Unexpected babies!

oatmeal

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So I've had my c. Orientalis pair for quite some time, and I just found some babies in the tank today! To keep then safe I've moved the ones I've been able to catch into a breeder box. Is this a good idea? I've only been able to find 4 so far.
They're very cute: look like tiny axolotls!

My questions are these:
What shall I feed them? I'm trying to get my hands on a daphnea culture. I have brine shrimp eggs I could hatch, but they are perishable..
Since there are so few, could this breeder box be sufficient with some Java Moss in there?

What do I do when they start to morph? How will I know when they need to be taken out of the water??
I just have no idea what I'm doing, and would like to give these babies a good chance.

Thank you! Sorry for the long post. I've read the articles about carrying for juvenilesl
 
If you've read the Caudata Culture articles on raising newts from eggs, I'm not sure how much I can add, but if you are unprepared for caring for larvae I would recommend leaving them with their parents. The adults very rarely eat their own babies once they're past the egg stage and there will be enough micro food in the tank for a small number of larvae to survive up to an age where they'll eat chopped live blackworms, frozen foods or small chopped earthworms. Removing them to their own tank and not being able to feed them will usually mean the whole lot will starve to death.
If there is a small land area in the adults tank, the newtlets will tell you when they are ready for a terrestrial set up by hauling out and sitting there. Just keep checking it every day or so once you see larvae that are losing their gills.
Hope this helps. :)
 
If you've read the Caudata Culture articles on raising newts from eggs, I'm not sure how much I can add, but if you are unprepared for caring for larvae I would recommend leaving them with their parents. The adults very rarely eat their own babies once they're past the egg stage and there will be enough micro food in the tank for a small number of larvae to survive up to an age where they'll eat chopped live blackworms, frozen foods or small chopped earthworms. Removing them to their own tank and not being able to feed them will usually mean the whole lot will starve to death.
If there is a small land area in the adults tank, the newtlets will tell you when they are ready for a terrestrial set up by hauling out and sitting there. Just keep checking it every day or so once you see larvae that are losing their gills.
Hope this helps. :)

Thanks for your help :) I just re-read my post, and saw that it was written terribly (on my phone)! Sorry!
I still have them in the breeder box within the adult's tank. I'm hesitant to let them free, as I only caught 4 of them! I don't know if there are more hiding somewhere, but that's all I could find. I'm hatching some brine shrimp for them to eat, and in the meantime I've grabbed some frozen baby brine shrimp, but they don't seem interested in it. They already have their front legs though, so they must have been in there for a while and living off something.

My partner suggested putting the adults into (what was going to be) my shrimp tank, but I have reservations about that.... the shrimp tank is totally cycled and well established, but I do water changes with RO water reconstituted with a shrimp mineral supplement. I'm still learning about water chemistry, so with my knowledge base I'm not totally comfortable doing that to my adult newts.

I may end up just releasing the babies into the tank and hope they survive. I have what looks like some water fleas in my shrimp tank, so I've siphoned a bunch out of there and put them in my newt tank.

Thanks so much for your input :) I'm probably going to be releasing them back into the large tank tonight!
 
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  • Shane douglas:
    with axolotls would I basically have to keep buying and buying new axolotls to prevent inbred breeding which costs a lot of money??
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  • Thorninmyside:
    Not necessarily but if you’re wanting to continue to grow your breeding capacity then yes. Breeding axolotls isn’t a cheap hobby nor is it a get rich quick scheme. It costs a lot of money and time and deditcation
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  • stanleyc:
    @Thorninmyside, I Lauren chen
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  • Clareclare:
    Would Chinese fire belly newts be more or less inclined towards an aquatic eft set up versus Japanese . I'm raising them and have abandoned the terrarium at about 5 months old and switched to the aquatic setups you describe. I'm wondering if I could do this as soon as they morph?
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    Clareclare: Would Chinese fire belly newts be more or less inclined towards an aquatic eft set up versus... +1
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