Unexpected eggs from two "females"

[Mahemcd]

Hello!
Quite to my surprise yesterday my two "female" Axolotls gave me a nice present, I am now a keeper of about 40 eggs or so.
I had my suspicions about one of their genders but I guess this has proved it
Now the question 'To keep or not to keep' is bugging me.
The owner of the pet shop where I got them from said if they ever bred he'd happily take the babies, as although his supplier is good, they only come along intermittently.
I do have a separate tank to keep them in, but the real issue is feeding them live food.
Preferably i'd like to feed them live baby Daphnia, as it wont foul the water as readily as brine shrimp, but i'm finding great difficulty in locating a culture of this (I'm in the Yorkshire area of the UK if this is of any interest).
I want to avoid going pond dipping as best as possible (risk of contamination/unwanted dragon fly nymph's etc)
I'm afraid the only other option is to let them be eaten by their parents (it would be too cruel to see them starve). Unless of course anyone wants the eggs? Then I have the issues of transportation etc
Hope someone can help me with this!
Thanks

p.s. I do believe they lay rather a lot more eggs then I have. The female still looks pretty fat, should I expect another batch of eggs or is she fat because she's been gorging herself on them?

 

[Kerry1968]

I have a reliable supplier of live daphnia, if you send me a private message I'll pass you on the email.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

p.s. I do believe they lay rather a lot more eggs then I have. The female still looks pretty fat, should I expect another batch of eggs or is she fat because she's been gorging herself on them?

Expect many, many more. They may be eating quite a few eggs, but if she is looking gravid, there are more to be had. Do not be surprised if it is a week or two after you suspect laying is finished!

Also, you cannot go wrong with brine shrimp. I raise new axies on hatched napuli and decapsulated cysts.

 

[slimer]

You could culture Mosquito Larvae to feed the babies its real easy to do .

 

[Mahemcd]

Thank you for the replies/PM's.

I haven't thought about mosquito larvae before, I will look into that.

Sludgemunkey - Brine shrimp do seem very good, but i'm concerned about fouling the water quite easily with them. Have you tried daphnia but prefer brine shrimp?
I'm looking forward to her giving me another batch of eggs, but i'm surprised as the eggs so far are getting moderately advanced already!

I'm placing a order for Daphnia pulex with a personally recommended supplier, now the major issue I face is gathering enough algae water to keep the culture going!

I'll keep this thread updated on my results

 

[melfly]

I raised mine on brineshrimp only because the daphnia cultures seemed a little too tricky for me lol
The baby brineshrimp were easy to hatch then i rinsed them and fed them to the babies.

I change their little tubs water every day maybe once or twice two days.

didn't think the brine shrimp messed the water up too much.

Loved to see them with little orange bellies!

If you need any tips on brineshrimp just ask

Mel

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Thank you for the replies/PM's.

I haven't thought about mosquito larvae before, I will look into that.

Sludgemunkey - Brine shrimp do seem very good, but i'm concerned about fouling the water quite easily with them. Have you tried daphnia but prefer brine shrimp?
I'm looking forward to her giving me another batch of eggs, but i'm surprised as the eggs so far are getting moderately advanced already!

I'm placing a order for Daphnia pulex with a personally recommended supplier, now the major issue I face is gathering enough algae water to keep the culture going!

I'll keep this thread updated on my results

Check local laws on mosquito larvae. In many places it is against the law to provide standing water that attracts mosquitoes. (I discovered this the hard way a few years back. After the fines were paid, it would have been cheaper to just go out and buy frozen bloodworms.)

As for water fouling with brine shrimp, standard good husbandry practices (feeding only what can be consumed quickly, proper removal of uneaten food, regular water chemistry maintenance) easily prevent this issue. In the case of axolotl larvae, I when I feed brine shrimp, I use decapsulated cysts. As for daphnia, I feed them only for the first few weeks. Hungry, growing larvae eat daphnia faster than I have room to culture to meet demands.

 

[Jye]

Do you have access to a chook pen or is there a paddock full of cows and horses nearby. I say this because you can make a solution made out of the dung from THESE sorts of animals, and water. This is loaded with bacteria that the daphnia eat. I used chicken dung from my chicken pen to feed to feed my daphnia until i could grow algae. I also put some chopped up pieces of dog kibble in the water for the bacteria to drow on. To grow the algae put a clear container of water in the sun with some aquatic plants or aquire some from a nearby water source. Be careful when adding the chicken poo because it contains nitrate. Separate the daphnia into two container just incase you do something wrong with them and they die. Be careful.