Re: eggsplosion
well, the last bunch i had didn't make it because the food source i thought i had ran out faster than it could replenish itself, and then i had to move, who thought such small larvae could completely wipe out an entire population of daphnea.
what survived that didn't survive the move, I don't know how the ones I released in someones water garden fared, i assume the fish probably ate most of them.
but now that I've moved I have the oxbow next door and stable water conditions available.
so this time around I expect to succeed in raising a few.
I need to re-seal my 30gal, then I'm going to set that up with filter and bubbler along with a few buckets of milfoil and other local pond plants (noticeable predators removed) once they reach the 4-leg stage.
I have no problem hatching them, or feeding them, And I'm basically doing the same thing I know someone else did, and it worked for them easily.
So I'm being optimistic.
If I get the hang of this i might even be able to supplement my income by supplying to pet suppliers in my province. But frankly, what I really want is to have a colony of axies in a great big outdoor water feature. all females, of all different color types. Ill keep my males separate to control breeding.
I thought maybe if i had a good supply, I could use them to barter for equipment at local water-garden suppliers, I'm sure they would make welcome additions to peoples ponds.
I still haven't been able to acquire leucitstics or albinos, but one step at a time.
now, a more serious consideration I have is feral axolotls, see, here in BC we have Ambystoma mavortium var. melanostictum. and they are redlisted. I frequently encounter paedomorphs in remote protected pools. The odds of axolotls finding there way INTO any of these pools and breeding with native salamanders is low, as pools near human dwellings are already infested with game fish.
Still, If someone chose to take a bucket of axolotls, and dump them in say, mahoney lake (where the unique geologic conditions prevent fish from surviving but allows salamanders to thrive)
then the axolotls would likely breed into the native tiger salamander population.
You often see red eared turtles in duck ponds so you know people dump unwanted pets. but you never see them in remote ponds, just roadside ponds and in parks, heck, i have them in my oxbow.
even the oxbow should be considered as a potential infestation spot. there are no tiger salamanders in it (at least that I'm aware of) because it was never a habitat for them, it was once a river with salmon, only cut off a few decades ago by the construction of the channel. (which is technically a "canal") In this way it mirrors the conditions of the remnants of lake xochimilco, the last standing natural habitat of axolotls (plus winter freeze)
TECHNICALLY if a population began there, it would be cut-off from tiger salamander populations as the water is trapped and and morphed migration would encounter game-fish infested waters before it could reach a viable tiger habitat. Being the only standing water IN town, it's probably the only body of concern for people dumping pets (and some people do, its inevitable) luckily, only lazy people dump pets, and lazy people are probably going to favor Okanagan, yellow, Vaseaux or Skaha lake, and thats that.... fish food. their life will end in minutes. theres huge carp, bass, salmon, and even ling cod. Ive snorkeled in it and the numbers of fish are multitudinous. dense, swirling schools of HUGE fish right beyond the drop off.
I guess what it all comes down to is, has anyone ever heard of axolotls infesting local waters? I know tiger sals do it, and I don't want to contribute to a problem (although nobody would probably notice if some axie genetics got mixed in)
heres an interesting ecology note. Yellow lake USED to be a thriving Tiger Salamander population, baby-boomers remember wading in it as kids and scattering schools of neotenic salamanders.
It, (like the now protected mahoney lake
http://www.oliverchamber.bc.ca/to_do/naturalist/mahoney_lake/mahoney_lake.htm ) is naturally a meromictic lake, meaning a lake with only partial circulation. Yellow lake is on a main road, and some tourist bureau had the bright idea to build a pumping station that effectively circulates the entire lake and applies oxygen. The theory was this would make it suitable for trout, which, although predators, would not necessarily wipe out tiger salamanders....
Unfortunately some bozo (as they do) decided they wanted to fish for bass in yellow lake, and over time the lake became infested with bass and perch.
This problem could be fixed if they would just turn off the pump for a few years and re-introduce the salamanders. But that would kill off the trout... and baby-boomers would complain of the loss of their favorite fishing hole.
Let me recap, the tiger salamander is a red-listed species in BC, under direct threat from habitat destruction. And the conservation authority is primarily concerned with maintaining the most viable and perfect habitat as a FISHING HOLE!
I have spoken my mind to them on a number of occasions. and they know. and they say nothing can be done because the oldies like their fishing hole. and they have all the power. This is the riding of Stockwell Day here. we HAVE conservation officers and land conservatories, but never at the expense of development and tourism. so whats the freaking POINT?
Anyway, rant over.
I think I'm okay making axolotls available as pets. It's a hobby that others can appreciate too. I don't like the idea that people will buy them on impulse, but thats the hazard of being a critically endangered animal in an artificial world. Their survival as a species is wholly Dependant upon the pet and research trades, the mortality and morbidity rate is probably quite comparable to IDEAL wild conditions, and thats gone now. Considering the negatives of what I'm doing, I'm going ahead.
I was thinking maybe, if i had a good breeding program going, I could petition the provincial and local conservation authorities to maybe finance a tiger salamander breeding program for re establishing populations in newly protected areas that no longer face the factors that wiped out populations in the first place. And I could run the thing
Then I could really do something to help. I could talk at schools, etc. Man, would I love to feel like I'm doing something positive.
people around here don't seem to care.
