Question: Axoltol babies

Hi All,

I've recently adopted axoltol eggs, they are now approx 2 1/2 weeks old. their approx 1.7mm. They are eating frozen blood worms and protein for fry food which they seem to like. I've been told by people that they should have legs now...i'm not sure if i'm blind or if their to small to see but i'm not sure if they have them just yet, is this normal? i had approx 100 to start with and prob have lost approx 25-30 max since reciving the eggs. in the last week a few have died off is that normal, and some like to swim upside down, when i poke them they swim off...are they dying? is there anything i can do to help them out. what water ph do they like im getting various answers. thanks for listening guys.

Hi Kylie,

I think the single most torturous thing about raising larvae is waiting for those first legs to appear!

Most likely your larvae already have legs and you just can't see them. They kind of blend in well with the gills.

In any case, there are a lot of things that could be causing deaths in your larvae. My first thought would be (what my problem was) that they are starving. They do best with live food when they are really young. Floating upside down would make me think they might have an air bubble in their tummies, which comes from not eating enough or from going too long between feedings.

Although recently I have been reading a lot from people who are indeed managing to raise larvae on dead food, mine had all four legs and were a good 10 cm long before they started eating anything but live food.

This article has information on microfoods for larvae:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/microfoods.shtml

Good luck,

-Eva

I agree with Eva. I think your animals are probably not eating the food you are providing, and are starving to death. I've only read two instances where larvae will accept non-living food, and even then, the food was still moving in swirling water, or dropping through the water column.

Hey,

thanks for replying back. I'll start culturing some more live food, some are eating the blood worms. thanks you for your help its much appreciated.