Question: Help please! A few unanswered questions

Hello, I have had axolotls for years but two of mine suddenly decided to have a clutch!

Its my first time with eggs/raising and although I feel confident I have a few questions I can't find the answers to online! Please help!!!

1. What should I keep the eggs in just before and after hatching? (Currently have in large tank 3ft x 2ft still attached to plants).
2. When feeding brine shrimp where do I put the babies? In a separate container to feed then back into the tank or feed in the tank then try to change all the water??
3. How best to move babies? Net, Turkey baster, Jug??
4. Do they need any special lighting???

Got my tupperware containers, the brine shrimp to hatch, the bubble stones and pumps, nets, pippets, water balancers and a large tank. Any suggestions?

I really want my babies to do well! Think they are a few days from hatching and need to know whether to move them now or leave it till after they have hatched? Any help will be most
gratefully received!!!

Thanks Sabrina x

This is going to be the fastest reply ever (I just so happened to be browsing when your post appeared). From my own experience, and what I have read from a few years on the forum this is how most people tend to raise axolotl larvae, and other larvae:

- keep the eggs in either a Tupperware, or other small container in fairly shallow water. Water changes shouldn't be necessary at this point, though you may change a little of the water now and then while the eggs are developing. Some, like myself, keep them in a small tank with a gentle air stone providing good oxygen and water flow over the eggs, but not bumping them about. This is optional though.
- once 3 days old after hatching, they will be wanting to feed. This is the point where I personally transfer them to Chinese take-away tubs or similar, in groups of 5-10 depending on the species. Do this for all the hatching larvae. Transfer is best with a turkey baster, it is more precise and, if you are gentle, can be safer than a net.
- feed with bbs or other foods (microworm, grindal worm, etc) daily. About an hour after feeding transfer each larvae in the tub into a new and clean take-away tub (which is where it is helpful to have a large collection of spare tubs, and a bucket of ready-dechlorinated water to hand at all times). So for each tub of axolotl larvae, have a second tub on standby. After removing the larvae, clean out the tub and its dead bbs gently and prepare for the next day! This may sound like it takes a while, but once you become practiced at turkey-basting larvae this will only take ten minutes or so. The bbs dies quickly and fouls the water, hence this process of full water change.
- as the larvae grow (and start to grow front legs) it may be necessary to thin out their numbers to only 1 or 2 per tub, especially if you notice nipping at each other. It will also be at this point that you will not be able to use a turkey baster as the larvae will bee too large. You can now use a small net, or alternatively a cheap plastic soup ladle or similar to scoop out the larvae.
- when they are large enough to take live daphnia, white worm or bloodworm it will not be necessary to change the water every day as the food will remain alive in the tubs for quite a while, removing the need for daily water changing. Changing water between 3 and 7 days depending on how big the tubs are will be sufficient.
- at this point you could also put the larger larvae (1.5 to 2 inches) into a small aquarium and providing you keep them well fed, cannibalism should be minimal. From now on, try switching to frozen bloodworm, small pellets or similar non-live foods. This will see them through until they are large enough to take worms and larger pellets.
- I would suggest starting to rehome once they start growing their back legs. At 2 to 3 inches these axolotls will be unlikely to die as many larvae do in the first months of life.

As previously mentioned, do not be surprised if you lose quite a few larvae, this is simply a result of some larvae simply not being healthy enough to survive, through no lack of care on your part. It is part of nature. Make sure you remove eggs which have gone milky and fuzzy, and any dead larvae, as soon as you spot them.

No lighting necessary.

Hope this helps!

Wow!!! Thank you so much. Very informative and made it clear for me! Very glad to have the correct answer to back up the existing knowledge! I will go out and buy mega Tupperware containers! Very much appreciated!

Just as I was cleaning the dead shells out I had my first hatchling!!! Yay!! Off I go to stock up on plastic! Thanks so much!! X :-D