Need Help with Axolotl Eggs - Please!

Hello all,

It is my first time raising axolotl eggs. Its very exciting, but also scary. The eggs were laid 3/15/2013, so they should hatch in the next couple days right?

I'm also wondering when I should start hatching brine shrimp. I have everything set up for them. I just don't quite know when to begin the process because I don't want the brine to get too big for the axis to eat.

I attached a picture of how the eggs look right now (3/26/2013). Can anyone give me an estimate of when they'll hatch? I just really don't have much basis for comparison.

Thank you so much in advance!

Marq

First off just take a deep breath! Youll do fine!

So they were laid 10days ago then what temperature do you have them at? They dont look like they will be hatching soon. My eggs were kept at 62f and if took 17days to start hatching. You can control the time it takes to hatch by the temperature of the water.

You will start to be able to see gills and eyes and organs when they are almost hatched.

As for bbs, you can wait until the first baby hatches, the hatchligs will feed off their yolk sack for the first 24-72hours so they dont need food.

Unless bbs has food to eat, they wont live more then 24hours after hatching unless you put them in the fridge. So every 24hours i harvest bbs, if i have leftover i refridgerate and can normally get another two feedings from it. Then i keep the rest of the gross water and add more water to top up, more salt and more eggs. I just keep toping up every 24hours

Mine are getting big now and they are eating more then i can harvest lmao! I have no choice but to chop bloodworms now andfeed them. But they eat bloodworms fine as long as they are small enough

Hey there!

Well, as a newbie myself, just hatched my first batch under 2 months ago, I'll agree that yes, it was scary!

Looking at your babies, I can say that they have a bit to go before they hatch. Here is a link to a photo time line as to what they look like as they develop. Axolotls - Embryo Photo Log

The timeline for them hatching varies, mainly from what I can tell, by water temp. I kept mine at 62 degrees and it took over 18+ days for the first ones to hatch.

The bbs starting can wait until to be started until the day or day after the axis hatch. If you are concerned that the set up is good, run a test batch to see what the hatching time and rate is before hand.

And lastly, everyone on this forum is wonderful with help and answering questions, especially from a nervous new axie owner, like me , so don't be afraid to ask any questions!

Good luck and enjoy the process of watching them grow from egg to full size axie. It's fascinating!

Alkylhalide, thank you so much for the advice and the quick response. I feel a bit better now. I didn't know what they were supposed to look like before they hatched. I guess I still have a couple more days to prepare. They have been at a temperature around the low sixties or high fifties, which may be why they're taking longer to hatch. Do you think they could just eat regular brine instead of chopped blood worms once they're all hatched, or would they be too big?

Thank you karipatra! The picture time line really helps! Now I somewhat know where I stand. I will try to do a test batch to see how long they take to hatch, and I'll just feed them to my axi. Thanks for the advice. I'm super excited about seeing them hatch and grow! I just want everything to go well. I already feel attached haha.

karipatra said:

Hey there!

Well, as a newbie myself, just hatched my first batch under 2 months ago, I'll agree that yes, it was scary!

Looking at your babies, I can say that they have a bit to go before they hatch. Here is a link to a photo time line as to what they look like as they develop. Axolotls - Embryo Photo Log

The timeline for them hatching varies, mainly from what I can tell, by water temp. I kept mine at 62 degrees and it took over 18+ days for the first ones to hatch.

The bbs starting can wait until to be started until the day or day after the axis hatch. If you are concerned that the set up is good, run a test batch to see what the hatching time and rate is before hand.

And lastly, everyone on this forum is wonderful with help and answering questions, especially from a nervous new axie owner, like me , so don't be afraid to ask any questions!

Good luck and enjoy the process of watching them grow from egg to full size axie. It's fascinating!

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marq said:

Alkylhalide, thank you so much for the advice and the quick response. I feel a bit better now. I didn't know what they were supposed to look like before they hatched. I guess I still have a couple more days to prepare. They have been at a temperature around the low sixties or high fifties, which may be why they're taking longer to hatch. Do you think they could just eat regular brine instead of chopped blood worms once they're all hatched, or would they be too big?

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No, when hatchligs first hatch they only use the sense of movement to eat.
They will not respond to dead food for a bit still. It needs to be live and it needs to be tiny. My babies are almost 3weeks and im starting to feed them once with live and once with frozen bloodworms each day and i still need to chop the bloodworms very tiny for them.
In a couple weeks you could probably feed them regular brine.
If i dont have a good harvest of bbs one day, i normally would shave bloodworms with a razor and feed them it out of desperation. But its not recommended its just all i had

Oh, I see. I'll try to keep a constant brine culture then. Hopefully I don't run out. I only have about 20 something eggs anyways. Thank you!

