Breeding Experiment

[joeyasaurusrex]

Hello all,
I was wondering if it would be a plausible idea to try an experiment, sort of a "survival of the fittest" type of thing... where one would attempt to breed a strain of axolotls who do not require live food as hatchlings.

It seems like plenty of people have been able to breed cool colors and control things with axolotl genetics,

My theory is that if a couple of hatchlings could survive feeding something like tubifex worms or baby brine shrimp which is not living, could one then use those survivors to establish a breeding colony with the sole intent of breeding toward establishing a higher percentages of survivors after several generations?

If something like this were possible I think it would make raising the hatchlings so much less trouble.

Let me know what you guys think... remember this is entirely hypothetical.

 

[esn]

I think some members do that by just leaving the eggs in with the parents and not bothering with them. Culling is a common practice, since such high birth rates means that in the wild most would not survive anyway.

Perfectly logical, plausible, and does allow for the healthier animals to naturally outlive their siblings. I'd imagine they'd at least need a small daphnia culture or tank invaders to keep them going for a little bit, at least,

 

[Chugga]

When it comes to any sort of experiment , if the test subject is not myself then I ask myself whether this would likely pass an ethics committee. Ethics being different to morals - I suspect (I could be wrong of course) that this particular experiment wouldnt make the cut.

 

[xxianxx]

People try this style of raising axolotls on a regular basis , they then post "why did all my larvae die?" in the appropriate section of this site. Live food is a basic requirement for axolotl larvae, as is water and not putting bleach in the tank, however some people have had success with egg yolk, crushed pellets etc but it is not recomended and is a hard way of raising axolotls with a the potential of a high mortality rate.

 

[AxieMama]

I raised over 130 hatchlings on drops of liquid fry food until they were big enough for chopped live blackworm. Although technically would fry starter be classed as live food??.