Housing babies!

[tiggerific]

I'm running out of space for my babies!

My first batch of babies I had no idea what to expect or how many would survive, so I now have just over 100 babies approximately 4-5 weeks old and all between 2cm to 5cm. They are all doing well and most are happily munching away on blood worm, though I still have one group that seems to be a bit small and are having chopped up bloodworm mixed with brine shrimp.

I have all the babies in 4 separate small tanks of varying sizes (the smallest tank is 30cm long). I do plan to sell them but was hoping to "grow them" at least until most of them had their back legs in. I can see the back leg buds for most of the larger ones now.

So my question is how much more I need to separate them - how much space they need, and what can I put them in without having to do more tanks? My tanks have an air stone on a low setting positioned where it won't cause too much upheaval for the babies and I do daily 100% water changes, but I've read that it's ok to have them in containers without extra oxygen. At what age/size do they really need the bubblers/filters? Should I separate them in to smaller containers?

Any advice welcome

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

At this size its risky to keep them in close quarters but it can be done. I'd use large tupperware or containers that maximizes floor space. At this size and age once they get hungry they'll try to attack anything that moves, less density makes sense. Try not to miss any feedings, letting them go hungry is a bad idea. They'll turn to their tank mates.

As far as an air stone it's not a necessity but it can help with water quality and stirs things up a little. I've done fine without using an air stone. Once they start getting their back legs they have more limbs and more of a chance to suffer an injury. Most of the time little axolotls have injuries to their back legs than their front legs for obvious reasons. Easier to guard to front than the back.

Good luck!

 

[tiggerific]

Thanks for replying!

But what do you call "close quarters"?
The biggest ones are in a tank that has 21cm x 35cm of floor space (a group of around 25 babies).

And for using containers - what water depth is suggested?
They get fed pretty well

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

Water depth can be shallow. Any where between 4-6 inches is what I usually do. Some people do full size tanks filled with water and it works also. I think your tanks are ok for the amount of babies you house. Just know that the larger they get you will have to take some out and decrease the amount of babies in there. You should really think about getting more tanks/containers.

 

[tiggerific]

Thanks. I have a couple more containers and I'm "thinning them out" as they get bigger. They don't look terribly overcrowded to me at the moment.

They seem to do better in the tanks with the airstones than in a container without - they look like they get a bit "sluggish" and weak but in the tanks they're all zippy and fresh. I'm just keeping an eye on things for now.