what is going on!!

[axiebreeder103]

my axolotl just had babies about 3 weeks ago, laying about 200 eggs, and tonight i looked in the aquarium and saw the ground, literally litered with sperm packages. I figgured it was no big deal, but then i saw one of the 2 females laying!!!!!
there are now 20 eggs on the bottom of the tank and she is still laying!
is this normal,
should i scoop out the sperm packages next time?
most importantly is this healthy
What in the world am i going to do with more eggs? the fry from the last litter are occupying my other tanks already
-Dan

 

[Jacquie]

Re: what is going on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Dan,

The male will keep dropping the spermatophores and the female will lay continuously while there are deposits for her to pick up. The male will deposit the spermatophores day and night, there is no way you could keep up with him to remove them.

The only way to stop them is seperating them into seperate tanks or a very good divider in the same tank. Be forewarned, axolotls have been known to smuggle their load across a barrier so the divider may prove ineffective. Seperate tanks is the only way to ensure they will stop spawning.

You could leave the eggs with the mother and she will dispose of them.

 

[Kaysie]

Re: what is going on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For future reference, unless you have homes for 200 axolotls, it's probably not a good idea to raise them all.

 

[Jennewt]

Re: what is going on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your choices are:

• let the adults eat them
• offer to send the eggs to other people
• freeze the eggs before they get very far into development (humane euthanasia for eggs)

I agree with Kaysie that raising hundreds of them is not an option. (There are several reasons for this, and we can outline them for you if you are not convinced!)

Trying to remove the sperm packets won't work because there will always be some that aren't seen, like in the middle of the night for example. The only effective "birth control" is to put males and females in separate tanks.