Question: How do I separate dead eggs from larvae??

Ok well yesterday was a bad day in this household and I still dont know exactly what happened but the long and short of it is my poor axolotl babies ended up on the floor from a high place and I ended up swimming in a whole lot of spawn water to rescue them

I managed to scoop them all up but sadly 50% of the formed larvae had come out of their eggs so were free swimming and they were only just over 10 days old. To say I panicked was an understatement and thankfully the lovely Julia came to my rescue (that woman is an :angel.

So I have baby daphnia at the ready for tomorrow but am still very worried I could lose a load either through the shock or the fact they hatched a few days early and not from their own choice. A lot of them are still kinda flat looking

Anyway I know that a lot of the eggs I have are duds but how do I detach these from the larvae as I really dont want to end up with anymore mishaps or other larvae being ripped out of their homes whilst trying to seperate the dud eggs BUT i also dont want the dud eggs polluting the water of my free swimming larvae, so once again guys.....

HELP PLEASE

Re: How do I seperate dead eggs from larvae??

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Poor little guys...
And, poor you!!!


I'd use a tea spoon to carefully scoop up the hatched guys + transfer them instead.

Re: How do I seperate dead eggs from larvae??

yeh tell me about it!! boys

Ok thats an idea thanks for that, so tired at the moment brain really is not functioning to well did not think of just taking the free swimming ones out how dumb :blush:

Thanks Mojo hope your little guys are doing well x

Re: How do I seperate dead eggs from larvae??

No hatchings yet. Just been doing water changes on my friend's axies + STILL trying to persuade them to eat earthworms. I emptied out my entire worm tub + found the smallest I could (except the tiny white babies), but they're scared of them But, instead of bloodworm, tonight they're only being offered worms + a couple of cherry shrimp each, so tough

Re: How do I seperate dead eggs from larvae??

good luck with the other axies!!

I have about 40ish hatchlings they are so cute!!! Kids were so excited watching them swimming around this morning just hope they make it som are a lot better than others x

Re: How do I seperate dead eggs from larvae??

Yeah I would say just move the hatched ones to another little container. Don't worry they should still develop just fine. I had a few that this happened to when mine were shipped- jostled them out of their eggs. But they are just fine now. :happy:

And what a nightmare! You poor thing! I am glad you were able to save them!

Re: How do I seperate dead eggs from larvae??

well they now have daphnia in with them and a few more have hatched today :happy:

Heres a short video of them and a couple of piccies, most seem to be wild and there are a few lighter ones which I presume are albino (piccy 2 and the 2 axies far left of the piccy) as there eyes are white, leucistic or gold, time will tell

YouTube - Baby Axies.AVI

Re: How do I seperate dead eggs from larvae??

Bigger piccy of them

The ones that came out of their eggs early will still need to complete their development. Being outside the jelly coat doesn't speed that up any. Be patient. They will do that without any additional interference. They won't eat for another week or more.

When I had dud eggs I tried to seperate them with a turkey baster and ended up breaking open a good egg Thankfully he lived but I just left the rest till they all hatched and then took it all out and it seemed to be fine. I started with 148 ( i only counted because I moved them to a bigger tank lol) and I have only lost a few good luck!!!! btw I was feeding brine shrimp hatchlings and quite a bit at a time and had to start feeding them about 3 times a day when they were about a month old I am amazed at how much they eat but it is fun to watch =) This was my first batch so I am no expert but I am willing to help with questions anyway I can. Mine are about a month and a half right now.

bayhicoach said:

The ones that came out of their eggs early will still need to complete their development. Being outside the jelly coat doesn't speed that up any. Be patient. They will do that without any additional interference. They won't eat for another week or more.

Click to expand...

Thanks sorry a misunderstanding I think I was trying to seperate the good larvae from the dud eggs that have gone fuzzy not speed up the ones that were ok :happy:

All seems to be going well now thankfully, the hatchd larvae are in a seperate tub with the daphnia and the deformed eggs are in another tub am pretty sure they are all duds but will leave them for a few more days yet.

Thanks