Babies not eating...

JaiElBee · Jan 17, 2010

We currently have 2 baby Axolotls that have hatched and were wondering about feeding them.

We've got Daphnia and Brineshrimp ready to go and have tried both in with the babies but they don't seem to be interested.

They were both born Saturday (16th) morning.

When do they normally start feeding?

Also, the Brineshrimp are dying pretty fast when we put them in the freshwater tank the babies are in... Any way of making them last longer?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

MAXolotl · Jan 17, 2010

Im not an expert on baby axolotls but when they are first born they have a supply of nutrients in their stomachs. Once this has run out (could take a fair few hours) they will start searching for food. I would personally wait until they have starting feeding on daphnia (they don't die in fresh water) before adding any brineshrimp. This will keep the water cleaner. Hope I have been of help :happy:

melfly · Jan 17, 2010

Hiya
My babies usually feed within 24 hours.
Baby brine shrimp wont last long you need to be feeding at least once per day.
You will know when they've fed cause they will have orange bellies and you will notice them jumping. Its soo cute.
Daphnia will probably be too big.
I keep mine in small tubs so the food is concentrated and i can keep an eye on them.
Its also helps when changing the water. I do 100% daily water changes.
Mel

Norcinu · Jan 18, 2010

Hey, I just raised baby axololts myself

Like the others have said, they won't start eating right away due to having an egg sac in their stomaches that'll feed themselves for a day or two max. It's good that you're feeding them live food as this is the only way to get them to notice the food at this age.

I usually put them in a small "feeding container" concentrated with food so it'd be hard for them to miss. You'll be able to tell they're full because you'll see the food inside them. I'm not sure about Daphnia but as for Brineshrimp, my pet store told me I could keep them in a fridge for a week max - some of them die but over half still survive regardless in the cold temperature and being kept in their plastic bags.

Good luck!

frequenc · Jan 18, 2010

Norcinu said:
Hey, I just raised baby axololts myself

Like the others have said, they won't start eating right away due to having an egg sac in their stomaches that'll feed themselves for a day or two max. It's good that you're feeding them live food as this is the only way to get them to notice the food at this age.

I usually put them in a small "feeding container" concentrated with food so it'd be hard for them to miss. You'll be able to tell they're full because you'll see the food inside them. I'm not sure about Daphnia but as for Brineshrimp, my pet store told me I could keep them in a fridge for a week max - some of them die but over half still survive regardless in the cold temperature and being kept in their plastic bags.

Good luck!

While they may survive, this defeats the purpose of feeding baby brine shrimp. The reason baby brine shrimp are nutritious is because of the yolk they use to feed themselves after they are born. After about 8 hours their nutritional value decreases significantly.

As said before, Daphnia are the better choice for many reasons including the fact they are live in fresh water.

Cheers,
Alex

melfly · Jan 18, 2010

Hi Alex
I think its a matter of personal preference and availability.
I dont have a supply of daphnia small enough to feed to baby axolotls, therefore i hatch my own baby brine shrimp.
I find them excellent for my larvae.

Mel

frequenc · Jan 18, 2010

melfly said:
Hi Alex
I think its a matter of personal preference and availability.
I dont have a supply of daphnia small enough to feed to baby axolotls, therefore i hatch my own baby brine shrimp.
I find them excellent for my larvae.

Mel

Hi Mel

No doubt availability is a huge factor, I was just trying to pass on some information regarding the "shelf life" of nutritional value for baby brine shrimp

They do make excellent food for larvae, no question there!

melfly · Jan 18, 2010

frequenc said:
As said before, Daphnia are the better choice for many reasons including the fact they are live in fresh water.

Cheers,
Alex

It was just that bit.
It looked like you were saying Daphnia was the best.....ever. lol
If you know what i mean

Mel

JaiElBee · Jan 27, 2010

Thanks for all the information.

We've been pretty busy with them!

Most of them are nearly 2 weeks old now, quite shocked by the dramatic size differences in them. The first baby that hatched is a lot bigger than the rest but they all seem to be eating and doing ok.

Personally, I'm looking after 20 at the moment. Feeding them a mix of daphnia and brineshrimp. I must admit the daphnia are easier as the brineshrimp die pretty quickly when they are put in the fresh water of the babies tank.

We even have a few people interested in taking some of the babies off our hands, but I'm reluctant to let them go whilst they are still so demanding.

