Is it possible to overfeed larvae?

[blueberlin]

My axolotl larvae are almost 8 weeks old now. They are in net baskets, 4 larvae per basket*. They have all 4 legs and are mostly between 8-10 cm long. And they are eating me out of house and home!

Current feeding schedule: Each Monday I buy a fresh load of live food for them. On the first day, they get one bag of daphnia and one bag of white mosquito larve per nursery basket. For the next two days, they get one bag of daphnia per day per basket. Thursday till Sunday they get one bag of mosquito larvae per basket per day. Weekends they get pieces of earthworms.

Originally the food supply would last for a couple of days, but now it doesn't even last overnight - sometimes the little darlings will eat an entire bag of mosquito larvae within hours!

Am I overfeeding them? I am prepared to increase the amount of food they get if necessary, of course, but at two months of age do they still need to be swimming in food 24/7? If they can wipe out a bagful of mosquitos in hours, does this tell me they need two bags a day? Or should one baggie of bugs each day be enough for two axolotls*?

Thanks,

-Eva

* I just separated them to two per basket today.

 

[ali000]

as you know my experience with larvae was disastrously short lived, so i'm not really qualified to comment. However, as you know it is very easy to overfeed adults (cunning feakazoids) so I image it would also be possible to overfeed babies, perhaps they are learning their bad habits young!
As they are becoming bigger I expect it's fine to feed them at set times now rather than be concerned about them having food swimming round their heads all the time.

How many do you have left now? have you got homes arranged for them all? did the rouge one that lived with the adults survive? (loads of questions, sorry )

 

[Jennewt]

If the water fouls due to leftover food, then they are being overfed. Besides that scenario, I would say no, it's not possible to overfeed larvae. They need greatly increasing amounts of food during their peak growth period, so it's not surprising that they are eating twice the food in half the time! I would say give them more. They do not need to be swimming in food 24/7, but they should be able to eat as much as they can at least once per day.