Eggs found yesterday

I woke up yesterday morning and my axolotl had laid eggs all over the tank, they're all stuck to indian almond leaves and stones so I was able to move them from the tank to a plastic container. I'm unsure what to do next really, some are black, some are white, some are half and half. I have left them in the container overnight.

I'm concerned that some of the eggs were laid on pellet food which means they've got chunks of food stuck to them that I've tried to remove without disturbing the egg, surely bacteria will grow on that and affect the babies? - Assuming they are fertilised? I am under the impression here that she wouldn't have likely laid her eggs unless my other axolotl had done his part first, right?

Its a day since I found them in the tank and they're not all that different - which images online seem to suggest is normal, they'll get bigger in the next day or so and in a few days start looking like tiny axolotl larvae, but is there a quicker way to know, and anything I should be doing now beyond just leaving them be?

I found an image of a furry fungus infected egg on the internet that someone else has said sums up a dead unfertilised egg, so do I just leave them all and then pluck out the 'dead' ones when it shows? Or do I need to be much more active in whipping out the dirty/furry ones. Not all have food on them, just any that were laid in the little corner where I'd dropped pellets in before I went to bed, I usually pellet the tank then clean out the remains the next day.

Just keep the eggs in a cool place, in clean water, and over the next few days or so, pick out any eggs which have turned gray, fuzzy, or haven't shown development. Good luck! You will now have no spare time for anything else in the next 6 months! Lol

When you are doing water changes hopefully any food particles will be washed away then.
Sometimes they don't do anything right way, don't npbe too hasty removing eggs, as I noticed some that looked furry were actually not she looked at with a magnifier, they were just a bit cloudy but hatched out fine.

Good luck.

Liz Roome said:

When you are doing water changes hopefully any food particles will be washed away then.
Sometimes they don't do anything right way, don't npbe too hasty removing eggs, as I noticed some that looked furry were actually not she looked at with a magnifier, they were just a bit cloudy but hatched out fine.

Good luck.

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Noooo I took our 2 slightly cloudy ones earlier, now I feel horrified. Will wait and let things develop then, as I thought I needed to be quick to remove any bad mojo.

Is it OK to have almond leaves in there? They kind of laid the eggs on them so the reality is I'm stuck like that, but if it could cause problems I can try to salvage some. I'm going to assume it would probably be beneficial as it will help keep fungus etc at bay.

Eggs are an enclosed environment - not much you can do in terms of environment will affect them other than temperature, so food and almond leaves will make no difference. It will make a difference to the babies though, so you'll need to move them out as soon as they hatch.

How many eggs do you have? If you take a photo of the tub they are in and count from there it's a lot easier. If you've got hundreds they will be fertilised, if you've got a dozen they may not be.

What type is your female? Albinos and coppers lay white eggs, all others lay brown/black but the eggs are often pale on one side (the yolk).

You need to decide what you're going to do - you won't be able to raise all of them, so decide how many you are keeping, sell some if you want to, and freeze the rest before Wednesday. I suggest keeping 20 eggs, if you're selling the eggs do it this week, as they'll hatch in 11-14 days in this warm weather.

Read up on raising babies, get some brineshrimp eggs and see how long they take to hatch for you (tutorial in the stickies), and be prepares with some plastic tubs for the hatchlings.

Good luck!

auntiejude said:

Eggs are an enclosed environment - not much you can do in terms of environment will affect them other than temperature, so food and almond leaves will make no difference. It will make a difference to the babies though, so you'll need to move them out as soon as they hatch.

How many eggs do you have? If you take a photo of the tub they are in and count from there it's a lot easier. If you've got hundreds they will be fertilised, if you've got a dozen they may not be.

What type is your female? Albinos and coppers lay white eggs, all others lay brown/black but the eggs are often pale on one side (the yolk).

You need to decide what you're going to do - you won't be able to raise all of them, so decide how many you are keeping, sell some if you want to, and freeze the rest before Wednesday. I suggest keeping 20 eggs, if you're selling the eggs do it this week, as they'll hatch in 11-14 days in this warm weather.

Read up on raising babies, get some brineshrimp eggs and see how long they take to hatch for you (tutorial in the stickies), and be prepares with some plastic tubs for the hatchlings.

Good luck!

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Ok I was going to conservatively say 50ish but having just counted, it is about 100 in all. It really didn't seem like that many when we moved them across! The way it has happened, we have 3 leaves with eggs on them, I can move the leaves into 3 different containers and have 3 different batches if need be early on. Then break it down further when the time comes? Is anywhere likely to want a batch of eggs if we offer them? I guess I could ring around tomorrow and see.

rb6k said:

Ok I was going to conservatively say 50ish but having just counted, it is about 100 in all. It really didn't seem like that many when we moved them across! The way it has happened, we have 3 leaves with eggs on them, I can move the leaves into 3 different containers and have 3 different batches if need be early on. Then break it down further when the time comes? Is anywhere likely to want a batch of eggs if we offer them? I guess I could ring around tomorrow and see.

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They started off as balls with black bits in the middle, now they're balls with black bits in the middle but half of the black bit has gone white on the majority of them.

I have a white and a wild type.

You can advertise your eggs here, on eBay, Preloved, Facebook etc, but you need a cut off for posting of Friday.

Eggs you don't sell or aren't going to raise need to be frozen by Tuesday, after that it is considered cruel to freeze them as they have developed pain receptors.

I kept a few of them and one week on they haven't changed. Not even slightly. I get the impression it was a huge batch of infertile eggs as none have changed. I gave some to a friend and again no changes. Some just look like black round balls some got a bit bigger but they're all just round. Some have gone slightly cloudy in a week but not much.

Any advice? I had an air stone in with them. Regularly added and replaced the water. I don't want to dispose of live babies. Will try and post a picture if I can.

By a week you should be seeing crescent shapes in the eggs - it's possible in this weather that they got too warm, or as you say they were never fertile in the first place.

Keep them another week and see if any develop, if not you can put it down to experience and wait for the next batch!

I have attached 3 pics, will keep them a week as you say - the room they're in hasn't been all that warm though to be fair, we've had rain here most of the week.

They were laid on to almond leaves which some research online suggested was fine or even beneficial to eggs as it would keep fungus at bay. I am wondering whether they are infertile eggs that just haven't been attacked by fungus because the leaves are keeping them 'clean' but then because they're not fertile they're just laying dormant. There's a stray egg in my tank that I've been keeping there because it too is just there, not going bad, not changing, just clinging to the glass, I figured if it began to change I could move it or partition it off, but as I say, nothing is happening which is just bizarre.