Tiny Axie, Dwarf or Normal?

[michael]

I've got 8 nice & healthy axolotl larvae that are 6 weeks old now, give or take a day. Two of them are VERY small compared to the others, especially the white one. I was just wondering if this was normal or if there's something I can do for the small ones? They do have rear leg buds, but not the nice big legs that the bigger ones have. They both eat well for their size. I'm attaching a pic of them for reference.
OH, they eat mostly bloodworms now, with adult brine shrimp as desert sometimes. They grew up on baby brine.

Thanks!

 

[sharn]

they all grow at different rates. maybe these ones are not getting as much food as the bigger ones because theyre bossy. dont worry theyll catch up eventually

 

[cynthia]

Michael - That really is quite a difference in size, that micro-sized white one is barely visible.

I do not recall having larvae with such a difference in size, but a lot of the smaller ones were eaten by larger siblings before they would of reached such a disparity.

I will be interested in how they do.

That large dark larvae is quite nice looking

 

[michael]

I know they all grow at different rates, but this is a huge difference. I separated them before they could get eaten, didn't want to loose any more! Lost about 5 to my careless 5 year old step son!
Thanks about the big dark one, I like him too! I don't remember for sure if he was the biggest one or not, but one of them is HUGE compared to the others. Probably another half to 1 cm longer. Got two nice big albino's too. They are so cute already! When I go to feed them some of them swim to the top & beg.

Well, Thanks & I'll post later on how the tiny ones are doing.

 

[elisheba]

i have noticed a size/growth differential between light colors (esp albino) and wild type. i attribute it to vision (the albinos don't see as well.)

 

[brendan]

As people have said they grow at different rates.

I have 2 juvi axies (had 3) 2 boys and 1 girl. The all grew in size together but the girl got to a point and her growth stunted and she started to go backwards while the other 2 continued to grow.

Later on the girl (Bali) passed away.

She was fed no differently then the others, the was housed in the same place, all variables where the same.

So maybe axies like humans can have stunted growth. And possibly even develop backwards. (develop to say stage D but then receed to stage B)

Im no expert but hey. Im going on life experiences and logical thinking.

 

[jean-michel]

Just to bring some elements to this subject.
I recently had a batch of larvae wich appeared interesting. So I decided to keep some of them in individual 1/10e gallon tubs, but I kept the remaining larvae in a collective tank.
The 16 larvae in individual tubs are still growing at a similar rate. In the collective tank, they suffer very different growth rates, and even cannibalism.

 

[charlie]

Mine young uns are all wildtype - some of them are in tubs with a white bottom, others in tanks with smoked glass bottoms.......the ones who have grown up on the dark surface are noticeably darker than the ones who've always lived in white tubs.........interesting huh?