FYI: How I Raised My Axie Babies! :)

[Laaine]

So I wanted to share this, because I feel like I have successfully completed this journey, thus far anyway.

I noticed the eggs about 1.5 months ago stuck to a few of the loose plants in my axie tank. I chose to remove them from the parents tank and put them in a half filled ten gallon tank with a weak air pump in the corner (for aeration) and a heater at the other end on the lowest heat (about 71 degrees farenheit). I wanted my babies to hatch sooner than later, otherwise there would not of been a heater. At this point, the eggs have a clear jelly substance surrounding a little black circle. There are about 100 in the tank.

After about 4-5 days, the eggs started changing shape, they became more ovular.

Finally, after about 10 days, they hatched! They were so little and hungry! I fed them baby brine shrimp that I hatched, which I didn't think hatched but if I looked closely I could see them jumping around in the babies tank!

......

It has been about a month now since the day they hatched, I have lost a few due to stress. I attempted to split up the smaller ones from the bigger ones, ended up stressing the smaller ones out. They started doing this weird circular swimming motion, soonafter their tails curled and they succame to the stress Needless to say, I learned my lesson and have not lost anymore since! They now have both front legs grown and back legs coming in on some as well!

I stopped feeding baby brine shrimp about a week after hatching (got too annoying trying to hatch them everyday!) and I also took the heater out of the tank and left it at normal room temperature (water changes were easier this way because I could just fill a bucket and leave it out until I had to do a water change). I made sure I went through the (bare) bottom of the tank EVERY day with a turkey baster to remove waste and dead brine shrimp/bloodworms, I then did a 50% water change. I HAVE DONE THIS STEP EVERYDAY. It is time consuming, but my babies are healthy and happy! They are in two seperate heavily planted 10 gallons (filled a bit over halfway) with hideouts and a dark towel over top (I find this helps with nipping of gills between siblings!) . I have divided the small/medium ones in one tank, and the ones that grew quickly in the other tank. The largest are about 2cm long now I would say! Some are still pretty small .

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS, AND I LIVE IN EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BUY A BABY PLEASE MESSAGE ME OR QUICK REPLY! :happy:

 

[ken1981]

Hi
I have around 150 larvae which is almost 1 month old, I have the same problem with the weird circular swimming motion after I do 100% changed water and separate the big ones and small ones because the big ones keep attacking the small ones.

All my larvae are doing this weird circular swimming, my question is do you think all of them gonna die (some of the small ones keep dieing)?

and I heard that you need to change water 100% once in a while, from your information you only change the water 50%, do you do this until the larvae grow?

and thank you for your information it's very useful to me.

 

[Laaine]

You should make sure the following things are done:

1. Make sure you have AT LEAST TWO TEN GALLON tanks. Split the babies up evenly between the two tanks, trying to keep the bigger ones together. Fill the tanks a little above halfway.
2. Make sure your water temperature is not above 68 degrees farenheit, maximim of 70 degrees farenheit. THIS IS IMPORTANT!
3. Make sure there is no substrate in your tanks. No sand, no rocks, NOTHING! Heavily plant the tank with artificial plants so the babies have somewhere to hide when their sibling picks on them.
4. I do a 50% water change EVERY day. In order to not stress the babies out further with a lot of water movement, I place a jar inside the tank filled with fresh water, and then pour the rest of the FRESH water into the jar (stops the water flow around the tank). I like to fill a tall paint bucket with water and leave it sit overnight by the babies tank so I can get the exact temperature in their tank.
5. Either with a net or a turkey baster (I find the net makes a lot of current but is quicker) you MUST remove the waste and uneaten food from the tank EVERY day. There is no filter (I hope) on your tank and therefore the ammonia levels will spike quickly without removing and doing a partial water change.
6. If you notice some of the babies have what looks liek white fluff or cotton on them, REMOVE THEM and put them in an appropriate sized container. You may add a tiny bit of freshwater aquarium salt to their container (API Aquarium Salt - about $5.00 canadian) but do not over do the salt! Then after about 15 minutes, do a partial water change on the container. You may also add a TINY BIT of salt to the axolotl babies tank.... this will kill off any disease that could also be stressing the babies. PLEASE REMEMBER TO NOT OVER DO THE SALT.... DO NOT FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE BOX. PUT ABOUT HALF A TEASPOON PER 5 GALLONS. TRY TO DISSOLVE THE SALT BEFORE PUTTING IT IN THE TANK AS IT WILL BE A LARGE ROCK FORM.

Please feel free to ask any more questions I would love to help.

 

[Laaine]

Also, what are you feeding your babies? Frozen bloodworms? They should be thawed before being put in the tank...

 

[ken1981]

Thank you for your information, yes I have 4 10 gallon tank for them, are you sure I have to fill the water halfway, from what I researched you only need 3-4 cm so the babies can swim up to take air.

I still feed them baby brine shrimp that I hatched everyday, I try to give the live black worm that has been cut but it doesn't look like they eat it and thank god they didn't do the weird circular swimming motion anymore so I'm guessing they are not stressing anymore.

Most of the babies looking very healthy except for some of the small ones which I put separately in Tupperware, I try your suggestion to put a little bit of aquarium salt for them.