Brother and sister breeding

[Alonyamin]

Hi,
I live in Israel and in my country we dont see an Axolotl rare or often in stores or in captivity (the main cause is that its illegal to sale amphibians in my country).
I think im the only one one in my country who have them.
I have 6 Axolotls in my tank(male and females) and of course that i want to breed them but they are all brothers and sisters.
Is it fine to bred them?

And another question by the way,i want to salt bath them do you recomend on some salt that i could buy nearby? (markets,fish store)

 

[Jonjey]

Hi,
I live in Israel and in my country we dont see an Axolotl rare or often in stores or in captivity (the main cause is that its illegal to sale amphibians in my country).
I think im the only one one in my country who have them.
I have 6 Axolotls in my tank(male and females) and of course that i want to breed them but they are all brothers and sisters.
Is it fine to bred them?

And another question by the way,i want to salt bath them do you recomend on some salt that i could buy nearby? (markets,fish store)

I wouldn't. But if you have no other choice then I guess that's up to you.
And why are you giving them salt baths? Are they sick with fungus?

 

[Skudo09]

I would advise against breeding them. Like any other species, inbreeding with siblings can result in mutations and genetic deformities.

There is no need at all to give axolotls salt baths unless treating them for fungus. Are they sick?

 

[sde]

As far as i know, inbreeding isn't that bad in caudatas. If you breed a brother and a sister, i think that is fine, but if you breed the offspring of the brother and sister, than thats not good.
I could be wrong about this but that is what i have gathered from a few different people.

It is not recommended, but if you cant find any "new blood" or genes for them to breed with, i think it would be OK. -Seth

 

[auntiejude]

If selling amphibians is illegal why do you want to breed them?

Personally I wouldn't breed siblings.

 

[Alonyamin]

They are not sick but they biting each other tail and legs so I think maybe I should treat it with salt bath.
And I want to breed them because its a really interesting animal and it's a species in danger and one of the last in my country there's is no others but I hope to find someone who could ship to me so I won't have to breed brother and sister.

 

[rachel1]

If they are biting each other, they are probably too crowded or not getting enough to eat. I would not treat with a salt bath unless you see fungus growing on the wounds. Separate out the injured ones so they can heal in a stress free environment, and keep them in cool clean water, with 0 ammonia and nitrite. They should heal up pretty quickly. I would also advise against breeding siblings, the gene pool is shallow enough as it is. There are plenty of captive bred Axolotl's living in tanks around the world. Breeding your individuals will do nothing to help save the species. If anything, it will weaken the genetic diversity of captive populations.

 

[Lars]

About 'saving a species that is endangered'

I'm not trying not to be rude by any means, just voice my opinion. Even if you are breeding them to 'help increase numbers,' you have to consider that inbreeding will result in offspring that is less than optimum. In my opinion, that wouldn't do any good for the species as a whole. Unfortunately since they are only native to a certain part of Mexico, it looks a little dim for the wild population. We can only hope that we can keep good strong individuals in captivity, and do as much out breeding as possible to maintain good genes in these animals.

Just my opinion, I could be completely wrong. I have read that their DNA greatly differs from individual to individual, and breeding brother and sister won't necessarily mean you would get mutants or three legged axolotls, but it is just better to out breed.

 

[sde]

To add to Lars's statement, I think that this species is actually extinct ( or very close to it ) in the wild, but they are extremely common in captivity. There are probably tens of thousands in captivity, so we are nowhere near needing to be concerned about their population :happy: -Seth