozen blood worms. I think there are about 90 of them and so far only three or four have died. This seems quite surprising as I thought the mortality rate would be higher.
Any advice on helping them grow would be appreciated as I can give some away when they are beyond the brine shrimp stage I hope.
 
my water temp is just over 10 degrees and mine are growing very slowly like yours to. If the 90 that you have all survive how are u going to sell/give away that many? sharn mentioned chopped up blood worm and/or black worm. i havnt tried this but doubt it will work because they only feed on moving things. but its worth a shot.
 
I have found homes for maybe 10, and there is a pet shop nearby which may take them. I really expected a high mortality rate and to only end up with about 10! I want to keep a white one myself if any survive. The other bad news is that it seems that two of my axolotls are female as I have spawn again - which I will cull. I am looking for a new home for the male as I really don't want to breed them. I will try the worms - I have some but haven't been able to bring myself to chop them up.

Have you found homes for yours?
 
i stand corrected, i put some chopped up blood worms in with the babies last night, woke up this morning to find they had all gone!. there is a pet store that is going to take about 5 and i know a few people that would like to buy some of me. im also hoping some people from wellington on this forum might be interested in some?.
 
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