Hatchling gills? (or not?)

Over night to day 17 after spawning, we have free swimmers! The triplets appear to be the first to succeed, & it appears to the naked eye that 2 have good gills, & one doesn't. This one made itself known by swimming heartily to the surface for a gulp of air? - Minute creature (obviously) making such an effort - could it have lungs at this stage? The water is about 2.5 inches deep. Anyone observed similar?

I am expecting 14 or so leucistic hatchlings (thank you Diana), and the one pupil who has appeared to check progress every morning so far isn't here because of the snow closure of the school!

At this point, is there anything I should be especially careful about - any tips & hints for rearing? I have, obviously, John's advice to hand.

Heather (excited!)

Hi Heather,

They should all have gills at hatching. Lungs begin to develop around the same time as the hind legs. If a hatchling seems to have no gills, it may be a deformation.

In my opinion, the most important thing is food.

Excited for your hatchlings, do keep us posted!

-Eva

Update:

The hatchlings are now 3.5 weeks of age - nine alive & doing really well (the one with the bent-under tail died, sadly). Five are distinctly larger than the others, & yesterday I split them into 2 small tanks, side by side. A turkey baster easily (& gently) sucked up the 4 smaller ones for transfer. I have put brown cardboard under the tanks, & cut-out bits of box as shading on the window side, & put elodea & other ferny plants in as cover.

They eat just as much daphnia as I can supply! Also in with the daphnia are tiny black, fast moving 'dots' - anyone any idea what these creatures are? They are eaten well, & their size is ideal for the tiniest mouths. They move very fast for their size.

Many girls at the school are fascinated by these babies, & hopefully better educated for it! I'm sure it's not entirely my 'fault', but many more girls are electing to take Biology on to A-level next year than last! The department is much more 'alive' than it used to be........If I increase my workload much more I will have to live on site!!

Heather

Congratulations on your babies no idea what the black things are though

If you want to identify the black dots have a look at them with the microscope you have!

See if they look like ostracods, sometimes called mussel shrimps, there are some pictures on the tank invaders section of caudata culture. There are many species (I seem to remember reading somwhere 400 currently and a few thousand fossil species).

The ones in my tank are harmless to all but the smallest larvae (although they clustered on the surface of a dead one so I'm a bit suspicious they could be like cyclops in some circumstances, prey that can eat the predator!) but they are not very good food on their own for newly hatched larvae. I think they closed their shells and passed through undigested.

oceanblue said:

If you want to identify the black dots have a look at them with the microscope you have!

See if they look like ostracods, sometimes called mussel shrimps, there are some pictures on the tank invaders section of caudata culture.

Click to expand...

Help please - I can't find the tank invaders section.........the creatures are fascinating under the microscope - rather like a hazel nut shape, that opens like a bi-valve, releasing miriad (maybe six?!) legs, & off it scampers, at speed - rather like a crab (which would, of course, have eight)......

Thanks for the idea,

Heather

ps - done google search images - they ARE ostracods - fascinating

Heather at HMSG said:

Help please - I can't find the tank invaders section.........the creatures are fascinating under the microscope - rather like a hazel nut shape, that opens like a bi-valve, releasing miriad (maybe six?!) legs, & off it scampers, at speed - rather like a crab (which would, of course, have eight)......

Click to expand...

Hi Heather,

The 'tank invaders' article: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Tank_critters.shtml.

The articles are located in the 'Caudata Culture' pages linked at the top of the forum page.