Tips On Breeding? Need A Little Help

[iSuzie]

Ok So.... iv read so much, and already know alot of things about trying to breed axies. but there's just one thing im unsure of, my male golden is trying to do a dance around the tank and keeps doing it and pushing the female around etc.... but... we have had to disrupt this dance a few times and have had to do full water and tank changes for the safety of them.... we had 2 axies, then got 2 more, and the 2 new ones couldn't get the food in-between the rocks like the 2 original ones could, so we changed from large pebbles to sand, and has some problems with sand... now we finally have it safe and had the new axies eating again... but.. in between all this drama my male keeps trying to dance around for the female... with all of this interruption, do you think its going to effect them mating? also i know that they should be keep in a room away from people so as not to be disturbed, but this isn't possible at the moment, as the tank cant be moved and we don't have another tank big enough to set 2 up into... what's the smallest size of a tank that can nicely home 2 axies with enough room for them to mate? id say 2 ft as a minimum ... but we don't have one that big .... any ideas or help? ..

 

[lea]

If they are going to mate then that is what they will do, I think the only way you will stop it is if you have a girl tank and a boy tank.
I would say the smallest tank for 2 adult axies would be 3ft.
I have my tank in the lounge room so if they need peace and quite to mate Pebbles and Cookie will never to parents.

 

[iSuzie]

I got a new 120 litre storage container and turned it into a breeding tank, its all set up perfect, sand, plants and a large rock, large pebbles {bigger than there heads} and filter & air :happy: hopefully now they can mate, undisturbed by my kids lol :wacko:

 

[helobed]

As long as water conditions are good and your axies are happy it should be hard to stop them breeding. I have to keep mine separated, if I ever put them together there's eggs everywhere the next morning!

The fact that you male keeps 'dancing' is a good sign though. I have found putting plants (I prefer live to fake) in with them is helpful as they tend to lay the eggs on that and it is alot easier to move the eggs that way. Also plants seem to stimulate my females (probably a sense of security.)

but it sounds like you have everything sorted. if you're expecting babies you should probably start to think about the food for them though.

 

[iSuzie]

i have 3 baby's at the moment, and BBS food is all sorted lol i just really want mine to breed, or get some eggs from someone else, iv been looking, so far no luck lol other than these 3 baby's i got xD

 

[helobed]

Well I'd say that your male is ready to go (have you found any spermatophores, jelly cones, yet?), see how they go in the breeding tub. If you still have nothing after about a month or so there are some other methods that you could try.

I remember when I desperately wanted mine to breed for the first time, unfortunately patience is the key. There is no 'quick fix' to breeding and all methods require some planning ahead. Although if there are sperm packets around as well as a mature female babies shouldn't be far away .

Right now I am raising larvae too, although i don't think I will parting with them for awhile - I'll probably have to start finding them homes in about 3 months

Could you post some pics of your breeding pair and tub by any chance?

 

[iSuzie]

i have a vid of my tub set up with my breeding two in it. and no spermatophores yet =/ but alot of dancing around, i think he may of breed recently and has to reproduce his spermatophores and apparently that can take anywhere from 1-3 months lol so i think that may be why there's so much dancing and no spermatophores as of yet. here's the vid of the tank set up

Breeding Tank - Axolotl's - YouTube

there's perfect sand, a nice rock and large pebbles, bigger than both of the axies heads, i checked each one is at least a cm bigger than the males head {the biggest axie} then i have plants in there and a small bubble filter with a clamp so as its very low pressure as to have less water flow movement. the water temps is 20 all the time and everything's perfect. only thing is the males a little skinny but still healthy and a good eater a pig actually lol also they are in my spare bathroom where its low light and no disruption xD so hopefully it will happen xD

 

[helobed]

My internet's funny and doesn't let me see the video, but it definitely sounds like you have a good setup!

Male axolotl, from my experience and what i have read, only take a few weeks to... replenish their 'supply' ....

live food is good for gaining weight and especially in females for stimulating breeding. You always have to be careful for parasites and whatnot that can be transmitted though. From memory the former Indiana colony even recommended to feed the females with live food in the months leading up to the spawning.

As an afterthought, make sure you monitor your ammonia levels (you probably already are.) I have never had a pair breed at above 0.25 ppm

 

[iSuzie]

at the moment all my adults are eating live earthworms + meal worms. also tinned tuna in spring water, lightly rinsed, frozen bloodworm's and pellets when i can get that to have them. I didn't know that live feeding can help, so thanks for that tip, also what i read about males was something like from a week up to 3 months, but it also had something about it taking 1 month to a week, so i was a bit confused just by the way it was written. hopefully ur right and its just a matter of weeks not months. do you know whats the best temp for breeding? i read that when you do the temp changing trick its better to be at a lower degrees about 5 lower than normal. but iv tried that. so just for general waiting for them to breed what would be the best temp? at the moment its usually 21- sometimes a little lower, any suggestions?

 

[helobed]

A sudden change in temperature usually just stimulates the male.
To be honest I've played around with daylight hours, temperature, and water changes too, and while they can have some effect they're normally pretty useless unless the pair have been separated for some time beforehand while you 'toy around' with their environment.

I aim to keep my adult axies at 18 - 20ish degrees, so yours would be fine. At high T they tend to get stressed and are more prone to fungus, and low T they get rather sluggish and tend to not be interested in one-another. A general range, i would guess, is ~16 - 25, although I would not push towards the high end. Again, I don't see any reason why the temperature they are at at the moment should hinder them

If you want to get really serious about it, separation of the pair is usually the most effective method (possibly in conjunction with lowering temperature) but this will require some amount of waiting (a month minimum) without guaranteed results

In your case I would just aim to keep your axies happy and healthy with good water chemistry, environment and temperature as you suggested, and if they are going (and are ready) to breed they will.

 

[nina89]

My axolotls get along well but dont breed on there own. I find that leaving my female in her tank and putting the male in a smaller tank (which holds a higher temperature) for a week, then putting him back with his female works for them so long as she's happy and healthy. everyone has a different method that works with their axolotls, you've just got to find one that works, I wish you luck breeding and growing up your young ones!!:happy:

 

[iSuzie]

She Layed Eggs Last Night!! She's Still Laying Some Slowly Now, About 150-175? How Long Doe's It Usually Take For Females To Lay All Her Egg's?

 

[helobed]

said it before, but hey. Well done
I normally give her about 48 hrs. You can normally tell when she's done as her cloaca will no longer be open.

hope that helps

 

[iSuzie]

well its really hard to see cos she's in a 120 litre plastic tub set up as the breeding tank... so i can only see from above... lol i think she's done anyway cos i have all the eggs out of her tank, and a new plant put in, and there's no new eggs. :wacko:

 

[helobed]

Oh, my aquariums are all glass.
I'd say leave her in with some plants, just in case. They tend to do it in little bursts quite often taking anywhere from 24 hours to days, so she might just be having a little rest

 

[iSuzie]

yea i left her the remaining plants lol we now only have a few in our other tank cos she used them all up! haha im getting more 2moro along with a new tank to set up, so lots of new stuff to play around with 2moro