When do most of you pass on the baby Axolotls? Is there a certain age that's best or is it just sort of at my discretion?

I'm thinking it will be easiest for whoever is taking them for the babies to be able to eat non-live food, when is that normally?

Thanks again for any help you can offer!

melfly · Jan 27, 2010

I would normally wait til they have back legs. Although as soon as they start eating frozen foods you can pass em on. This is usually around front legs bein fully developed. They will start sniffing the food out. And then they're good to go. I was really attached to my first batch and hated seein them go. I'm still in contact with most of the people who took my babies which is great coz i still get to see them grow up through photos. Mel

Heather at HMSG · Jan 27, 2010

A note of caution: I hatched & fed brine shrimp for the first time last month - babes did wonderfully for about 3 weeks. Then I think I became a bit over-enthusiastic with the brine shrimp, & more died & rotted (I guess) than I realised, & suddenly babies started dieing, despite regular partial water changes. Obviously I did a complete water change when I realised, but it took several days before the situation settled & the six (of 15) remaining are now on daphnia & growing well. They were on a cold bathroom windowsill (not much above 10 degC-ish) - in a warmer room I think dieing shrimp might be a potentially greater problem.

Interestingly, most of the deaths were non-albino (I have 50:50 albino / wild type, as far as I can tell, from golden x leucistic parents).

I have started another small batch (by accident!) from the same spawning, in a classroom & they started on brine shrimp, but now on daphnia as well.

Heather

melfly · Jan 27, 2010

Hi heather, i've fed all my babies on brine shrimp and do 100 per cent water changes daily. They seem to do fine. Newly hatched babies are sometimes too small to take daphnia unless you have small daphnia obviously lol. But the shop bought ones i buy tend to be a little bit big. Mel

firefly · Jan 28, 2010

May I jump in and ask how you move your larvae? Do you use a net or a syphon ? It's just that I have FBN larvae and I use a Turkey Baster, but feel that I might be stressing them too much. Thx

melfly · Jan 28, 2010

I use a turkey baster too. But callina made a great suggestion of using a tea strainer. Mel

JaiElBee · Jan 30, 2010

3 dead babies today. =(

Normally, what's the main cause of death, does anyone know?

Some of them even had pink stomachs so it obviously wasn't just not being able to fight for/catch the daphnia.

I've done a full water change and separated the remaining 17 out for the night to keep an eye on them.

If one dies from some kind of infection or something, will the rest follow?

Also, is there a point at which they are definitely safe or can they continue dying right up until they are adult?

Sorry for all the questions, new to all this in addition to my need to know everything makes me question, a lot.

Thanks in advance.

MAXolotl · Jan 30, 2010

You should remove any dead axolotls from the tank. They will attract fungus which could pass fungal infections on to the other ones. If the axolotls dies from an infection the others could catch this in the same way as the fungus. Sometimes the younger axolotls just die - perhaps they couldn't get enough food as competition would have been high when there were 20. as axolotls get older you will find they get tougher and fungal infections will be less likely. Good luck with your babies and let us know how they do!

melfly · Jan 31, 2010

Its worryin that 3 died at the same time. I had some random unexplained deaths when mine were a little bit younger, but they seemed to be one at a time weeks apart, and they too had full bellies and good water. You've done right seperating them, just in case some kind of infection is in there. Have a close look at the remaining ones for any sign of fungus i sometime use a torch to get a good look. Mel

JaiElBee · Feb 1, 2010

Most of them have died now.

Can't really work out why. We've got them in separate pots, in different places in the house, eating different food and they still keep dying.

This may sound vague but they do this flippy thing, where their head and tail touches a few times... is that normal?

Also, should their tails be straight or have a little flick in the end?

melfly · Feb 1, 2010

Hi. What is the temperatures? The tail bent at the end is a sign of stress. And i dont think the head to tail touching sounds right. Mine have never done this. Are they fully seperate now one per tub? I would do a one hundred percent water change all round. Doesn't sound too good to me tho. How big are they now? Mel

JaiElBee · Feb 1, 2010

Hi Mel.

They are still tiny, about a centimetre... Biggest, is about 2 cms.

They are as separated as we can get them, the one I was intending on keeping is completely by itself the other 6 are together.

Not exactly sure about the temperatures... Probably about 18 degrees.

We've done 100% water changes but we're thinking it might be best to leave them alone a little now, see if they de-stress that way.

Thanks.

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