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Axolotls are illegal in California. Please read this thread for detailed information and links to the actual laws: https://www.caudata.org/threads/axolotls-are-illegal-in-california-here-are-the-relevant-laws.30779/
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Hatchlings aren't eating?
- Thread starter Neek
- Start date
Boy, you are sure in the thick of it. I have just got through all this so I know how you are feeling.
My babies are a month old today. 40mm long, with tiny little front legs and little buds on the back.
I bought Brine Shrimp eggs from fishmark72 (michael@reefculture.com.au) on eBay, and they are really good. I first bought 20g for $11.50 and I have just ordered 40g of decapsulated eggs for $16.50. Postage is express and costs about $4.50. I can have bbs in 12 hours if I need them. I use the coke bottle method, I use the red saxa table salt which does not have iodine in it. I have not heard of putting baking powder in. I start off with warm water, and the light bulb I use is a 100 watt. It keeps the water warm all day and night. I use 1 litre of warm water, 1 teaspoon of salt and about 1/4 teaspon of eggs. Now that would easily feed about 50 or more babies. Warning : when you take the airline off the air, peg it to the top of the bottle or something. I have wasted a couple of feeds through the line dropping down and the bbs ending up all over the floor. Two coke bottles sure is a good thing.
Of my 61 hatchlings, I ended up with 39 after a few floated with bubbles in the stomach, a few just were floating round on their sides and looking very pale, a few ended up headless so I guess they were good food. And I think I squashed a couple with the little plastic jug I used to put food in and scoop out water for changing.
So, I had three bowls with 13 in each, kind of sorted according to size. The biggest ones, about 25mm long, were easy to pick up with my tiny net to transfer into the clean water bowl, but the others were so difficult, and I didn't want to squash any more with the net, so I cleverly decided to gently pour the water and babies into the net! Hey presto, 26 very stressed and quickly deceased babies. Their tails curled up like little seahorses, and their gills did the same. Anyway, mother nature took her revenge on me, so I fed them to the goldfish. I was not sure the fish would eat dead ones, but now they are all fat and happy.
I have not been able to get live food, as a large wholesale supplier has just gone into receivership here in Aus, and one of my local pet shop owners has bred axies on and off for years, so if he can't get food I figure I won't find any for a while. So I bought some frozen bloodworms, and I chop it finely, kind of grating it with the sharp knife while it is still frozen. This gives me really tiny bits which I float in water then pour in a minute or so before I put the bbs in. The babies dart round a lot, so the worm bits look alive, and they are happily eating them.
I have been doing this for a week, and this weekend I am getting more bowls and putting maybe two or three in a bowl as some of their tiny feet are being nipped off. They race round and bump into each other all the time so it is no surprise that happens. I will keep up with the brine shrimp for a while, and every day I read stuff here and on axlotl.org, so when it is time, I will start them on soft pellets, I think.
I would be happy to chat on the phone, and I have free landline calls. Tuesday night, Wednedsay mornings, all day Friday, Friday night and Saturday are good for me. I will pm you with my mobile and home number - just txt me if you like and we can tee up a time.
Cheers, and good luck
Lu
My babies are a month old today. 40mm long, with tiny little front legs and little buds on the back.
I bought Brine Shrimp eggs from fishmark72 (michael@reefculture.com.au) on eBay, and they are really good. I first bought 20g for $11.50 and I have just ordered 40g of decapsulated eggs for $16.50. Postage is express and costs about $4.50. I can have bbs in 12 hours if I need them. I use the coke bottle method, I use the red saxa table salt which does not have iodine in it. I have not heard of putting baking powder in. I start off with warm water, and the light bulb I use is a 100 watt. It keeps the water warm all day and night. I use 1 litre of warm water, 1 teaspoon of salt and about 1/4 teaspon of eggs. Now that would easily feed about 50 or more babies. Warning : when you take the airline off the air, peg it to the top of the bottle or something. I have wasted a couple of feeds through the line dropping down and the bbs ending up all over the floor. Two coke bottles sure is a good thing.
Of my 61 hatchlings, I ended up with 39 after a few floated with bubbles in the stomach, a few just were floating round on their sides and looking very pale, a few ended up headless so I guess they were good food. And I think I squashed a couple with the little plastic jug I used to put food in and scoop out water for changing.
