Breeding Techniques

Hello,
This is my second attempt at using the thermal shock technique to stimulate axolotls to breed, and it is looking just as unsuccessful as the first.
I kept both the male wildtype and the female leucistic at 22 Degrees C for 3 weeks, then I moved them into a tank with the water temperature at 12 Degrees C, and since then it has been fluctuating between 12 and 14.
They have been like this for 3 days now, and I have seen no spermatophores and not even any courtship behaviour.
They are both definitely sexually mature, and I am certain that I have sexed them correctly.
The Indiana University website said that daylight length is critical to induce spawnings. Apparently if I increase the day length they are more likely to spawn. Can someone please give me some more information about this, or tell me whether it worked for them or not.
Thanks heaps,
Nathan

I don't know how successful induced spawning is. I kept my male and female together permanently and they just laid eggs one day. They have been together around five years and three of the five years they have laid eggs. I feel if the water quality is good, the food is around and the temps cool they will spawn if the time is right. This seems to be a common thing, or so I can gather.

my axies bred just while i had them in the tank together. i think it is possibly day length that triggers it. it is breeding season at the minute until around June or something. but you cant force these things. they might not be in the mood and they do it when you least expect it!

my tank is in a room where it gets light so mine was probably triggered by daylight length.

just dont think about it and they will probs breed then!lol.

we have 2 of these beautiful creatures and we have them in a pond in our frount garden and they enjoy it very much, we dont alter the tempture and they have been out there for 4months now i change there water every 2 weeks as we use special blocks to keep the water clean for that long}}

Hi everyone, and thanks for your advice.
They are in an indoor aquaria at the moment at 17 Degrees C maximum, so they should be relatively comfortable. The aquaria is in my bedroom, which almost never sees light anyway, so I think I could try to mimic the natural light conditions while the temperature is right for breeding.
I think that if I turn the light on and off at a particular time of the day and have a smaller light on for 10 minutes before turning the larger light on, and 10 minutes after turning the larger light off, it should be very similar to a natural habitat.
I am going to turn the light on 5 minutes earlier and off 5 minutes later each day, so the light period will increase by 10 minutes per day.
Has anyone ever tried anything similar to this?
Can anyone give me any tims or advice?
Thanks,
Nathan

If they do breed, what exactly do you plan on doing with the eggs?

Raise them.
I have the tank capacity to handle them.
Eventually, I will sell them to pet shops and on an online auction site in New Zealand, trademe.co.nz.
I know a breeder who also sells axolotls on this site, and she seems to do quite well.

Having just raised about 100 of 'em, I'm just letting you know it is a whole heap of work, and I personally would not do it again.
Lots of time and money!

I definitely have the time to do it.
The money is another story.
I will raise them on daphnia until they are big enough to eat worms. Is there any other expenses that I have forgotten about?

Dechlorinator for daily water changes, equipment to raise daphnia (a large tub, at least), seperate containers for baby axolotls (as you'll need to seperate them as they get bigger, or you run the risk of cannibalism). Why do you want to breed them?

I have a huge bottle of dechlorinator and enough tanks. After all the expenses, once they are sold, I should have made a profit. If not, then it was a nice experience.
Has anyone ever tried altering the day period to induce spawning?

Ha! You've never tried to 'sell' axolotls, have you? Charlie says in another thread "it's tempting to think that the resulting 150 offspring i STILL have in tanks around the studio were free - but the lil blighters are costing me around £8 a week in bloodworms!...thankfully they've grown out of the live daphnia phase

I've got a post in the uk for sale section if anyone wants one!...or two......or 60!lol!"

They're really not that high in demand. Many people here resort to giving them away for free in order to get rid of the offspring.

(Message edited by Joan on April 27, 2005)

Your best bet to get rid of large quantities like that is to find a wholesaler, and sell them all as a batch for a cheaper price.

(Message edited by brian on April 27, 2005)