Question: Freshly Hatched Golden Axies

[NewGuy1]

I have some freshly hatched golden axies that I just recieved in the mail today. I am needing to get them a tank but I cant figure out the filter problem. I cant seem to find a filter that doesnt have an intake big enough to swollow the babies. Any advice as how to get around this problem?

 

[melfly]

I keep my babies in tubs without a filter.
Just do 100% water changes daily

Mel

 

[Shizeric]

Or look for a sponge filter.

 

[NewGuy1]

The only other problem Im having is how do you move them? Their so tiny and the hang out at the bottom so I cant seem to get them from tub to tub. I am thinking about a turkey baster like I have heard on here but I wanna make sure thats ok so it doesnt hurt them.

 

[NewGuy1]

Terrible news, I am still not sure why but all 38 baby golden axies died. I changed the water daily to fresh dechlorinated water, fed them freshly hatched and rinsed brine shrimp, had some fake plants for them to hide under. When I went to sleep they were all fine and chasing the shrimp around but when I woke up they were all gone. We are very upset with this loss especially since we really wanted to have our golden axies.

 

[NewGuy1]

Was it a bad decidion to feed them the brine shrimp? It looks like they were eating them because after closer investigation I notice that the baby axies are covered in the shrimp. Had anyone ever heard of anything like this? The water was just changed maybe an hour before I went to sleep. We are very upset by this and confused at the same time.

 

[melfly]

Did you use dechlorinator? Was the temp too high? I wouldn't think the brine shrimp had anything to do with it, all my babies are fed baby brine from hatched. 38 was a lot to try to raise all at once, but upto now i cant see that it was your fault. Mel

 

[NewGuy1]

The only way I could have made the temperature any colder would be to fridge them. The water sat to dechlorinate itself, I didnt wanna risk the dechlorinator I have being too strong and hurting them so I was trying to use a natural path. I have decided next time someone gifts us with baby axolotl eggs we will go buy spring water and use only that for water changes. It has to be something with the water or the shrimp. I will be getting ready by stocking up on water in advance and investing in a Daphnia culture kit to feed them. Hopefully we find someone as generous to expand our family as this last time.

 

[melfly]

It may have been nothing to do with the water or the food. Like i said i've raised over 60 babies last year using dechlorinator and baby brines and all did brilliant. Dont complicate things. It'll cost you a fortune in water if you buy it in. And it is not needed. So do your pocket a favour and use normal tap water. You dont need to overcomplicate anything. Do you know the temp of the water you kept them in? Babies are very sensitive to temperature and will die very quickly if the temp is too high.

 

[NewGuy1]

The temp was around 20c. I was just gonna buy the water because our town has very poor water quality. I wont even drink the water myself.

 

[melfly]

Do you buy the water for your big axies? It will cost you a whole load of money. And if your changing daily the costs are gonna mount up.

 

[Jacquie]

The water sat to dechlorinate itself, I didnt wanna risk the dechlorinator I have being too strong and hurting them so I was trying to use a natural path.

Hi NewGuy1,

I'm so sorry about your losses.

Just a thought, but is it possible your water board is utilizing chloromine rather than chlorine? Unlike chlorine, chloromine will not evaporate by simply allowing the water to sit for 48 or so hours. The only way to rid the water of chloromine, is using a dechlorinator (you should check the label to ensure that the product treats the water for both chlorine and chloromine - some only treat for chlorine - this will be useless if chloromine is present).

Further information on chloromine (testing for, and ridding the tank of it) can be found here (scroll down to point 10 - well worth a read through!): Caudata Culture Articles - Water Quality

This article may also help ascertain what happened to the larvae:
Caudata Culture Articles - Why Larvae Die

Good luck!

 

[Shizeric]

Didn't you post less than a week ago that you had just brought home 2 Axolotls (or you believe they are Axolotls), and realized you were ill-informed on the subject, and therefor they were "deathly ill"? http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...axolotl/67108-i-think-their-deathly-sick.html

You may have gone in over your head trying to raise that many baby axies when you yourself admitted you were not prepared to care for even full grown axies. Inexperience may have played a large part in this situation, and perhaps you should wait a while and research before making another attempt.

 

[NewGuy1]

Yes I just got my adult Tigers a week ago and yes I was over paranoid about them in titling it "deathly ill". Since putting them in a larger tank and doing days worth of research, Starla and Scooter are both very happy except Scooter doesnt like Starla trying to cuddle him lol. They are on a diet of pellets and earth worms. The intention was not to have that many babies but I wasnt gonna kill some just because there was too many. It just sucks that none of them made it.

 

[digger]

Raising babies can be very rewarding but heart breaking also. I have now raised a few hundred very successfully but most likely lost an equal amount. Sometimes there are no apparent reasons, some times it is a genetic problem. I have raised some to six months old to all of a sudden lose them 1 by 1 with no apparent cause, diet, water, temp, ect all the same, they just started dying. They didnt even show any physical signs such as floating or fungus, it happens.
If i could give some advice it would be this;-
Only have about 6 babies to each container (plastic take away tubs are ideal)
Only use newly hatched brine shrimp or daphnia and rinse well in clean dechlorinated water. (Remove dead food as you see it)
Try to maintain a temperature below 16 deg the cooler the better.
Do water changes 1/2 times daily with dechlorinated water the same temp as your babies are in.
A small piece of plant life will give cover if you feel the need but as long as the containers are kept cool and out of the light they should be fine, I cover mine with a cloth.
This is all you can do at this early stage and the rest is in mother natures hands.

 

[Jennewt]

The water sat to dechlorinate itself, I didnt wanna risk the dechlorinator I have being too strong and hurting them so I was trying to use a natural path. I have decided next time someone gifts us with baby axolotl eggs we will go buy spring water and use only that for water changes.

Very sorry for your misfortune. I suspect that chlorine could have been the problem. The standard advice to age water overnight to get rid of chlorine... it's partially a myth. At temperatures below 21C, it takes quite a lot longer than 1 day for chlorine to dissipate. In my basement, I have tested water that was bubbling for a week, and it still had a significant amount of chlorine in it. My water has only chlorine, not chloramine - are you sure about which is in yours?

If the larvae were covered with BBS, this suggests that you might have been adding to much BBS. But since they all died at once, I think it's more likely a problem with the water.

Better luck next time! Using bottled water is certainly an option.

 

[michaelaf]

im sorry for your loss i also lost 3 baby axies this week

 

[shoegal]

I suspect that setting your water out in order for the chlorine to dissipate (and not using a dechlorinator) was what killed the babies. Try using a dechlorinator such as Novaqua in the future. I have been using Novaqua with my batch of babies, and they are doing just fine. Having chlorine in the water is a pretty effective way of killing both fish and amphibians.

 

[lisalee]

I have had axolotls for quite some time and used to breed them but had to separate the male from females in the end as breeding two much. It is hard to keep babies, all my first batch died in a week but the second batch did really well 20 of them survived and went to good homes and the 3rd batch had more survived. I didn't do 100% water changes every day probably about 85% daily with dechlorinater, i think 100%is to much as it can cause them stress.When bringing up babies from eggs for the first time only have up to about 10 then they will have more of a chance of surviving. Feed them twice a day but not to much at a time as un eaten food with fowl the water, plus if there is un eaten food and mini poops in the container use a turkey baster and very small net to remove any wast. The way i have just told you is the way i learned and it all worked wonders for me.