I want to breed my axolotls - Any Advice?

[redtigrinus]

Hey guys, I would like to breed my axololts this season and I know its getting close. I have never bred them before and just wondering if any of you experienced breeders have any advice or words of encouragement. The male I have is 9" and about 18 months old and the female is 10.5" and about 2 years old. Where do I begin? Thanks.

 

[digger]

lots of people say a change in enviroment or large water change is enough.
normally nature will just take its course.
seperating them for a while is also a way to spark their interest as well apparently.
mine just seem to do it when they feel like it.

 

[Kaysie]

Before breeding, you should be sure you have homes for upwards of 1000 offspring. Axolotls can lay hundreds (even thousands) of eggs over the course of a breeding season. These all require fresh water on a regular basis, and tiny live food. As tiny babies, they need to be fed at least twice a day. Then, if you're feeding brine shrimp, they'll need daily water changes. As they grow, they'll become cannibalistic, so they'll need to be separated into individual (or small group) tubs based on size. They'll also start eating larger food, which can be time-consuming to prepare and prohibitively expensive to buy.

 

[redtigrinus]

The more the marrier. I am prepared to hold as many as they want to have, and if thats in the 1000's great. Because I used to breed fish and produce thousands of babies every so often I have the space and food sources to be able to handle large quantities of babies. I just hope they'll breed for me. But thanks for the heads up.

 

[Jennewt]

What kind of temperatures have they been at... and will they be at throughout the winter? If you get them cool in winter and feed them plenty of worms, there's a very good chance you'll get eggs. That's the first step Some people have observed a correlation between a large water change and the initiation of breeding/laying, but I'm not sure how solid the data are for this. Good luck!

 

[Bellabelloo]

My axolottles chose to breed as and when they wanted to( the first time at the peak of a heat wave yep I think we had one!), they hadn't read the book. My female also layed a second batch of eggs less than 24 hrs after spermataphore had been deposited..and then she covered the tank . Her favourite spot was down the side of the filter, when I had eventually cleaned out the unwanted eggs I tackled the filter and the eggs had developed far far faster than in the tank.

 

[Jake]

Keep them well fed, like Jen said, worms will help a lot!

Mine normally lay eggs when the temps go down or up by just a few degrees. I just make sure to keep the water they live in nice and clean, and I feed them generously the whole year round, and they've spawned for me every month out of the year (not the same pair of course).

You aren't planning on breeding the juvies you got from me already are you?

 

[philbaker76]

Hi Redtigrinus, I asked a similar question a while ago - however some of the forum members kindly gave me some eggs (Bellabelloo and ColinB).

Maybe you should leave your guys to it, and see if any US forum members can donate some (wanted section of the forum) - as Kayise said "you don't want 1000's of eggs without homes"; I find about 30 eggs is a good/easy amount to raise.

p.s. my Axolotls seem to breed when it's cooler, a few days after a full tank clean out.

 

[redtigrinus]

Keep them well fed, like Jen said, worms will help a lot!

Mine normally lay eggs when the temps go down or up by just a few degrees. I just make sure to keep the water they live in nice and clean, and I feed them generously the whole year round, and they've spawned for me every month out of the year (not the same pair of course).

You aren't planning on breeding the juvies you got from me already are you?

Thanks everyone for your input. And to answer you question, No i dont plan on breeding the juvies I got of you. I give them another year. I have a 2.5 year white albino female that I'd like to cross with a 2 year melaniod male.