Some questions re axolotl fry...

[drmunroe]

...is it "fry"?....that wasnt the question...

firstly let me introduce myself - my name is mal & i live on the gold coast in australia. I am quite an aquarium fan (i have a few tanks - africans, tropicals, & fighter with tropicals), but i am still quite a novice as i only set up my 1st tank about 12months ago. I am lucky because on of my friends works at an aquarium so between him & his work friends i get plenty of useful information...
Now, the reason why im here is because through my friend i acquired some axolotl eggs & i have decided to raise them up. I did some reading on them sometime ago as i wanted to buy a few but the fact that they could not live with other fish made me decide to give it a miss...now i have about 20 fry so work that out!
So the setup is as follows: 2ft tank, small sponge filter, water temp is a fraction under 20 degrees (and that is celcius obviously). No gravel, ornaments - i do have a banana lilly in there & a large (single) lilly leaf that came out of one of my tropical tank. The water level is about 7 1/2cms in depth (i removed about a 10L bucket of water this afternoon & put the filter in at the same time). As for food im feeding them baby shrimp fry which i have hatched. Thats about it really...

So i guess the 1st question is does that sound right? I have about 20 fry & they seem to be doing good so far. I cleaned out about 20 eggs that didnt hatch earlier this afternoon.
Another thing is im not sure how long the shrimp are lasting, or if they're being eaten much. The oldest fry is prob 4-5 days old. Im worried that i may feed too much & they will ruin the water. I plan on doing a partial water change tomorro...
A few of the bigger ones (im pretty sure non is bigger than 10mm) have their gills out a little. Is this ok?
Any feedback would be appreciated. If it helps i can supply a picture of the setup.

thanks

 

[mcr]

Do your larvae have orange bellies?

Are you hatching the brine shrimp with your larvae together or in a seperate hatchery? Or are you feeding them adult brine shrimp?

 

[drmunroe]

im not sure if the axolotl fry have orange bellies - im colour blind. but ill ask my girlfriend.
Should they have orange bellies??
as for the shrimp im hatching them in a vase/bowl. I have an airstone in it & the water temp was about 29.

 

[Bellabelloo]

29 degrees will probably be too warm for the larvae.

 

[drmunroe]

29 degrees was for the shrimp eggs. thats the around the temp i was told to do by the guy at the aquarium

 

[gr33neyes]

If your larvae have orange bellies its an indicator that they are eating the shrimp.

 

[Bellabelloo]

Apologies to drmunroe, I didn't read your post correctly.
When I was raising brine shrimp I had more success at higher temperatures. I had two hatcheries going 24 hours apart so I had a constant supply of shrimp and the few times a batch failed I was usually still able to supply food to the larvae. Shining a light on the side of the hatchery made it easier to remove a good supply of shrimp. Do make sure you rinse the shrimp well before you give them to the axolotl larvae in dechlorinated water.

 

[drmunroe]

ah ok...i didnt know that about the bellies...i assume they must be eating because they are growing...

i didnt however know about 'rinsing" the brine before giving them to the axolotl. Ive just been sucking them up in a syringe & shooting that into the tank (yes salt water & all). In the last could of days ive been shooting them into some thin material (an old pair of boxers i cut up) to get rid of most of the salt water, & scooping up what was left & feeding the axolotls that...

 

[oceanblue]

The rinsing technique is best. It sounds like you are doing everything right. If they are growing and their bellies look dark to you they are eating.

One hint about your colour blindness. Some test kits use dyes perceived as different by colour blind people to normal people. If you can get your girlfriend or a guy you know has normal colour perception to confirm results of pH ammonia nitrite and nitrate it may be wise. The pH wide range kits are particularly difficult. A colour blind technician I worked with could not distinguish pH 5.5 from 8.5 on a good (for me) testing kit.

There are often workarounds, narrow range test kits or in the lab I worked in a posh pH meter. Delegation to a friend is often simplest.

 

[drmunroe]

yes some water testing is a good idea. Im changing the water every few days but im only dechlorifing (however u spell it!) the new water. Again im assuming water conditions are good as they continue to grow. I also have a baby bananna lilly & 1 large lilly leaf (with stem & root structure). From my understanding plants suck up some of the nitrates?

 

[oceanblue]

Plants do suck up ammonia, nitrite and nitrate but only when they are growing well and you need a lot. I run tanks like weed choked ponds and no filters.

The amount of plants in nearly all "well planted" decorative aquaria is probably only about 10% of the amount you need. Plants need light and light means heat. Dying plants will raise not lower ammonia levels. Do not count on plants alone to keep the water quality up - keep up the partial water changes!