Alkylhalide said:

No, when hatchligs first hatch they only use the sense of movement to eat.
They will not respond to dead food for a bit still. It needs to be live and it needs to be tiny. My babies are almost 3weeks and im starting to feed them once with live and once with frozen bloodworms each day and i still need to chop the bloodworms very tiny for them.
In a couple weeks you could probably feed them regular brine.
If i dont have a good harvest of bbs one day, i normally would shave bloodworms with a razor and feed them it out of desperation. But its not recommended its just all i had

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marq said:

Oh, I see. I'll try to keep a constant brine culture then. Hopefully I don't run out. I only have about 20 something eggs anyways. Thank you!

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Good luck Its very tedious, as long as you dont get lazy and say "ill do it later" you should have no problem.
Mine are almost all about 1" and I am having troubles keeping the food in supply now. So I had no choice but to feed them brine shrimp for one feeding and bloodworms for the second feeding everyday >.< It is a lot easier to chop bloodworms up first thing in the morning though then rinse bbs.

Hold the brine shrimp hatching until the axxies start hatching, They don't usually feed for a day or two after hatching so starting when the first one emerges gives 2 days for a nice harvest.

I'm using 2 x 2litre bottle setup, 500ml tap water, 2 and half teaspoons of cooking salt and a quarter of a spoon of eggs. I harvest enough for 2 days from 1 culture to feed 21 hungry 10 day olds. If you have good eggs, 1/4 teaspoon is more than enough.

My small fish love me for the leftovers too.

spyder said:

Hold the brine shrimp hatching until the axxies start hatching, They don't usually feed for a day or two after hatching so starting when the first one emerges gives 2 days for a nice harvest.

I'm using 2 x 2litre bottle setup, 500ml tap water, 2 and half teaspoons of cooking salt and a quarter of a spoon of eggs. I harvest enough for 2 days from 1 culture to feed 21 hungry 10 day olds. If you have good eggs, 1/4 teaspoon is more than enough.

My small fish love me for the leftovers too.

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How do you keep your alive for two days? I keep them in the brine solution and shove them in the fridge but normally get about 36hours before they start to die.
Its not terrible important now because im feeding 31 19day olds and i can barely harvest enough for one day lmao but maybe explain for people who have eggs/hatchlings because if i could of gotten two days it would of been great! So much less work.

Just a quick question about bbs, where is a good place to purchase them and what is a good prive for bbs eggs? I have been running batch after batch (every 24 hrs) and not 1 has hatched yet I still have time before the babies arrive but I'm thinking I have bad eggs??

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Brine Shrimp Direct, decapsulated eggs. They're excellent!

jburns2422 said:

Just a quick question about bbs, where is a good place to purchase them and what is a good prive for bbs eggs? I have been running batch after batch (every 24 hrs) and not 1 has hatched yet I still have time before the babies arrive but I'm thinking I have bad eggs??

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I just bought sallys bbs eggs from the petstore. Getting a pretty good hatch rate. But definately not the best i just didnt have time to order eggs online

Have you read the sticky thread on how to setup a bbs hatchery? Maybe explain what procedure you are using.

After 24hours are you throwing it all out?
I got the best advice and it really saved a lot of heartahe. I harvest every 24hours, and them the remaining brine solution i keep it. I add more water and salt mixture and add a bit more eggs. Every 2weeks i need to rinse it out because it gets gross and i find those are the times i dont have any hatch for at least 36hours. Sometimes it takes longer to hatch then 24hours so not rinsing your bottle out everyday gives those eggs another 24hours to hatch. Does that make sense?
Are you using aeration, salt, heat and light? Its really all they need. Also when you go to harvest do you leave the solution to settle for 5-10min? Unhatched eggs sink, hatched eggs float and the brine shrimp linger in between(more so closer to the bottom) i need to shone a flashlight into the pop bottle to see what i have for a harvest because it is hard to see sometimes. Then i just use a turkey baster and suck the up.

I have gotten good success with using a 2l pop bottle, cut the top pff and just flipped it upside down into the other half of the pop bottle(like afunnel) and put a coffee filter in the funnel bottle contraption. The sticky thread says use a cup with a coffee filter and it was a disaster! Haha so i came up with this for harvesting.

Kaysie said:

Brine Shrimp Direct, decapsulated eggs. They're excellent!

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make sure you buy the hatching ones, some are non hatching and used as fish food.

Well I just bought the wrong ones! Can the non hatching one still be fed to newborn axies?

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Well I just bought the nonhatching ones! Oops! can I still use the nonhatching to feed newborn axies?

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jburns2422 said:

Well I just bought the nonhatching ones! Oops! can I still use the nonhatching to feed newborn axies?

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Unfurtunately not. Did you order them? Maybe contact them and tell them

Call them if they haven't shipped yet. Their customer service is fantastic.

I called earlier and they are going to cancel the order! Thanks all for the help!!

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