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Feeding seed shrimp (ostracoda) to baby axolotls?

Ramennewtlsss

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Im currently raising a clutch of about 250 axolotl larvae, which are all around an inch long. this is my first experience in raising and caring for axolotl larvae.

I bought bbs, dried daphnia eggs (which never hatched... ive heard dried daphnia eggs dont work), microworms, and ramshorn snails which were intended to clean the axolotl tanks/containers (ive never had experience with snails).
the daphnia and snails turned out unsuccessful, but in the tank that had the snails in it, along with some daphnia eggs my dad decided to throw in, i discovered little white crustaceans called seed shrimp, or ostracoda. They're in the same family as daphnia, which is great food for axolotl larvae.

so im wondering if anybody has had experience in feeding seed shrimp to their axolotl larvae, or know anything about them that'd be useful in deciding if its a good idea! as far as i know though, seed shrimp have a shell... but im not sure if it's hard enough to possibly cause digestive problems or to be undigestible. ive fed a few to some of my axolotl larvae and there were no problems, but im unsure if it just went right through them (some seed shrimp were removed during a water change and they didnt seem active, so they could've been eaten but weren't able to be digested so they ended up dying). I also know the axolotls didn't spit them out.

raising the seed shrimp is extremely easy though! i put about 15 in a small glass jar with water and an algae disc (for fish) and they've doubled in a matter of 2 days. Also, they are completely harmless as they are filter feeders so they dont attack organisms.

im excited to learn more about this because ive been unsuccessful in raising daphnia so far and my axies just laid another batch of eggs! i appreciate all feedback, thanks! :tongue:
 

caleb

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dried daphnia eggs (which never hatched... ive heard dried daphnia eggs dont work)

They can be erratic. There was a short thread on the subject last year:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...09578-buying-daphnia-eggs-online-abd-dry.html

little white crustaceans called seed shrimp, or ostracoda

The ones in my tanks are very dark brown, rather than white, but I've used them to feed small newt larvae without any problems.

Some fishkeepers don't like them, I'm not sure why- they don't seem to do any harm.
 

Ramennewtlsss

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thanks for the thread :happy: i think i'll try buying live daphnia next time

The ones in my tanks are very dark brown, rather than white, but I've used them to feed small newt larvae without any problems.

Some fishkeepers don't like them, I'm not sure why- they don't seem to do any harm.

There are tons and tons of species of ostracods, some of which are predators, herbivores, filter-feeders, and some are scavengers. I've heard of people's fish being killed by predatory ostracods, which group together to take down bigger animals ):
 

caleb

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some of which are predators

I didn't know that, I'll have to investigate.

I've heard of people's fish being killed by predatory ostracods, which group together to take down bigger animals ):

Is this really true? Is it not more likely that they gather to feed on a fish that's already dead? The ones I see can barely swim in a straight line- it's hard to believe they could gang up on an active fish.
 
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