Photo: 122 babies, and counting...

...and I wonder why I'm not getting enough sleep!!

I go back to the hatching tank 2 or 3 times a day, and every time I'm finding more... I know there were a zillion eggs, but it's still blowing my mind to have this many babies on my hands.

A few of those 122 have passed on now (sniff, sniff!) - it's been an emotional week - and I'm amazed at how the others are not only surviving, but GROWING, with the food crisis we're having.

My BS eggs were absolute BS - three batches later, and nothing's hatching. I've just ordered some from e-Bay, thanks to a post I noticed earlier this evening, and in the meantime, I'm doing my best with squashed up thawed bloodworms (they don't even seem to notice them) and, would you believe it, cooked egg yolk! Did I mention I'm desperate?? I even went down to our local river in the rain this morning, with a net, but I couldn't find a single wriggling thing anywhere!

Actually, some of them seem to be eating the egg yolk, although it's hard to tell, with them being so small...

I'll keep you posted

Meanwhile, enjoy the pix.

When did yours start hatching?

The very first one was last Monday 18th, but I don't know for sure if that one is still alive - there's just so many of them!

After that, from Tuesday to Friday, it just exploded, and they're finally slowing down today. I'm starting to slowly remove things from the hatching tank (including unfertilised eggs - there were plenty, stuck to everything!), to make it easier to spot the last few hiding wrigglers.

I'll leave the rest as is, cos I don't want to assume that the unhatched eggs with perfectly formed babies in them AREN'T going to eventually hatch... give it a few more days, I think.

I won't sleep properly till those BS eggs get here and I can actually SEE the babies eating them!!

And as to why some have died (in answer to your other question), I just don't know (sigh!). I read on the Axi site that when raising large numbers of babies some loss is to be expected - some succumb to stress, some have genetic abnormalities, survival of the fittest... I guess that's why they lay so many eggs. Anyway, that doesn't make it any easier to take. Especially when I feel like it's my fault because of the brine shrimp.

If there's ever a next time, I'll probably sell or give away most of the eggs - but how would you ever know for sure that the ones you sent were viable?

If I was to take a punt: the egg is probably polluting the water/starving it of oxygen = dead axies.

When i use to sell eggs, i would wait a few days until you see the eggs forming. Then you know theyre fertile. If kept in good water conditions all should hatch, but I always sent extra just incase. Was no skin off my nose ... they lay soo many

Really need live food. can you get some microworms? . or even just green water may do for first week. needs to be clean green water though . . .

hope the brineshrimp turns up for you soon

Hmmm... I think I might get that egg out of there! I've still been doing daily water changes, about two hours after the egg goes in, but I wouldn't want to risk smothering them!!

No one in my area has any other live food, and didn't seem keen to order it in for me either - they said it would take several days. Now that some good BS eggs are on their way, I hope we'll be ok.

I have a little pond in my backyard with plenty of green water, but I don't know how to tell if it's "clean" or not. It's in my chook yard, isolated from the chooks by a fence, but it's only fed with occasional rainwater. Would this be ok to use? And do you mean the plant matter that's in the pond, or just the water itself?

The count is now 118, and still more every day...

I've deleted the egg yolk - sounds like it wasn't a great idea (so much to thank my local aquarium shop for ...). I'm going to refer him to you guys for some decent information

I've got babies in all sorts of sizes and colours (don't ask me what they are - I'm a complete beginner!). Think I'll start separating them into similar sizes tomorrow - right after I dash out and get some axolotl pellets to crush up and try them on (thanks Yellowpebble)... anything to keep them going till the brine shrimp eggs get here.

Actually, I'm sure I saw a couple of the bigger ones have a snap at the crushed up blood worms when I swirled them round in the water this afternoon, so hopefully, one way or another, I can keep most of them going.

More piccies for you :happy: I'm so in love with them all...

two options i can think of:
1. the best on is to take the sweetest fruit you can find, put it outside, and wait for the Drosophila to come over (it should take a day or two) and then put it in a box closed with a insects net.
after a few days you'll see more and more! and you can easily sqash them or their larvea and feed them to the sharks!
2. take a bowl, put water and wait until mosquitos will come, then you can take their larvea... but is can take a while...