My axolotl is laying eggs... a few questions for a first timer.

[slothzy]

I recently acquired male and female adult axolotls... and my female is currently laying eggs! I have a few questions, as I'm a first timer.

1. How will I know when the female is done laying eggs? She is currently rubbing through my plants and laying, but is there a telltale sign that she's done?

2. Since they're all in my plants (so far), they should be easy to remove. I have another small tank I can use to keep them in. Anything else I should put in there? How much water? I have both a 2 1/2 and a 5 1/2 gallon I could use.

3. My male is a melanistic and my female is a leucistic. What are my baby possibilities?

I've been reading feverishly since I saw she was laying eggs. Haha. Any info that wouldn't be readily available on this forum that I need to know?

Thanks guys! roud:

 

[jmsstoner]

1. They can continue to lay eggs for a while. My female has laid eggs around the clock for a couple days before. I know shes done when she stops acting all crazy lol.

2. Aeration is good. And dechlorinated water. The water doesn't need to be deep. A few inches or so. Just make sure all the eggs are completely under the water.

3. I'm no expert on this one, but depending on which other genes they're carriers of, you might get colors other than leucistic and melanoid.

 

[Jennewt]

My advice is to get some larger containers You can't raise more than a couple in a 5-gallon tank. And start planning for the live food right away.

 

[racheljritchie]

has she finished laying? mine kept going for about 48 hrs

you need to decide how many your keeping and ask people if they want to buy any you have that you dont want to keep. as before you know it they will have hatched and it will be too late.

i use takeaway style tubs and currently i have 5 hatchlings per tub (large takeaway tub) . with my older ones once they reached about 3 weeks i seperated them into pairs so they had more space and to make it easier to make sure they were all eating. mine are now 5 weeks and starting to grow back legs so i have put them in a tub each to avoid nipping

 

[10fenny]

yea get ready to feed them.. thats the hardest part to prep for. as far as coloration it all depends on the genes. i had melanoid mom and leustic dad. i currently have four colors. i went to the lfs where i got them and they said they were all recessive genes/colors melanoid.. luestic... gold albino... and wild type. that was just what i was told so i guess ill see

 

[Alkylhalide]

A lot of people are saying you need huge tubs but just from experience i would try to avoid the huge tubs because at some point you will need to have them seperated and it takes up a LOT of space! Lol and while they are babies they dont require much room. I just had a bunch of little tuperware containers and had one in each after 4weeks. Before that i fit 3-4 in one tub. They were okay in small tubs for the first 8weeks and now i only have 4left and have them in bigger tubs at 10weeks. And in the next few weeks they will be in tanks

The bigger the tubs the harder it willbe to find food.

 

[slothzy]

Thank you for all the suggestions!

She's finished laying, and I kept about 50 or so eggs. I am purchasing a ton of tupperware containers and I have a large table I can spread them all out on. I was just planning on keeping them in the 5 gallon as they're developing so I can keep the temperature constant.

I've purchased a brine shrimp breeding kit. I work at a LPS and I got a lot of pointers from my manager on successfully colonizing the shrimp for feeding.

I also purchased a baster that I can keep the containers clean with.

I have homes for several if they should all survive, and am planning on selling them at work as well.

 

[racheljritchie]

sounds like you have it under control
you could post some pics if you can..we are all suckers for those cute babies