4 week old Axolotls... need some experienced help!

Hello there,

So, my husband and I decided to delve into rearing some axolotls. We've had adults previously, but I wanted to basically... start from scratch when the time was right. So we purchased 24 eggs from a breeder in Cincinnati; wilds and leucistics. In the two days after hatching (with some assistance from us), we lost 3 for unknown reasons. Now we have 21 healthy, 4 week old Axies. 12 leucistics, 7 green speckled wilds, and 2 dark grey with gold. We plan on keeping 6, and have a short list of individuals who want a couple when the time comes. We recently have separated out the wilds as they tend to be more aggressive towards each other during feeding time.

They've been eating frozen blood worms for the past week, after weaning them off of brine shrimp. Yesterday, I decided to supplement some of their meals with live tubifex worms, since they seem to still be in the stage of snapping at moving targets. They were all actively hunting/stalking/eating them last night. Well, today when I went to feed, only a few of the 21 little axies would attempt to hunt down the worms, the rest seemed afraid and would jump away when ever they would get close to them. I tried to feed them some frozen blood worms with my tweezers at that point and they were terrified of them as well. Any suggestions?

There's a chance they have attacked each other when feeding so they are more wary of movement. Might be better to separate them further to make feeding easier, also allows each Axolotl to eat the same as the rest. I've raised 9 at once my self and kept 2/3 of them together for awhile but you end up with either missing/damaged limbs or some growing faster than others.

When rearing for the first time it's probably safer to not try to raise 20+ until you've done it a fair few times

Thanks for the response.

All the Wilds are completely separate, and they're the ones that seem to be having the most problem. I've decided to let them settle for a couple hours without any food to see if it perks their appetites.




"When rearing for the first time it's probably safer to not try to raise 20+ until you've done it a fair few times"

It's funny you should mention that... we actually only ordered 15 eggs, but they weren't careful on counting and we ended up with 24. But I didn't have the heart to "cull" them. I am just a bit worried about this sudden change re: live tubifex worms. Hoping their appetites will pick up here shortly and their flightiness dissipate.

Have they grown their limbs yet?

Yes, fully formed and pigmented front limbs. There back ones are growing still, they are still a bit stubby, but they can be seen trying to use them while swimming.

Well I'd be careful about keep more than 2 together at this stage, you will think everything's going fine then BAM you'll check them one morning and limbs will be missing

if one tank mate is much bigger than another remove the smaller its better to raise the smaller till same size than lose both one to being eaten and the other possible choke