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Axolotl Eggs

4K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Riza1990 
#1 ·
I was recently given ten axolotl eggs to raise so I thought I'd start a journal.

In this journal you can expect to find:
Facts about the babies.
Feeding the babies.
Death (it happens).
Axolotls hatching.
Axolotls growing in the egg.
Lots and lots of pictures.

Some facts about these little guys:
Their mother is a purple axolotl.
Their father is a melaniod.

I have no idea what color these ones will turn out to be.
But they should all carry the purple gene, although they shouldn't end up being purple.

What IS purple?
No, it's not true purple. Usually a gray color with smaller, darker spots. Their spotting is considerably less than that of a wildtype.

What is melaniod?
It's usually a black axolotl although they can come in many colors. Just means they don't have any special shiny parts (I can't remember the exact word right now).

And what, exactly, is an axolotl?
It's a "Mexican Walking Fish".
It's not a fish at all, though. It's a kind of salamander. They will live, breathe, reproduce, and die as fully aquatic animals.

Those stick things on the side of their head are... gills?
Yep. Those are the gills. The fuzzy things are the gill filaments.

And what exactly are your pictures of?
Those are the eggs. They are fairly large and clear. You can actually watch the larvae grow from a tiny dot to a live axolotl that squirms once in a while. Currently the babies are just starting to elongate.

How long until they hatch?
Generally 10-14 days after they're laid. Sometimes even longer. You just have to be patient and keep their water clean. They were laid on the 23rd of September, 2016.

What do they eat?
I'll feed them baby brine shrimp and daphnia until they are large enough to take frozen brine shrimp. They are still fed daphnia until they're moved on to the blood worm stage. At that point I try to move them on to earthworms (chopped up) as soon as possible. They don't do the greatest on bloodworms although it's not horrible for them.

When will you sell them?
When they make it that far. It's usually when they have their back legs in, are at least 2.5 inches, and are eating non-living food from the bottom of their tank.

How do you care for axolotls?
No gravel. No fish. No snails. Gentle filtration. Cold water. Clean water (they are pretty tolerant, though, honestly). Pretty simple. 30 inch tank for one, possibly two (in a 29 gallon). Ideally 20 for the first and 10 for every other.

Day 4:


Notice the one egg on the left side that isn't changing. This egg is beginning to fungus and this will be the last time you see it in the pictures.

Also:
Anyone who can identify that plant will get a bonus cookie! :grin2:It was given to me with the eggs and I'm not sure what it is
 
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#3 ·
Thanks! I hope you continue to follow along :laugh2:

...

Alright! I've removed the fungused egg and managed to catch one of the babies as it was squirming in the egg! Even at 5 days old they're showing signs of knowing what's going on.

Here's the latest picture:


Notice how one of the eggs isn't looking quite like the others. I'm thinking this little one isn't going to develop right and won't make it to hatching. If it does the it likely won't live.

But the other eight are growing quickly.

My last batch of eggs hatched at 12 days. It's a waiting game for sure.

Anyone know what that plant is???
 
#6 ·
You know what, I bet you it is! Thanks for the info, I never would have guess that.

Alright, so update! It's been a few days. The babies are now on their... What? 12th day. Well, basically 13th as it's almost midnight here. But that's a different story.

They hatched yesterday (Tuesday, October 4th 2016). Most of them did, anyway. This morning I woke to three still in their egg and I released the last one from it's prison earlier this evening. So they're all officially out.

I started the brine shrimp hatchery yesterday morning and I fed them this morning. I don't think they really ate, but then again I wasn't planning on them eating.

So I put more eggs in the hatchery and I just fed them again. This time I had a better hatch so they got more food. I actually took a video, feel free to check it out.

https://youtu.be/PEeu5WANEY8

They're eating. At least most of them are.

And, of course, more pictures:











Lastly:
I know it's been what? Over a week? ... Sorry about that, I guess starting college and working full time is making it hard to keep up with things like this. I have a day off from school and from work finally next week so that'll break my "going to be 18 days without time off" record. Just have to take it one day at a time, I've decided. Less time to myself but I'll manage.

Anyway, one last thing about me: If I don't write for a few days just go ahead and send me messages or post and I should at least write something.

Thank you for looking!
 
#7 ·
Their legs! They have their little front legs! And just today I noticed little fingers on the end of their legs. I'll try to get some pictures of that.

During feeding time this morning, I had just drained out their container and was waiting for the brine shrimp to all gather by my light so I could get them out, I left them be for a few minutes. I come back to find my smallest little baby 1/2 way down the throat of one of the bigger ones :|. Seriously, little guy? So I then bullied the bigger one into letting go. Luckily the smaller one is still alive. It's in it's own cup for now... Canabalism isn't supposed to start until they start getting their back legs.

Sigh...

Just all kinds of problems with my babies right now. My older batch has one that's probably not going to make it and now I have babies eating babies in the younger one.

Food updates:
Brine shrimp are still going strong. I've started feeding my daphnia yeast to try and get them to give me some babies so I can then feed those to the lotls as well.
 
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