Oh my Goodness! Sudden egg surprise!

[Petersgirl]

I have been keeping my four axolotls together in a 4ft for about two months now. I had to remove Toothless as he accidentally hit himself on one of the tank ornaments and damaged his head, so he was in a hospital tank, tea bathing.

Anyway, yesterday I noticed something I had never seen before in the tank - spermatophores! Thinking Jack, my Leucistic, was having a cheeky go at the females while Toothless was away, I sucked up all the spermatophores I could see and did my usual water change.

This morning, I woke up to find Embry (my female Wildtype) laying little black eggs all over the tank! I quickly got as many eggs out as I could into a spare dishwashing bowl filled with dechlorinated, aged water. When I came back upstairs not long after, I saw more eggs, here, there and everywhere! I managed to get them into the dishwashing bowl and have added an airstone on its lowest setting.

I remembered that you can wait up until five days after hatching in order to freeze the eggs if you cannot find homes for them (I don't have room for more Juvies unfortunately ) so I set about trying to find homes rather than culling them. A local zoo has said he has some zookeepers who would be interested in having them as pets, I have found a LFS that would love some to raise and also a few friends and family who are interested in them. Having them suitably 'bookmarked,' I don't feel so bad about not culling them yet. I have already written up full Care Sheets, from Egg to Adult, for potential owners and although I have written down general advice I would like a little more detail.

I have never raised axolotls from eggs before and am brand new to this, so I would like some advice if at all possible

However, I have a few concerns...

1) Embry has produced about 50 eggs. I have read that axolotls can produce up to 1,000 eggs. Is this normal for a first batch?
2) I am worried I may not have picked up every egg in the tank, and my husband, on seeing Embry laying, promptly panicked, sucked them up and squirted the eggs into the bin! I quickly told him that we could find them homes and started saving them, but what will happen to these eggs?
3) I want to raise Daphnia for food as I have read that BBS can foul the water quickly. Do I simply buy some daphnia, set up a bucket of dechlorinated water and add some plant material, such as organic lettuce, to rot for them, then do 50% water changes weekly, to maintain a daphnia culture? I have about two weeks until the eggs hatch. Can I feasibly set up a good culture in that time? I have read you can feed them yeast as well.
4) How hard was your first experience of raising babies? Would you say it would be better for a beginner to at least cull some eggs rather than relying on people to take them away, then finding she has to raise axolotls she can't rehome?
5) Is it okay to give axolotl eggs to LFS? I know some can be shaky on their knowledge of axolotls and I don't want any of their babies to suffer.
6) Apart from giving her lots of food and placing her in a hospital tank for a bit, what can I do to help Mum?

Thanks in advance!

P.S Would anyone like some eggs to raise?
By the way, this is Mum and Dad.

 

[auntiejude]

1. 50 eggs is a very small clutch. I have found my females lay 20-30 at a time then take a break, then start again in an hour or two. It can take 2 days, so I'm betting she has some more to come.
2. Eggs dumped in the bin will probably dry out and die. Don't worry if a few were discarded like that.
3. Daphnia are not quick enough to breed if you are starting now - you need to have started weeks ago if you have eggs now! BBS are easy to deal with, and you really only need them for 3-4 weeks. Figure out how long it takes to hatch in your set up (I find decapsulated eggs hatch in 24 hours in a 24C water bath). I find 2 hatcheried alternating works well.
4. First time is nervy! Once you have given away some to friends etc I would recommend you cull to however many you want to raise plus a few to account for losses.
5. I have never heard of a LFS wanting to raise axies from eggs. The ones I supply want them 4-5" minimum as the first few months are the hardest.
6. I would leave Embry where she is, just up her food a little, especially if she refused food while she was laying.

Good luck!

 

[Petersgirl]

Thank you, Auntiejude! Your post is, as usual, kind and experienced. I think I may have to raise BBS instead of Daphnia, which is a bit of a shame, but I only saw spermatophores yesterday and have eggs today! 0.0 I didn't know it could be so fast!

I am kind of happy that my LFS wants to raise them from eggs. They don't usually have axolotls but they have had pre-orders for them before. I have written them a five page guide to raising Axolotls but I'll still probably interrogate the guy who comes to get them (I've already had him reassure me that they don't use gravel, which they don't). I can't help it really, I'm a worrywart

Embry snapped up her food while laying, luckily, but tomorrow I think she deserves a double helping! She looks worn out atm, but then, I can't blame her!

Silly question, but do you water change the eggs at all while they're waiting to hatch?

PS: The post above should said 'five days after LAYING,' not hatching. I wouldn't freeze babies after hatching!

 

[auntiejude]

Ha! By the time you see spermatophres it's too late - females take the first one and the male (ever optimistic) keeps depositing. Embry may have picked one up the day before, and you only saw the 'spares' a day later.

I don't change the water for eggs - they don't use oxygen and they don't produce poop so there's no real need. I do give it a stir though, and I float the eggs' tub in the adult tank to keep the temperature stable.

(And I know you meant days from laying not hatching!)

 

[Petersgirl]

D'oh! Well, lesson learned: prepare for everything!

Now, Embry hasn't really laid any more since yesterday and hasn't moved from her cave since last night (I know there are a couple underneath her but I'd rather not move her until I'm sure she's not laying). Does this small batch size mean that the whole batch is not viable? Or is it simply because it's her first time?

Should I remove the air pump from the eggs as well? I'm not sure why but I remembered reading somewhere about using an airstone with the eggs. I may have read it wrongly as I read lots of bits and pieces yesterday and may have got it confused with another piece of information.
What am I looking for as regards the healthy eggs? I found one that was nearly opaque with white this morning and discarded it - are these the 'fungussy' eggs we should discard and can this 'fungus' spread to other eggs? Also, my eggs are black on top and slightly lighter underneath. Is this normal or are these eggs duds?

And finally, food. I know I can't raise daphnia from scratch now, but my LFS sells them in small packets for about £1 each and apparently they will keep for a week in the fridge as live food. The only problem is that the packets contain probably about 100 daphnia each and I've read that larvae are little piglets. Since I only need the daphnia or BBS for three weeks, would it be feasible to feed them on this or do you think it would be easier, cheaper and ultimately less fuss to hatch my own BBS? I am planning on raising one juvie for myself, but I will probably need about three eggs to account for the losses.

Sorry about the flood of questions but I literally have never raised babies before so I appreciate all the advice I can get