Hatchling not feeding

[SuperSteve]

Hello I'm new to the forum :happy:

I bought some eggs last week from a breeder because I have 9 Axolotls who didn't seem to want to breed. It's day 19 now and only 1 has hatched at the minute. It hatched about 2 days ago but still hasn't eaten the Daphnia I put in the tub with it. I know the hatchlings won't eat for about 24 hours usually but it's been 2 days now and every time one of the Daphnia go near it, it swims away. Are Daphnia too big for it to eat at this stage or am I just being impatient? I ordered a microworm culture from ebay as backup.


By the way, 2 days after I bought the eggs my adults decided to lay over 600 eggs (I'm a 1st time breeder) so will be overrun in no time :lol:

 

[jane1187]

It can take 2 to 3 days (not necessarily 24 hours) for a hatchling to use up its yolk reserves. This can depend a lot on temperature, or the size of the yolk sac it was provided with.

If they have not eaten within 4 days that is when the worry should start. Give them another day or so and you should see some evidence of feeding behaviour, or some extensive stomach bulges.

Technically the daphnia could be too large. Are there a range of daphnia sizes or are they all full adult sized? Full-sized adult daphnia are a little big for new hatchlings, whereas small and newly hatched daphnia are OK.

 

[SuperSteve]

Ahhh that could be it then. Will go and try that now. If that fails I'll feed them microworms for a few days til they bulk up a bit. Thanks.

 

[FX1C]

By the way, 2 days after I bought the eggs my adults decided to lay over 600 eggs (I'm a 1st time breeder) so will be overrun in no time :lol:

Hello & welcome

I lol'd at your dilemma of egg laying after adoption - consider the first batch a warm up I'm sure the little one will start munching soon enough




<3 >o_o< <3

 

[SuperSteve]

Ok the first 5 to hatch have all died of starvation now. The remaining 3 that have hatched are now 4 days old and have still not eat anything. I've tried baby daphnia and microworms. I'm not sure about the microworms but I've dropped it directly in front of them and never seen any even react to it. They completely ignore the baby daphnia too even when it swims in right past their mouth. I've spent quite a while watching them and seen no feeding activity whatsoever. The eggs were laid on 20th of December and only 8 of 25 have hatched so far. The unhatched ones are still alive though. It will be day 25 now. Nothing seems to be going right for me at the minute and not sure where I'm going wrong. I have 600 fertile eggs developing nicely so there can't be an issue with the water quality. . . Need to find an answer quickly because I don't want to lose any more. I'm really frustrated. Can anyone shed some light on whats happening? Thanks.

 

[Bellabelloo]

I'm not sure about the microworms but I've dropped it directly in front of them and never seen any even react to it. .

Microworms are very tiny, you can barely see them. Are you meaning whiteworms? These would still be too large for newly hatched axolotl.

Caudata Culture Articles - Microfoods

Do you have access to pond water? if so I would try using that until you get your brine shrimp started off. I would scoop up some pond water, let it warm up to room temp and then add the larvae.

 

[SuperSteve]

No they're definitely microworms. . . We're going onto 6 days since they hatched and if I can't force them to eat they'll be dead by tomorrow night. What temperature is ideal for them?

 

[School Tech]

My recent hatchlings didn't feed until around day 5. Water temp was at 15°C and after advice on here I tried to raise the temperature a bit, this seemed to do the trick, once I could maintain a steady 18°C they seemed much happier and fed much more freely. Ideal temp seems to be around 22°C but I couldn't achieve that.

 

[SuperSteve]

I set up a brine shrimp hatchery with a desk lamp for heat and light which has got the hatchlings to 19 celsius. My unhatched eggs have immediately started to hatch eventually after 26 days. Hopefully it will kickstart their appetite. Thanks for all the help and suggestions everyone. Maybe the temperature was the source of all my problems. Will find out soon enough. Thanks.

 

[layna]

My axis are 7 weeks now and the littler ones are refusing to eat...anything.

It's been 3 days now :/

 

[FX1C]

My axis are 7 weeks now and the littler ones are refusing to eat...anything.

It's been 3 days now :/

What are you offering them to eat?




<3 >o_o< <3

 

[SuperSteve]

Are the smaller ones in with the bigger ones? And what water temp? By the way, another quick question from me rather than starting another thread. What age do larvae start to require a dark hiding placd. I've been considering adding some bottle tops. Thanks.

 

[layna]

Hi, no i have then in dividers, the three largest are on their own and the little ones are in twos.
The water temp is usually 18 degrees celcous and ive offered them live brine shrimp, live daphnia, jelly daphnia stuff and baby bloodworm. The food they were offered was all an acceptable size, they just wont take it.