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EGGS???? What do I do????

Jenste

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Just turned on my axolotl tank light to see them and I found eggs in my floating water wisteria!!!!

they are half brown/half white....

I didn't think they werev old enough and I didn't notice the spermatores...

What kind of set up do I put the eggs in?? Can I put them in a spare 10 gallon? Should I put in an aerator?


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Alioth

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Be carefull what you wish for! :D
Congratulations!
Seperate the number of eggs you want to keep (I advice not too many because I read it can be hard the first time to raise them properly and it only becomes harder with larger numbers). I took out a plastic plant with about 20 eggs attached to them. As you know, I'm a first timer as well.

I have put them in a spare tank (20 liter) without bubbler or filter as I assume that eggs don't need this! Enjoy!! You're becoming a grandparent! :D
Keep it bare bottom, I read somewhere that sand is dangerous for hatchlings!
 

lea

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I used a plastic fish tank(nano tanks i think they are called). It cost me $9.99 from K Mart.
I put treated water, the eggs in the tank and sat back and watched them grow. I had 21 eggs and 20 of them made it, and they are darn cute as well. Please dont raise too many.for your first attempt. It can be a bit scary(well i was but Im a worrier).
Yes, keep the tank bare bottom. they will eat the sand
enjoy your babies and we need photos
 

Jenste

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Thank you - being my first time attempting to raise axies, I separated out 10 eggs and discarded the rest.

Right now they are in a 10 gallon tank with an aerator with a very slow trickle. I read it can take a few weeks for the eggs to hatch....so lets keep our fingers crossed!!
 

danchristopher

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Yay for axie babies!
You won't need an aerator for the eggs as all the oxygen they need is contained inside their little jelly 'shell'. The temperature will determine how long they take to hatch. Lower temps will take longer (and I imagine it's getting cold in most parts of the US right now?) and higher temps will make them hatch quicker.
 

Jenste

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are you sure no aerator?? lol - sorry I am just nervous. I also raise African Clawed frogs and the aerator can make or break a batch so I am just trying to triple check.

Right now the tanks in my bedroom are about 65*F. (My bedroom is the coldest room in the house).

I am figuring about 2-3 weeks for hatching?

Will BBS be ok for when they are ready to eat? I can source them easily at a store nearby.
 

danchristopher

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Yep, BBS should be fine. Just remember that it's probably best to rinse them of the salt water before feeding them to your babies. Yellowpebble has a good guide on making a BBS hatchery, you can find it in this section of forums if need be.

I've never used an aerator on any of my three batches of eggs I've raised and they've all hatched fine. Maybe other people have had different results? I'm not sure... if you're worried about it then maybe keep the aerator, I can't imagine it doing any harm either way.
 

Jenste

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I picked up the BBS and will be making a small trial batch to make sure I can hatch them :D

I hope a few of the eggs end up being viable so I can raise some babies
 

SanderB

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You don´t need anything special to raise axolotls.
Just something to put water in, I use empty icecream buckets to put the eggs in.
You don´t need something on the bottom of the tank/icecream bucket/....
I only use tapwater and a plastic tank with a cover (else the cat eats my axolotls).
Feeding: newly hatched Artemia salina until they are big enough to eat the frozen Artemia and when they are bigger you can feed them frozen bloodworms. And when they are about 10cm you can start feeding them earthworms.
Water changes: I only do it when I am in the mood or when the tank looks realy dirty. I use tapwater without adding something to it, just because it is not necessary for axolotls. Axolotls are hardy. Some die in the proces of raising, that´s not bad, it´s better to only keep the hardy ones.

On my site you can see some photos on how i do it: Ik en mijn dieren |
Maybe one day I will make an english version of it.
 

Jenste

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How long until I know whether or not the eggs are viable?
 

Kaysie

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They start dividing immediately. If you look closely at an egg in good light, you should be able to see the cells.
 

Jenste

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How do people ship them all the time then? I can't tell if there has been any change in the past 4 days....
 

Jenste

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Do females ever "just" lay eggs or do they only lay after picking up a spermatore?
 

SanderB

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If there is a male in the tank and your eggs are unfertilized than there is something realy wrong.
Or it´s the female´s first time and you just took only unfertilized eggs out of the tank.
Or the male is infertile.
But normaly you can see the egg developing.

I don´t realy think warmth is the only factor that makes the eggs hatch quicker or slower.
I think light is an important factor.
I had a batch of eggs on the same temperature with an other batch but the ones that where developing with low daylight (7:00 to 17:00) hatched after 3 weeks, the ones with longer daylight (6:00-22:00) hatched after 1 week.
 

Jenste

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If there is a male in the tank and your eggs are unfertilized than there is something realy wrong.
Or it´s the female´s first time and you just took only unfertilized eggs out of the tank.
Or the male is infertile.
But normaly you can see the egg developing.

I don´t realy think warmth is the only factor that makes the eggs hatch quicker or slower.
I think light is an important factor.
I had a batch of eggs on the same temperature with an other batch but the ones that where developing with low daylight (7:00 to 17:00) hatched after 3 weeks, the ones with longer daylight (6:00-22:00) hatched after 1 week.


This was my females first laying - she will be one year old in January and is just under 8 inches long. The male and female had been living together for under 72 hours when I found the eggs! I took one plant that had just under a dozen eggs on it and put it in a 10 gallon and threw away all the other eggs (maybe about 50 or so were discarded - I didn't count.) She never plumped up so I was not expecting the eggs to say the least.

I will keep my eyes on them. So far I haven't seen any noticeable change to the eggs. Most are still attached to the plant they were laid on, 3 detached and are sitting on the tank bottom.

The tank does not get any direct light itself, just indirect light from my ceiling light fixture in the room at odd times of the day. Tank temperature is about 65*F.
I guess time will tell!
 

Jenste

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One egg seems to have gone bad, it developed a grayish fuzz so I removed it

The rest of the eggs seem to be staying the same, I cannot see and distinguishable changes yet :confused: It has been 7 days since I found them in my tank.
 

kirsty

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may be dud eggs, my females only layed a few on her first two times and none of them developed at all, but since the last laying about 6 months ago there have been no eggs - have found a few spermaphores but must have removed them in time.

Your female is still young so watch out as it can be harmful for her to lay eggs as she is still developing herself :)
 

Jenste

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Yea I was very grateful to see it was a small clutch. I was shocked to say the least - I figured they wouldn't breed for a year, never mind 3 days!
There have been no more spermatores in the tank and she has been getting big plump worms to make up for laying
 

SanderB

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Fungus on your egss, that means they aren´t fertile.
My eggs hatched after 7 days, if they don´t show any change now then they will probably never hatch.
 

Jenste

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Fungus on your egss, that means they aren´t fertile.
My eggs hatched after 7 days, if they don´t show any change now then they will probably never hatch.


the fungus was only on one egg, the rest still have clear orbs around them.
 
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