First Axolotl Breeding Attempt In 5 Years!

[Jenste]

They are looking great!!! I can't wait for them to hatch!!!

 

[blinky000]

I had about 100 hatch last night. Only 400 to go!

 

[Jenste]

I had about 100 hatch last night. Only 400 to go!

pssh only 400? Not a big deal at all.....and look at you going on and on about it like its something special



hehe, can't wait for lots and LOTS of pictures!!! too bad we didn't live on the same side of the ocean, I'd love one of your babies

 

[Man of fish]

Aww they're so cute I'd love some but I think I'm across the pond.

 

[Cazgar]

How cool, more pics please as they develop.
I have a soft spot for axolotls as I looked after one at school many moons ago

 

[blinky000]

The babies are a few days old now and getting on very nicely. I have some clear plastic drawers which are perfect for raising them while they're still small and saves on space too. The two upstairs babies have joined the rest downstairs and are already considerably larger, despite only being a couple of days older. I find the best and easiest way to raise axolotls and fish is to make the environment as natural as possible, despite it sometimes looking a rubbish, so I've put some elodea and pennywort in the tubs with some snails to clean up any mess. They've got lots of daphnia in the drawers too. While the axolotls are too small to eat the adult daphnia (not that it stops the bigger ones from trying!), the adult daphnia create baby ones which keep a nice constant food supply for them, as they would in the wild. And I've put some daphnia in the water butt so I'll never run out! It definitely pays to be organised at this stage!
Here's some photos for you guys to enjoy:

And here's surprise daddy!

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Awww

I'd love a wildtype

I have albino, golden albino and a leucstic so naturally I need a wildtype one hehe.

Keep the photos coming

 

[blinky000]

Awww

I'd love a wildtype

I have albino, golden albino and a leucstic so naturally I need a wildtype one hehe.

Keep the photos coming

Haha I like your thinking. I'd be happy to help you complete the set
The only one I didn't have was a white albino. I'd love to keep one but I already have a space deficit with the ones I have

 

[blinky000]

The little ones are about 10 days old now and all doing very well. I've had an extremely low mortality rate with this batch and they're eating me out of house and home already haha. The giant white one is going to have to be separated from the others since s/he has overtaken so dramatically

Golden and white albino:

Gold baby:

Size comparison of the giant one vs a regular sized one:

If you look carefully at the one on the left, you can see its little legs:

 

[Jenste]

holy giant baby!

They all look amazing! congrats!

 

[blinky000]

They already look tiny in those photos in comparison to now! They grow up so fast. The giant white one is starting to walk on his little legs now. I'm so proud :') I bought them some more daphnia and started them on bloodworm today. Seems to be going down well so far Here's the brood today:

The white albino that suddenly decided to give Big White a run for his money:

Big White's almost fully formed front legs!

Stalking dinner

Grub's up!

 

[Jenste]

They look so great!

 

[blinky000]

I've been avoiding updating this topic for a while but I'll bite the bullet. Just before I went on holiday, leaving the axolotls in the care of my dad, I bought a bag of glassworms since the bigger babies were getting to the size that they needed something a bit more substantial than daphnia. Unfortunately, upon my return, I found that the majority of my babies had died. All, in fact, but the container of small babies and a few in the main nursery tank. Upon sticking some water under my trusty microscope, I found that the glassworms were RIDDLED with trichondia and chilodonella. I was livid. Thankfully, the ones that were only exposed minimally seem to be doing fine and I'm doing 100% daily water changes on the others. The majority are eating ok and look as though they'll pull through but I only have a small handful left. In fact, about 10 leucistics and 2 wildtypes. The last albino died over the weekend.
Of course, this incident has been deeply disappointing since they were all doing so well up until that rouge bag of glassworms but to every cloud, a silver lining. My home daphnia culture is thriving, so when I get the courage together to try breeding again, I need never buy from an untrustworthy source. You never realise just how unhealthy store bought daphnia looks until you culture your own. Instead of being slow and peach coloured, they're too fast for me to catch with a net and dark brown, full of eggs! I'll get some photos of the remaining babies (and a daphnia comparison) later on