Hatchlings not feeding?

New to axolotls but read a lot about them on here and other places, I was hoping to rear some as a school project.....

Anyway, aquired some eggs via ebay. They started hatching around four days days ago (still a couple left to hatch). Left them at least 24 hours before attemping to feed them with baby daphnia. Initially had them in small "take away" tubs but I was not convinced they were feeding and have since transfered to a "comparmentalised" tray (like cowpachipixi thread). Still no sign of feeding (or poo). Water conditions are good - I've been keeping it at zero Ammonia, Nitrates or Nitrites. PH is around 7.4. Temp varies a little between 15°C and 19°C.

My orginal plan was to feed with BBS (we culture brine shrimp and daphnia at the school) but my most recent batches have failed - we have loads of adults but they are too big - so thought small daphnia would be ok - we have loads.

Am I being too impatient? I was under the impression that the hatchling would commence feeding 24-36 hours after hatching. All advice welcome.

Hatchlings will feed about 24-48 hours after, are you feeding live daphnia?

The temp is ideal for adults but are a bit low for newly hatched axolotls, if you put the temp up to 20c-22c they will probably start feeding. I have found that newly hatched kept at 15c have a double mortality rate to those kept at 20c and I think the reason is non feeding, the lower temps make them less active. You will see when they are feeding as they make a little jump like a hiccup.

Thanks for the responses,

Yes the Daphnia is live and it looks small enough to be edible.

I'll try warmer - that's just the temprature inside at the moment, it's freezing outside. Need to move them closer to a radiator!

This is interesting. I have 13 juveniles one of which is not growing. 12 are between 6 and 8 cm and eating bloodworm. One is only 3 cm and still has no back legs. It can't manage bloodworm like the others and I got it some daphnia. Its on its own, needless to say. I will bring it into the lounge where it will be at around 21 degrees. At the moment its in the porch at 16 degrees like the others. If it still doesn't grow maybe it is destined to be dinner..... Thanks for the tip.

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wandering said:

This is interesting. I have 13 juveniles one of which is not growing. 12 are between 6 and 8 cm and eating bloodworm. One is only 3 cm and still has no back legs. It can't manage bloodworm like the others and I got it some daphnia. Its on its own, needless to say. I will bring it into the lounge where it will be at around 21 degrees. At the moment its in the porch at 16 degrees like the others. If it still doesn't grow maybe it is destined to be dinner..... Thanks for the tip.

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If the others are growing it is probably just a runt.

As Ian said it is not uncommon for there to be a runt in the bunch. And yes it would be lunch in a more natural setting. I have had one to two runts in every batch I have hatched. I have started to not separate them anymore and let things land as they will.

I just had eggs hatch 6 days ago that where kept in my living room where it is almost 10 degrees warmer on average than my office at work and those eggs from the same batch kept there are twitching but still have not hatched.

Heat has a huge effect on hatch times, feeding, activity, growth rate.

Good luck.

When my babies first came out of their egg sacks most of them didnt feed for almost 5 days from hatching~ i dont know if it was that they got alot from their eggs but it was not the normal 24-48 hrs :wacko:. i had a few that would eat at 3 days but the rest took alil longer to eat. They will eat though when they get hungry- make sure to keep their water clean and daily changes after each meal

cowpachipixi said:

When my babies first came out of their egg sacks most of them didnt feed for almost 5 days from hatching~ i dont know if it was that they got alot from their eggs but it was not the normal 24-48 hrs :wacko:. i had a few that would eat at 3 days but the rest took alil longer to eat. They will eat though when they get hungry- make sure to keep their water clean and daily changes after each meal

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The eldest hatchling (christened "Bob" by one of the classes) has started to eat - I reckon it's been nearly 6 days.

The water chemistry is pretty good (I've been testing) - I'm changing around 75% twice a day. I leave the live daphnia in with the hatchlings, so far all seem to be going OK. Just the lack of obvious feeding that is giving me doubts.

Will move the hatchlings into a few small tanks, to split them between classrooms, as soon as I'm happy that they are feeding and can handle the weekend of no food. It will be a while yet I suppose....

I don't know if it's just me but 75% twice a day seems a large water change

If you are using baby daphnia 75% water changes twice a day is excessive, you could easily reduce it to a 50% every other day , even just a couple times a week. Large water changes are required when using baby brine shrimp, even then 80% once a day before a feed would be ok.

I feed my larvae 2 times a day and do a complete 100 percent water change right before I feed. This gets rid of the bbs that i fed 12 hours or so previously. I have no issues with my larvae.

Of course I have well water and do not need to let it stand or treat it with anything which makes my job very easy.

Just strain the little buggers with a small hand colander, rinse their tub, add fresh water, then add them back, only takes a minute or less, been doing it that way for the last two years and have yet to kill any larvae.

If anyone is interested in a short video I will make one tonight when I get home and feed my 200+ larvae.

Dr0gr1n said:

I feed my larvae 2 times a day and do a complete 100 percent water change right before I feed. This gets rid of the bbs that i fed 12 hours or so previously. I have no issues with my larvae.
Just strain the little buggers with a small hand colander, rinse their tub, add fresh water, then add them back, only takes a minute or less, been doing it that way for the last two years and have yet to kill any larvae.

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There is a very big difference in feeding bbs to daphnia. Bbs die in freshwater fast and foul the water very quickly, a missed water change could wipe out the axolotls, daphnia dont die in fresh water. If the tank is set up correctly with plants etc the daphnia will reproduce , twice daily water changes are completely unnesessary when using them and I would not even consider using a coander during a water change.

very true Ian,

As he was originaly going to feed both types of feed I was just adding what I do as a bbs feeder. I should have specified.

There are most likely many daphnia being waisted with the amount of water being changed daily currently.

Just an update...

All the eggs have hatched (28) of which one hatchling has died (at about 4 days). The rest seem fine and are obviously now eating. I think you were correct about the temperature. I've probably managed to keep them at a steady 18°C, my house and school are just not any warmer but it has done the trick. Brine shrimp have now hatched so have removed them from thier individual compartments and split the brood. We are feeding "all daphnia" to one batch, a mixture of "Daphina and brine shrimp" to an other and a final batch are on "brine shrimp" only. Can't say I notice much difference between the groups. I suppose the one thing I've maybe noticed is that the groups with daphina seem a bit more active and seem to activly "hunt" the daphnia by swiming to the surface and ever so slowly drifting back to the bottom. They snap at any daphnia that cross thier path. The brine shrimp feeders tend to root round the bottom. Just following the prey, I guess.

All super stuff for the school - predator / prey stuff in action, culturing the food source and its population cycles, not to mentioned the regenerative powers of the Axolotls. I'm a bit reluctant to release them into the classrooms, but our "Science club" is looking to take over thier care after the Christmas break. I'll probably hold back a couple just to make sure they are getting proper care - you don't half get attached to them:happy:

Just an update on hatchling temps. I spoke to a friend who raised some axolotls at 4c, increasing the temp to 10c to feed them once a week. The mortality rate was zero, not sure of the batch size or the details but low temp mortality rates may not be quite as clear cut as I thought. I stand by my personal observations that axolotl hatchlings kept at 15c have an increased mortality rate when compared to those at 20c however I have to admit I have no experience of temps lower than 15c and different results are possible, even probable given the results my friend had. Thats your next project taken care of lol, investigation into axolotl mortality rates from hatching to maturity and the role that temperature plays, please post the results as I am far too lazy to do this myself.