Axolotl fry help!!!!

[Honda_Aiko22]

Hello everyone I’ve had these guys for about a month they hatched Feb 24 2025 I just wanted to know what type of morphs I have they mostly look like wild type and one clear looking one I’m new to the scene and have always wanted to raise Axolotl they are feeding on bbs 2 times a day and the big ones are separate from small ones anything else you guys can let me know? They are in a food storage bowl for easy daily water changes but how long do I keep until they can be moved into a bigger 10 gal tank for them to have more space? And can I keep a male and female together in a 75 gallon planning on rehoming the other few to my pet shop where they will find them great homes thanks everyone I am new to this and learning please no hate!!!

 

[xxianxx]

Ones with the solid black eyes are melanoid the light one is an albino/golden albino or possibly a melanoid albino. 25% of young from a homogenous melanoid pair will be melanoid albino, the number of melanoids you have would probably mean its a mel albino, bit hard to tell morphs with young axolotls, be easier to tell when its bigger. Dont be in a rush to increase water volume, your still using baby brine shrimp, if you increase water volume your diluting the food supply. Poor water quality is what you need to prevent, lower water vols are fine as long as your doing daily changes. Wait until their back legs show and they can eat larger frozen foods like bloodworm before dropping them into a ten gall tank.

 

[JM29]

I prefer feed my young axolotls with daphnias.
As freshwater animals, daphnias stay alive until they are eaten.
Too big daphnias are hardly eaten but they give birth to baby daphnias.
Moreover, daphnias tend to improve water quality since they eat filtering the water.
I give a reasonable amount of daphnias every other day and it works well.

I've had too many problems with bbs (to much, not enough,...)

 

[linzg82]

The other posters answered most of your questions. As for keeping a female and male together in a 75 gallon—-NO, you cannot.

Reason why you cannot? You’re going to have breeding if you have a male and female together in a 75 gallon. It sounds like you have eggs from the same clutch from someone. Allowing sibling female and male axolotls to breed is very irresponsible. Any babies resulting would be SUPER DUPER inbred. I’ll explain:

Any two random axolotls from anywhere in the world breeding is already an “inbreeding coefficient” of around 34%. This is shared genetics closer than 2 human siblings breeding. Why? Because the entire world’s captive population descends from 8 original axolotls. That’s it. There’s been a single albino tiger salamander’s genes added (she’s the reason we have albino and leucistic axolotls and she is also the reason that very rarely an axolotl will morph) and that’s it. That’s the reason why it’s so important to track all axolotl breeding pairings and why it’s so important to cull all accidental egg clutches.

Some people argue that it will be fine but it honestly won’t. I see pet axolotls with severe deformities regularly in my work. I also see “healthy” axolotls die way too young because they’ve got genetic issues because they are so very inbred. Severe inbreeding in axolotls causes internal issues that cannot always be seen.

I just helped a lady whose little guy passed at 3 years old. She couldn’t figure out why. All husbandry was great. Turns out that she got him for free when a neighbor’s sibling axolotls had babies. He was an internal mess upon autopsy and it’s all from bad inbred genetics.

If you must keep 2 they need to be the same gender. Axolotls are not social, do not bond and do not form relationships. They’re happiest alone and there is no benefit to cohabitation, only risks.

 

[JM29]

Hi,
Keeping 1 male and 1 female (adults) together in a 75 gallon tank is not at all a problem,
providing they can have a lot of shelters. A densely planted tank is a must in this case.

As for accidental breeding, if you don't want to keep the offspring, you simply have not to collect the eggs.
Anyway, a male and a female constantly kept together will breed only once a year (end of winter).

The main problem if you want to keep 2 youngs is the cannibalistic trend that occur when they are between 1 and 6 inches long. After that, they are far more quiet.

 

[linzg82]

Hi,
Keeping 1 male and 1 female (adults) together in a 75 gallon tank is not at all a problem,
providing they can have a lot of shelters. A densely planted tank is a must in this case.

As for accidental breeding, if you don't want to keep the offspring, you simply have not to collect the eggs.
Anyway, a male and a female constantly kept together will breed only once a year (end of winter).

The main problem if you want to keep 2 youngs is the cannibalistic trend that occur when they are between 1 and 6 inches long. After that, they are far more quiet.

There’s no reason at all to keep a male and female together. They don’t need to mate. It’s very hard on females and takes years of their life.

You’re also wrong on mating times. Captive axolotls can mate any time of year. They don’t follow the cycle of nature. I’ve been working with axolotls for 9 years so I know what I’m talking about.

It’s risky and unnecessary. Also, axolotls will not eat eggs so if they mate, the eggs have to be collected, frozen and thrown away.

I’m over all of the inbreeding and careless husbandry that people are practicing with axolotls. It’s irresponsible and just plain sad. There are way too many myths and misinformation. For example: tea baths. They don’t treat anything at all. They’re soothing but that is it. The mild anti-fungal properties that black tea possesses are for treating candida, which isn’t the fungus axolotls get.

 

[JM29]

You’re also wrong on mating times. Captive axolotls can mate any time of year. They don’t follow the cycle of nature. I’ve been working with axolotls for 9 years so I know what I’m talking about.

Oh, excuse me.
I've only 23 years experience...

 

[linzg82]

Oh, excuse me.
I've only 23 years experience...

If you really had 23 years experience you would understand how inbred axolotls are. You wouldn’t encourage conditions that result in even more inbred axolotls.

Years of experience can be years of misinformation.

There’s not a single benefit to housing axolotls together. Not one. It can be done but no benefit.

 

[xxianxx]

There’s no reason at all to keep a male and female together. They don’t need to mate. It’s very hard on females and takes years of their life.

You’re also wrong on mating times. Captive axolotls can mate any time of year. They don’t follow the cycle of nature. I’ve been working with axolotls for 9 years so I know what I’m talking about.

It’s risky and unnecessary. Also, axolotls will not eat eggs so if they mate, the eggs have to be collected, frozen and thrown away.

I’m over all of the inbreeding and careless husbandry that people are practicing with axolotls. It’s irresponsible and just plain sad. There are way too many myths and misinformation. For example: tea baths. They don’t treat anything at all. They’re soothing but that is it. The mild anti-fungal properties that black tea possesses are for treating candida, which isn’t the fungus axolotls get.

Can you provide evidence that breeding reduces axolotl female life expectancy ? By evidence i dont mean face book axolotl group bs.
Axolotls do follow a natural cycle for breeding if exposed to seasonal changes, if kept in a house with a stable temp they may breed any time of the year with cold water changes. I have older adults in my shed, exposed to a seasonal temp variation from 5-10c in winter, 14-20c in summer, they will generally only breed in late spring or early winter. The young adults kept in my house were breeding three months before the older ones. So yes, axolotls will breed at anytime if not exposed to seasonal temp variations, plus younger adults will breed a lot more than mature adults if given the chance.