Hatchlings!!

Oh my god, got up this morning to six hatchlings! Ive separated them into two containers as they were two different sizes, and had to drive 40 miles to carlisle to buy some daphnia as the crazy pet shop lady still hasnt ordered the baby brine shrimp for me and the ones I ordered off ebay wont be here for a couple of days. What a mad rush! I have seived the tiniest daphnia and have put a small amount in each tub as I cant separate the egg sacks from the unhatched eggs which I know they would eat, have I done the right thing? I also bought some frogbit lily type plant and have put that in each tub to help aerate the water. Its like having children all over again, you can read everything there is to know and then when it happens you cant remember a thing!

Don't get too panicky about the food yet as the newly hatched larvae won't eat for about 24 - 48 hours after they emerge from their eggs. The smaller Daphnia will be available to the earlier hunters in the group. That should give you time to get the brine shrimp hatchery up and running.

The plant is a helpful addition.

So it is now day three since they started hatching, and I have 23 hatchlings, all doing really well. Brine shrimp eggs arrived today but think Ill stick with daphnia for the mo as the tiny ones can just be left with the larvae. I have one that keeps falling on its side so Ive called it Mrs Lopsided. Ha!!

The story so far, by friday last week I had 30 hatchlings. A few were very tiny and seemed underdeveloped, had 2 that were lying on their side so called them Mr and Mrs Lopsided. Unfortunately they died yesterday morning, and this morning 2 of the tiniest died. I examined them under a magnifier and their gills had been nipped off, poor things. I had separated the larvae at the weekend into two tubs with frogbit plants to aerate the water, might start a third so that the smallest are going to have a better chance of surviving. I am doing a 50% water change everyday, with water the same temperature as the water in the tubs. My brine shrimp hadnt hatched so had to use the tiniest daphnia in the packs I bought. Checked the brine shrimps this morning, and had 2 hatched, so hopefully the rest will hatch today and then I can use them instead of daphnia. On checking the babies though they all seem to have full bellies and full gills so will be keeping a close eye on them! Any advice from anyone or am I doing ok??

Sounds like your doing great . I had a weirdly lopsided one, his tail was all bent so I called him Mr Bendy, after a couple of days it seemed to straighten out and now I can't tell which one he is.

I had another tidler die this morning, down to 25 but I have to say they all look very healthy, big fat tummys, plenty of poop, and whizzing all over the place. It gets quite adictive sitting and watching them for ages, my husband thinks I am mad! I told him you have to be a little bit mad to own an axie! ; )

I now have 24 axies, all doing well, apart from one which has an enormous bubble belly and just floats around. I have a fantastic brine shrimp factory going, once I got over the initial fear it is just second nature now, starting a new batch every 2 days. I feed twice a day, getting up at 6.30am, (the middle of the night) and feeding from around 6.45am to 7.45am, then placing babies into fresh tubs with clean water and off on the school run and then work for 8.30am. The next feed is about 6pm till 7pm, while tea is cooking or I have a bath, so it feels like a nice routine, although a tad tiring. But like raising children a lot of effort in the beginning, it gets easier over time. Pics to be uploaded soon, but as I take them, they kinda look the same as the last ones. So glad the brine shrimp hatchery worked because the pet shop 10 miles away has stopped doing live food so would be an 80 mile round trip for a couple of bags of daphnia. Will have to try to get a daphnia thing going soon, more reading up I think.......

If you put buckets/ containers of water out side, you'll get a good quantity of insect larvae growing in them. These could be a useful top up for the axolotl larvae.

Great idea, thanks ; )

Hey! In regards to the bubble belly axolotl maybe this could be of some help:

"Bubbles in a larva's belly can be cured by placing the larva correct way up in a small flat dish (e.g. petri dish), without water, and adding water drop by drop until it has just enough water to move about in, but not enough to turn over.

Then add loads of food. When it's eaten enough food, it will be able to stay the right way up in normal water depths. This should only take an hour or so if the larva is generally healthy.

I've never tried this with axolotl larvae, but it works well with European newt larvae." - Caleb Leeke
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...ggs-larvae-breeding/68867-larval-autopsy.html

I just read about this and although he says he hasn't used it on axolotls if you check the link the topic creator posts below his advice saying he attempted it on his larvae and it worked. It's something I'm keeping in mind incase I need it and thought I'd share just incase you do too!

Erzs said:

Hey! In regards to the bubble belly axolotl maybe this could be of some help:

"Bubbles in a larva's belly can be cured by placing the larva correct way up in a small flat dish (e.g. petri dish), without water, and adding water drop by drop until it has just enough water to move about in, but not enough to turn over.

Then add loads of food. When it's eaten enough food, it will be able to stay the right way up in normal water depths. This should only take an hour or so if the larva is generally healthy.

I've never tried this with axolotl larvae, but it works well with European newt larvae." - Caleb Leeke
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...ggs-larvae-breeding/68867-larval-autopsy.html

I just read about this and although he says he hasn't used it on axolotls if you check the link the topic creator posts below his advice saying he attempted it on his larvae and it worked. It's something I'm keeping in mind incase I need it and thought I'd share just incase you do too!

Click to expand...

I wish I too had known this, as I had a few that had bubble bellies. This seems to be a common problem with the larvae. Thank you for posting that link. :happy:

Erzs said:

Hey! In regards to the bubble belly axolotl maybe this could be of some help:

"Bubbles in a larva's belly can be cured by placing the larva correct way up in a small flat dish (e.g. petri dish), without water, and adding water drop by drop until it has just enough water to move about in, but not enough to turn over.

Then add loads of food. When it's eaten enough food, it will be able to stay the right way up in normal water depths. This should only take an hour or so if the larva is generally healthy.

I've never tried this with axolotl larvae, but it works well with European newt larvae." - Caleb Leeke
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...ggs-larvae-breeding/68867-larval-autopsy.html

I just read about this and although he says he hasn't used it on axolotls if you check the link the topic creator posts below his advice saying he attempted it on his larvae and it worked. It's something I'm keeping in mind incase I need it and thought I'd share just incase you do too!

Click to expand...

That sounds like a plan, will give it a go and let you know how I get on, thanks

My observations would agree with what has been stated about bubbles in the bellies of axolotl larvae as well as axies who float in general. If they get fed properly they will maintain proper orientation in the water, the bubbles will go away and they will stay on the bottom of the container. While every case of an axie floating is not the result of under eating, the huge majority seems to fit into this category.