So, I had three bowls with 13 in each, kind of sorted according to size. The biggest ones, about 25mm long, were easy to pick up with my tiny net to transfer into the clean water bowl, but the others were so difficult, and I didn't want to squash any more with the net, so I cleverly decided to gently pour the water and babies into the net! Hey presto, 26 very stressed and quickly deceased babies. Their tails curled up like little seahorses, and their gills did the same. Anyway, mother nature took her revenge on me, so I fed them to the goldfish. I was not sure the fish would eat dead ones, but now they are all fat and happy.
I have not been able to get live food, as a large wholesale supplier has just gone into receivership here in Aus, and one of my local pet shop owners has bred axies on and off for years, so if he can't get food I figure I won't find any for a while. So I bought some frozen bloodworms, and I chop it finely, kind of grating it with the sharp knife while it is still frozen. This gives me really tiny bits which I float in water then pour in a minute or so before I put the bbs in. The babies dart round a lot, so the worm bits look alive, and they are happily eating them.
I have been doing this for a week, and this weekend I am getting more bowls and putting maybe two or three in a bowl as some of their tiny feet are being nipped off. They race round and bump into each other all the time so it is no surprise that happens. I will keep up with the brine shrimp for a while, and every day I read stuff here and on axlotl.org, so when it is time, I will start them on soft pellets, I think.
I would be happy to chat on the phone, and I have free landline calls. Tuesday night, Wednedsay mornings, all day Friday, Friday night and Saturday are good for me. I will pm you with my mobile and home number - just txt me if you like and we can tee up a time.
Cheers, and good luck
Lu
Neek
New member
i'm hoping to get them in the mail tomorrow or the next day. i had much success with the chopped up live bloodworms, i've now fed them to my bigger ones twice and they seem to be coping
Neek
New member
yer Lu thats the same person on ebay i just purchased some eggs from. i've already started collecting containers that will be big enough for when i have to separate them. i'll go get some saxa salt next time i go to the supermarket as i'm nearly out of the salt rocks i got in the hatchery kit. my hatchery only olds 250ml of water, if i knew it was going to be that small i wouldn't have purchased it, but the pic looked like it was as big as a coke bottle i'll post some pictures of my set up so you can see what i'm talking about. i'll also post some pics of my bulging bellied axies!
i'll post some pictures of my set up so you can see what i'm talking about. i'll also post some pics of my bulging bellied axies!
Neek
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unfortunately only the bigger ones are managing, there are about 10 that struggle or just can't so i'm doing my best with the BBS, so far only 2 or 3 have died from eating bubbles also i have noticed on one of my guys that one of his fronds have been chomped off so i think it's time to think about separating them, any tips?
also i have noticed on one of my guys that one of his fronds have been chomped off so i think it's time to think about separating them, any tips?
daniellog
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By fronds do you mean gills? Just buy a big plastic storage box for them to go in. I currently am rasing around 40 axolotls and this is what I am going to use soon. You are doing a good job so far, you managed to raise more than me on your first attempt and you only learn from these things
Neek
New member
yeah the gilly frilly things, they're not called fronds? i wonder where i got that name from lol. i might pop down to the $2 shop in a day or two and get some bigger containers then. they had a feast today! BBS, daphnia and these little black dots which are a very common water bug (not sure what to call them.
i have an 8 litre tank full of water that i collected weeks ago from a small lake. i let it sit and have barely looked at it until today, it is swarming! there's some very ugly looking bugs in there that freak me out a bit but also lots of daphnia and black dot bugs (i will call them that for now) also what i believe are shrimps of some kind, they are green and quite pretty to watch.
i have an 8 litre tank full of water that i collected weeks ago from a small lake. i let it sit and have barely looked at it until today, it is swarming! there's some very ugly looking bugs in there that freak me out a bit but also lots of daphnia and black dot bugs (i will call them that for now) also what i believe are shrimps of some kind, they are green and quite pretty to watch.
