Question: Newish to axolotls, few questions

I saw one of these guys for sale at my LFS and didnt think much about it, later in my TropicalFishHobbyist magazine I saw they were cold water so I looked more into them. I did alot of research before getting mine but I still have a few questions the breeder I bought them from hasn't answered back about:

I picked them up Jan 7th, they were incredibly tiny and just moving off of Brine Shrimp and started on Blood Worms. I got 5 because I wanted to watch them grow, and if one died it would be unfortunate but I would have more.

For the past two months they've been living in a small plastic container I brought them home in, a few weeks ago I emailed the breeder about separating them because of size differences and he said they were fine. Heres a picture of the container and my golden albinos, the smallest one in the top left corner unfortunately did die a few days ago, he ate just fine before going to bed but was gone in the morning



I do have a feeling I should start separating them and try to get the smallest one to grow a little faster. Two of my guys are two inches long, the 3rd is a little smaller and the 4th I would say is just above an inch and still working on his back leg development. Is two inches an ok size for 2-3 month old babies? I've been doing 100% daily waterchanges and was wondering when I would be able to move them into a 10 gallon I have, how much water to put in the tank since they still only eat whats infront of them.

They're tank as adults will be a 40g breeder so 36x18x16 mainly for the width and how little I see these guys as adults swim around the tank.

Their diet has been blood worms daily, I never did get my brine shrimp hatchery to work but I'm going to try again when I'm done work this weekend. They get about half a cube a feeding, 1-2 times a day. Would more feedings help speed up their growth?

Thanks for any info you can give, they arent too common around here I had go to far out of town to get mine so getting dependable knowledge is tricky

I would separate the smaller ones. Bigger axolotls might nip at them.

Do you think they're an ok size for around 3 months old though? I was worried they might be a little small

I have to say they are a very nice gold colour. I hope they live & grow up healthy & strong xx

Where in Canada are you? If you are in the GTA private message me i can give you people to call for daphnia and black worms. Black worms are better for axolotls they will grow faster and they are live. I can get you 1 pound for $40 which will last you alot longer then $40 worth of blood worms. Also yes i would agree with separating them. Give them also a bigger container because other than having a healthy diet for them to grow its also important that they have the space to grow.

mikeg said:

Where in Canada are you? If you are in the GTA private message me i can give you people to call for daphnia and black worms. Black worms are better for axolotls they will grow faster and they are live. I can get you 1 pound for $40 which will last you alot longer then $40 worth of blood worms. Also yes i would agree with separating them. Give them also a bigger container because other than having a healthy diet for them to grow its also important that they have the space to grow.

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I'm about 2ish hours north of the GTA, but I have been looking for a Daphnia culture since january and failed everywhere I looked. I might be tempted for this, I'll need to research black worms though but I could always feed either cultures to my fish as well

Phantomlink said:

I'm about 2ish hours north of the GTA, but I have been looking for a Daphnia culture since january and failed everywhere I looked. I might be tempted for this, I'll need to research black worms though but I could always feed either cultures to my fish as well

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I know the daphnia guy I know ships in the spring so around now, I remember him telling me he would ship to maple so I wouldn't have to drive to Mississauga. I found that storing the black worms in he fridge is easier than breeding them, the culture takes a lot of work the first week such as washing them and picking out the dead ones with is critical because if not done right your culture will spoil and smell like crazy! But they can be stored in the fridge for months without food.

mikeg said:

I know the daphnia guy I know ships in the spring so around now, I remember him telling me he would ship to maple so I wouldn't have to drive to Mississauga. I found that storing the black worms in he fridge is easier than breeding them, the culture takes a lot of work the first week such as washing them and picking out the dead ones with is critical because if not done right your culture will spoil and smell like crazy! But they can be stored in the fridge for months without food.

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It might make it easier for a short drive, I tend to get the short end of the stick when things get shipped to me, they come into my apartment building and throw the tag in my mailbox they dont even attempt to knock on my door. I did do a little blackworm reading when I got home this morning and it does seem a little hard to start off. Daphnia seems easy enough as long as the culture doesnt crash.

How much do they charge for how large of a culture?