Golden with black eyes?

Just wondering whats the difference between, the wild type, albinos, melonoids? and all of those different types, I thought white, yellow and black were the standard :S
 
Hi Blaze,

This page explains it best.
http://www.axolotl.org/genetics.htm

But basically to my knowledge...

Wilds are a mixture of all colours
Albinos lack any black
Melanoids can be black, grey or white but lack any shiney pigment (best way to tell is to look at the eyes - if no shiney iris, then it's melanoid)

Chers, Phil
 
I have had a leucistic which was very yellow. It resembled Phil's and the colour was not xanthophores but seemed to be a general yellowness. It was feeding itself mainly on ostracods in a vegetation rich tank. Two months ago it began to look a bit thin and growth slowed so I swapped it to worms. The colour has gradually faded as it has fattened up and grown. It is still a little bit yellower than its siblings but no longer stands out.

I'm wondering if supplementing its diet with earthworms fed on marigold petals would bring back the colour!
 
Interesting thread. I'm a newbie to axolotls but I do know that worms fed on turmeric (sprinkled in compost) and veggies that have been cooked in turmeric, turn yellow. It might also work with marigolds/calendula but I'm not sure. Turmeric will definitely turn the worms yellow from the inside. My dad used to do it to attract fish to his worms when fishing.

Might just work!
 
A week ago I changed the totally unremarkable formerly yellow axolotl onto a diet of about 50% cooked marine mussels, giving it bits from the most orange in a batch.

It found them as tasty as I did. It is looking a bit yellow again already. I have weighed and measured it and have now put it on a diet of 100% mussels.

I'm weighing its rations so I will be able to calculate a feed conversion ratio. If growth falters it will go back on a mixed diet.
 
Feedback on cooked marine mussel diet-orange selected ones.

The axolotl does go a moderate orange hue. I'll post a picture when my camera problems are solved.

Growth is excellent, at least as good as on the previous mainly worm diet. Feed conversion ratio is 1.1, (22g food eaten axolotl 20g heavier) but despite this there is very high ammonia output of 28mg per day indicating about 80% of the protein in the food is catabolised. The axolotl looks content but its gills are a very red and a little forward curled.

Mussels are supposed to have 16.9g protein but only 1.7g carbohydrate and 0.8g fat per 100g. I think they are unbalanced, too protein heavy even for a carnivore and am going to try enhancing the carbohydrates a bit by compounding chopped mussel with cooked corn starch paste.
 
I have some babies that hatched about a month ago. About 1/3 of them are albino, the parents were NOT albino, and ALL of the eggs were brown.
 
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