Just.... wow

Haven't even had my axolotl juvies for a full month, and I've already had my "boy"--Buta-- double in size! I can't believe it! My second wildtype is not far behind him, although my two leustics are slightly smaller still. I had no IDEA how quickly they grow. Taking pictures every few days to compare size, and I'm still in shock!

Is this normal? Cause I'm not pumping them full of steriod ridden worms......

Lol you should post some pictures because right now I'm imagining some Incredible Hulk-esque axolotls!

Day one (3/26) in a bare 5 gallon.


A week later (4/4) in the tupperware I used to feed them.


Same Tupperware (4/11) Both Wild types are getting HUGE!!! Is that normal???

Holy cr@p!! That's crazy! I wouldn't know if that's normal or not, I'm only just raising my first larva ever (3 weeks old now!), but either way, it's amazing! And they're beautiful! Very healthy looking, and nice fluffy gills! Very pretty lotls. :wacko:

they do grow very fast when they are young.

just keep feeding them daily and they will continue to do so.

just watch out for any cannibalistic behavior.

They do grow very fast so I would't be worried about it right now. I did find that they tended to grow faster when they had the space to do so. I had some from my last batch looks in a tank from about 3cm long and the others were left in smaller containers and the ones in the tank grew super fast while the guys still in the containers grew quite slowly and were a good 3cm shorter then the free range ones at the same age a month later so I put them all into tanks and the smaller ones have caught up the difference in the last few weeks. It's really quite incredible to see.
My wilds grew faster than any of the other colors as well so yep I'd guess it's pretty normal for the wilds to be bigger.

I have a 7 month old who I had in a 10gal for the last 4-5 months and he'd pretty well stopped growing at a cute little 15cm. I moved him to his end of his parents tank giving him a lot more space and he's grown 3cm in a week and a half unbelievable!

Re: Just.... wow (Rearing Juvie Axies)

I never thought about that! So they're like goldfish, give them a big bowl and they grow like bad weeds?

Here's a quick log of what I've done so far:

First Set Up:
They were housed in a 5g for a couple weeks, sperated by color in two seperate tupperware containers with a bubbler. (I've heard not only about the cannibalistic stages of growth, but that wildtypes tend to go after all other colors) I've yet to see that happen, but one of my little guys had two missing legs when i recieved him, and I wasn't about to find out.

They weren't very active at first, and ate little. The gentleman I purchased them from included a huge bag of pellets to feed them with, but they ignored them in the tank. I finally scooped them out (into a sandwich tupperware container) with enough water to cover them and dropped the pellets in. STILL no luck. Finally took a saftey pin, bent it out so it was elongated, and poked the pellets around in front of their faces and SNAP! They took them right away. It took some refining, but stimulating them with movement helped their appetites.

Second Set Up:
I waited a week and moved them to a twenty tall (my only "spare" tank at the moment), filled to about five inches from the top with a bubbler that is on low, and turned off at night. There is no hood light, just a cover.

I remove them for each feeding (for water quality and assurance that they're getting enough to eat) and while they're out I turn on the submerged filter to get rid of the gunk and airate their water. The filter goes off when they go back in.

I feed them different foods each day. Mostly chopped earthworm, supplimented with pellets here and there, bloodworms, and mealworm. On the note of mealworms: this has only been fed to them twice, and a one inch worm (with head removed) was cut into four pieces and each axie got one piece) Axolotls cannot digest the chitin/outerskin of a mealworm, but it is a good supplemental treat.

I recieved them at just under 2.5 inches less than a month ago, and the largest now measures 5.5inches from nose to tail tip.

Final Set Up will be their permanent home in a 55g. They are FAR too small for this right now, and with the way I'm feeding them it's not doable. I've heard of feeding jars but no little about it, so for now I'm content.

I'll try to keep this updated for anyone who wants more info about how I raised my juvinelles.

Re: Just.... wow (Rearing Juvie Axies)

They are so cute! When I got my two they were young juveniles and they were the same size but within a few weeks the wild one was much larger than the golden one like Meredyth says so I guess it's a genetic thing.

Wow! You have the King Kong of the axolotl world! Very nice!