Neek
New member
I think i just made an exciting discovery! it seems i have two different colours! well they're both wild types but maybe a variation?
there's some that are more of a grey colour with peachy gills and mostly have flat black eyes
then there are the ones that are more brown and patchy looking with orange-ish gills and rings in there eyes
when they're side by side you can really tell the difference
do these different types have a name or are they just variations of the same colour; no technical name?
sorry everybody for all the questions and photos espeically Dan you must spend half your time on here answering and reassuring me hehe. i'm just sooo excited!
Thank you everybody, love you all!
it seems i have two different colours! well they're both wild types but maybe a variation? there's some that are more of a grey colour with peachy gills and mostly have flat black eyes
then there are the ones that are more brown and patchy looking with orange-ish gills and rings in there eyes
when they're side by side you can really tell the difference
do these different types have a name or are they just variations of the same colour; no technical name?
sorry everybody for all the questions and photos
espeically Dan you must spend half your time on here answering and reassuring me hehe. i'm just sooo excited!Thank you everybody, love you all!
daniellog
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I get bored at work a lot so thats why I usually go on these forums so I'm happy to help I think the black dots are a type of daphnia, I get lots when I buy daphia at the market too. Looks like you have some wild type (greeny dark) and leucistic types (white). Do they have their front legs yet?
I think the black dots are a type of daphnia, I get lots when I buy daphia at the market too. Looks like you have some wild type (greeny dark) and leucistic types (white). Do they have their front legs yet?Neek
New member
oh wow! leucistic! never thought i'd get any, when they were in their eggs they all looked so dark, like their mum. i can't remember if the dad was albino or not. i don't think they have front legs yet but they do have these things that kind of look like weeney bubbles on either side of them, where i think their front legs should be??? wish there was a market i could buy bugs from, sounds awesome!
bayhicoach
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You have a couple of options working for you. It sounds like the tactic I was using. I threw a whole bunch of different stuff at my hatchlings and they kept surviving. I think there were so many small swimming things in the pond water that I collected that they were feasting on things I couldn't even see. As they got bigger I began to rely on the newly hatched brine shrimp. The hatchery you got is actually the perfect size since you don't want to feed brine shrimp more that a couple of days old. The artemia loose their nutritional value quite rapidly since you probably aren't feeding them. So, make small batches frequently. I thought I was going to have to get a second hatchery to ensure a constant supply of shrimp but the shrimp eggs hatch so quickly that I'd feed them in the evening and have a new batch in the morning of the next day.
Be careful when you use pond water since there can be some nasty things growing in there. The little black dots are probably ostracods. I don't know if they are good food for axies but they won't hurt anything, either.
BTW, I don't see any differences between your axies colorwise. But, don't panic, they'll develop color over time.
Be careful when you use pond water since there can be some nasty things growing in there. The little black dots are probably ostracods. I don't know if they are good food for axies but they won't hurt anything, either.
BTW, I don't see any differences between your axies colorwise. But, don't panic, they'll develop color over time.
Neek
New member
yeah my eggs aren't hatching so quickly, i think i got a bad batch or something. feeding them the ostracods is so funny, half of them eat them and the other half spit them out lol. i can definatley see a colour difference in the bigger axies but it was hard to get it clear in the photos, as i said before they might just be variations of wild types, though it would be cool if i had some leucistic ones
daniellog
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I recently got some eggs from albino and leucistic parents, and all the babies are light wild. If you look really closely they will have some legs under their gills, you might mistake them for gills but you will have to look really close to see them.
Neek
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oh wow! i think some of them have almost legs! gosh my eyes hurt lol, i can see why i didn't see them before, they're translucent! what is leucistic exactly, i know they're light with black eyes but are they white, or grey? and what do you call an axolotl with the ring of blue around their eyes?
thanks again for all your help dan and its just nice to have someone to talk to about all of this and satisfy my curiosity
thanks again for all your help dan and its just nice to have someone to talk to about all of this and satisfy my curiosity
daniellog
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If you look at my profile pic of Chewy, she is a leucistic axolotl. Leucistic tend to be white with pink gills. When your axolotls have rings in their eyes they are just a normal breed, if they don't they are a melanoid breed. If you look in my photo album I have a melanoid dark wild called boba, you can see the difference in their eyes.