Getting Axolotl eggs? How to take care of them?

[Cocoapanda10]

Hey, I haven't yet owned an Axolotl, and because we couldn't find any my mum decided to order 20 eggs on a 1st class post from Essex. I'll be either selling the babies and keeping a leucistic and a wild type or giving them away to a local pet store (a choice I wish to avoid) and keep a leucistic and wild type.

The mother is leucistic and the father is a wild type.

I will be rearing them for a few weeks. What do I feed them on? My mum said she's going to be buying a daphnia culture and keeping them in the water until the eggs hatch. Then we'll lower the water for easy access of the food for the axies, getting rid of unhatched spawn with the water.

Also, what is the right temperature? It's really sunny and hot around here, and i'm finding it difficult to keep my tank's water at 19 celsius, and it's 23 celsius in the tank at this moment. The decreased water will make a difference, along with the air stone i'm getting for the axolotls to breathe air.

Also, just to make sure I can avoid cannabalism in my 2 axies i'm keeping, is this the right space for them?
The tank is 60cm long x 30cm wide x 30cm Tall with a barrel hide (will be replaced with driftwood when the axies are 15cm) and 3 plastic plants in a neat setup, so it can let the axies rest.

Link me to any helpful rearing pages please, other than the fantastic Axolotl.org one, as I want to explore new ways of rearing. I have already reared Frog and Toad tadpoles, aswell as a newt baby I found in the middle of the road.

 

[Skunk]

I have a wild and a leucistic, who have laid eggs a couple of weeks ago and they've hatched now so I'm in a similar situation.

I'd suggest keeping the tank cooler, like you say, around 19C. Where is the tank now? Could you move it to a shady spot?

I fed mine on "decapsulated" brine shrimp eggs, which comes in a bottle for about £6 and lasts a year, but you'll use it up before then. You pour a little out onto a piece of kitchen paper and touch it against the top of the water so that the eggs go into the water. But if you're going to be getting daphnia, the smallest will probably be ok for your young axolotls, as they get larger, they can obviously eat the larger daphnia too!

The air stone is a good option too, although I've heard some people are against it, but I don't know why. It's good to keep the water oxygenated.

You'll more than likely experience a lot of cannibalism within your very young axies, as soon as they start budding their front legs, they start chomping on each other! And also nature will take its course and the weakest of your hatchlings will sadly perish.

I had around 180 eggs, 150 which hatched, and around 90-100 which are still alive. So, around 50%

Sadly I don't think that tank will be large enough, it will be fine for the first year while your chosen two are still juveniles, but as they get older they'll be wanting more room so they can get as big as possible and be really happy! I've now got my adults in a tank that is about 150cm x 36cm x 50cm and its pretty perfect for them!

You say you'll be rearing them for a couple of weeks? Mine are now a couple of weeks old and I've been told by the pet shop that they'll take them at about 4-6 months.

Hope this has helped!

 

[Cocoapanda10]

I have a wild and a leucistic, who have laid eggs a couple of weeks ago and they've hatched now so I'm in a similar situation.

I'd suggest keeping the tank cooler, like you say, around 19C. Where is the tank now? Could you move it to a shady spot?

I fed mine on "decapsulated" brine shrimp eggs, which comes in a bottle for about £6 and lasts a year, but you'll use it up before then. You pour a little out onto a piece of kitchen paper and touch it against the top of the water so that the eggs go into the water. But if you're going to be getting daphnia, the smallest will probably be ok for your young axolotls, as they get larger, they can obviously eat the larger daphnia too!

The air stone is a good option too, although I've heard some people are against it, but I don't know why. It's good to keep the water oxygenated.

You'll more than likely experience a lot of cannibalism within your very young axies, as soon as they start budding their front legs, they start chomping on each other! And also nature will take its course and the weakest of your hatchlings will sadly perish.

I had around 180 eggs, 150 which hatched, and around 90-100 which are still alive. So, around 50%

Sadly I don't think that tank will be large enough, it will be fine for the first year while your chosen two are still juveniles, but as they get older they'll be wanting more room so they can get as big as possible and be really happy! I've now got my adults in a tank that is about 150cm x 36cm x 50cm and its pretty perfect for them!

You say you'll be rearing them for a couple of weeks? Mine are now a couple of weeks old and I've been told by the pet shop that they'll take them at about 4-6 months.

Hope this has helped!

I've read up that 60x30x30 is enough for 2 Axies, so I think I'll stick with that until I decide to get a slightly bigger tank. Yes, my Tank is in a shady spot in my room but sadly I cannot change its room. Because my loft is small, it stinks, and there's a rat in there. And I don't have a basement.

I think i'll be selling them on preloved. And if any remain i'll give them to a pet store where I was going to buy an axie but sadly they didn't have any in stock. I'll also be selling them as soon as I begin to see the front leg buds, and put them in seperate tubs where the water will be 15 celsius constantly. I'm also thinking of keeping the water at 22 celsius, so they will hatch quicker. And I can only find live brine shrimp in my local aquarium store, but they have alot of hatchling daphnia there. Plus, the Daphnia will eat any bacteria growing in the tank, keep the water clean, and provide a good meal for the axies.

And my chosen 2 (when they develop all 4 legs) will then be hand fed until they reach sexual maturity.

 

[Skunk]

Sounds like you have it all planned out.

 

[kiathepooch]

I've read up that 60x30x30 is enough for 2 Axies, so I think I'll stick with that until I decide to get a slightly bigger tank. Yes, my Tank is in a shady spot in my room but sadly I cannot change its room. Because my loft is small, it stinks, and there's a rat in there. And I don't have a basement.

I think i'll be selling them on preloved. And if any remain i'll give them to a pet store where I was going to buy an axie but sadly they didn't have any in stock. I'll also be selling them as soon as I begin to see the front leg buds, and put them in seperate tubs where the water will be 15 celsius constantly. I'm also thinking of keeping the water at 22 celsius, so they will hatch quicker. And I can only find live brine shrimp in my local aquarium store, but they have alot of hatchling daphnia there. Plus, the Daphnia will eat any bacteria growing in the tank, keep the water clean, and provide a good meal for the axies.

And my chosen 2 (when they develop all 4 legs) will then be hand fed until they reach sexual maturity.

The tank should be fine until your axolotls start to get bigger,i have 3 adults in a 4ft tank,they've been in there since they were about 6cm long.if you can afford a bigger tank then i would go for it,you can pick up some really good bargins from ebay/preloved/Facebook,even though the guidelines say 1ft per axolotl,when they're fully grown,it looks cramped.
Though like i said,when they're little it isn't that important.

Im bringing my newly hatched axolotls up on daphnia and so far out of the 15 i started with,I've only had one die.Plus culturing daphnia for me hasn't been a problem and if it crashed than my local aquarium store sells it.
The brine shrimp in the shop will be too big for newly hatched babies but is fine when they're older.

Good luck!

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