bayhicoach
New member
During a visit to the Science Center I was intrigued by the way axolotl eggs were being used to show the development of the embryos. The Science Center had several eggs displayed on a large screen as viewed through a digital microscope. Cool. I had to have some. My research lead me to this site and in late April and early May I ordered two batches of axolotl eggs. I ordered 10 eggs each from Michael Shrom and Melanie (Shoegal). I wanted to get a wide variety of types and thought, if I was lucky my twenty eggs would get me about five or six adults.
Much to my surprise, both shippers were generous with their shipments and I got way more than I asked for. Since I had intended to maintain the larvae in separate containers I was only prepared to care for a dozen. I had about three times that many hatchlings.
Another surprise was that I was experiencing zero mortality rates. Instead of losing one here and there I was losing none. I had way too many to keep. So, instead of just culling the extras I thought it would be interesting to put some of them into a small pond I have in my yard to see what might happen.
The pond only holds about 200 L of water and when the summer temperatures soared into the nineties and the temperature of the water in the pond was running in the high eighties for weeks on end I was sure none of the larvae survived.
As time went on and the larvae I was raising developed, I was disappointed that none of the group from Michael Shrom exhibited the GFP trait that was a possibility in the group of eggs I had ordered. I was really hoping to get at least one of them in the mix.
I did end up with albino and golden albinos from Shoegal and wild types and leucistic and albinos from Shrom's group. Well, I got a nice mix and it would certainly serve the purposes for which they were intended. But, I still wished that one of them had been GFP.
So, tonight when I went to my garden to get some cuttings of Coleus for my plant class tomorrow I looked into the pond whose surface was now cleared of all the duck weed that had covered it for the majority of the summer. There, much to my surprise was an albino axie sitting on the bottom.
I was excited by that development but when I fished him out of the water and got a closer look I was elated to see that he (she?) is the GFP that I had been hoping for. What an amazing development! I'm excited to take him to school tomorrow to show my students I have a whole new variety to add to my collection of "fish with legs."
The new axie seems in good condition - full belly, nice shape. The most noticeable difference between this one and the ones grown indoors (besides the (GFP) is that this one has very short gills. This might be a reflection of the horrific water conditions he has endured over the summer.
Here's a couple of pics (he's in a gallon jar and not quite sure what just happened to him).
Much to my surprise, both shippers were generous with their shipments and I got way more than I asked for. Since I had intended to maintain the larvae in separate containers I was only prepared to care for a dozen. I had about three times that many hatchlings.
Another surprise was that I was experiencing zero mortality rates. Instead of losing one here and there I was losing none. I had way too many to keep. So, instead of just culling the extras I thought it would be interesting to put some of them into a small pond I have in my yard to see what might happen.
The pond only holds about 200 L of water and when the summer temperatures soared into the nineties and the temperature of the water in the pond was running in the high eighties for weeks on end I was sure none of the larvae survived.
As time went on and the larvae I was raising developed, I was disappointed that none of the group from Michael Shrom exhibited the GFP trait that was a possibility in the group of eggs I had ordered. I was really hoping to get at least one of them in the mix.
I did end up with albino and golden albinos from Shoegal and wild types and leucistic and albinos from Shrom's group. Well, I got a nice mix and it would certainly serve the purposes for which they were intended. But, I still wished that one of them had been GFP.
So, tonight when I went to my garden to get some cuttings of Coleus for my plant class tomorrow I looked into the pond whose surface was now cleared of all the duck weed that had covered it for the majority of the summer. There, much to my surprise was an albino axie sitting on the bottom.
I was excited by that development but when I fished him out of the water and got a closer look I was elated to see that he (she?) is the GFP that I had been hoping for. What an amazing development! I'm excited to take him to school tomorrow to show my students I have a whole new variety to add to my collection of "fish with legs."
The new axie seems in good condition - full belly, nice shape. The most noticeable difference between this one and the ones grown indoors (besides the (GFP) is that this one has very short gills. This might be a reflection of the horrific water conditions he has endured over the summer.
Here's a couple of pics (he's in a gallon jar and not quite sure what just happened to him).
