Question: Advice/ information for a new axolotl breeder

[Trea]

I have two females and one male that are sexuaully mature and would like them to breed but before i do I want to make sure I know as much as possible before I try breeding them. The problem is I feel like I have done a load of research and am still clueless about but he hole thing, so I wanted to know if there is any tips or information an experienced breeder would know from actually going through the process of breeding axolotls ?

 

[Trea]

I recently read that if you places male and a female within the same tank this could induce mating behaviour . I normally have males and females separated so I thought there was a good chance this could work for me. I tried it and was surprised that with in 10-15 minutes they started to do the axolotl breeding dance ( am not sure of the scientific name ) but nothing else happened after that no spem , no eggs, nothing ... . has anyone else had luck with this ?

 

[keiko]

I am currently raising my first batch of larvae. I've found axolotl.org very helpful.

 

[Boomsloth]

The males will do their dance but the female needs to be receptive and ready to lay her eggs. A good diet and cold water will help her be more receptive and ready. A female holding eggs looks much wider than a male. My best advice is to add some type of decoration or plant that can be easily removed so they will lay most eggs on that and not on the glass. What caused my girls to start laying was a larger water change followed by a decrease in temp by about 5 degrees Celsius. Once the males lay their spermatophores the female will take them in and could take a day or more to actually start laying the eggs.

Keep in mind that it will be a lot of eggs and you should really make sure you have baby brine shrimp ready every day and the containers for the babies as well as homes for them

 

[auntiejude]

Before you start breeding you need to figure out what you're going to do with the excess eggs and babies. Axies lay hundreds of eggs at a time, you need to figure out how many you're going to raise.

 

[auntiejude]

Depends what you're aiming for. If you have LFSs lined up to take some juvies then ask them how many they want. If you just want the experience the keep about 10-20 eggs, advertise the babies when they are grown if you're not keeping them.

If you advertise eggs for sale as soon as they are laid you can post them in the first week. Any that are unsold and you're not keeping you need to freeze by day 5 to prevent development.

 

[auntiejude]

Yes, freezing kills the embryo.It needs to be done before thier nervous system develops so that they don't feel pain - at about 5 days.

 

[Trea]

The males will do their dance but the female needs to be receptive and ready to lay her eggs. A good diet and cold water will help her be more receptive and ready. A female holding eggs looks much wider than a male. My best advice is to add some type of decoration or plant that can be easily removed so they will lay most eggs on that and not on the glass. What caused my girls to start laying was a larger water change followed by a decrease in temp by about 5 degrees Celsius. Once the males lay their spermatophores the female will take them in and could take a day or more to actually start laying the eggs.

Keep in mind that it will be a lot of eggs and you should really make sure you have baby brine shrimp ready every day and the containers for the babies as well as homes for them

Thanks for the advice on the temperature, will definitely try that next time I try introducing them. I do have a a few live plants in their tanks which they tend to use to hide, i was hopping they would use to lay their eggs.

 

[Trea]

I am currently raising my first batch of larvae. I've found axolotl.org very helpful.

I did check this website out ages ago when I first heard about axolotls . I purshased my first thee axolotls from this website , 3 leucistic females