Can not keep up with live food for the new born Axolotl

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DW

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Hi, I am newbie here.

I have hundreds of small newborn axolotl and I feed them with live Daphnia and Tubifex. I can not keep up with buying the live food since in my pet shop the live food is only arrived in Thursday and it is sold out quickly and gone the next day. I can not have them all the time. I tried to breed Daphnia in a big bucket but it is not fast enough to feed these axolotl.
I tried to hatch the artemia but it is not hatch enough also. I do not know if there is something easier or faster breed for their food. Some of them already died from hunger. Any advice ? :confused:
 
Hi DW and welcome to the forum. :happy:

I haven't dealt with axolotl babies, but one of the more experienced keepers will probably be along soon to offer some advice.
 
You may need to resort to hatching out Brine Shrimp to feed your axie larvae. Here is a link that discusses this method (it is the second item down): Caudata Culture Articles - Microfoods

I will be honest, though - I hate having to use Brine Shrimp as they foul the water (thus necessitating the need for frequent water changes) and there is the possibility of your baby axolotls ingesting a capsule or empty shell, but you sure can get a lot of food with this method, and then change to easier foods once the axies have put on size.

Best of luck to you!

HJ
 
Hi Jewett and Donna,

Thank you for the reply. I tried to hatched artemia/brine shrimp before and the portion that I get is too little for them. I can only managed to hatch them after 2/3 days.

And now my Axolotls just lay eggs again :errr: :confused: I really do not know what to do .. I will try again or maybe give small portion of daphnia (from the bucket) just for them to survived. I am afraid of selling them since I believe they will not survived to inexperienced owner. But I am not sure what else to do.

I have a small pond outside do you think Axolotl can survived in the pond ? maybe they can eat some organism in the pond
 
Okay breathe. I just went through all of this. Try hatching the brine shrimp again but make sure you have enough salt and that it's warm enough and also an air bubbler. They should hatch with 48 hours and last a while. . I made the mistake of trying to hatch too many and a lot died because I couldn't get them enough food fast enough so I would suggest trying to get rid of them eggs she is laying now or it would be best to cull them by putting the newly laid eggs on the freezer. All you need is to get enough food for a few weeks before you can start trying them on chopped up frozen blood worms. If you can get a hold of daphnia try buying them in larger quantities and keep them in a bucket. Ask the people where you get them what you suggest you feed them. If you can buy more and feed them you can keep them longer. I learned the hard way that it's easiest to hatch them in small numbers.
 
In the future, do not raise so many Axolotls, especially if your new to keeping. Its best to cull any laid eggs by putting them in a tub in the freezer.

If your Axolotls are constantly laying eggs you need to separate the males from the females, either by using separate tanks, placing a divider in your tank, or by selling either your male or female Axolotls. If you allow your Axolotls to continuously breed, it will cause stress on the females laying the eggs and potentially shorten their life span.

You need to either buy enough food when it become available so it lasts, or get the brine shrimp hatchery working correctly. Otherwise, if you do have a lack of food, you'll notice some of the larvae will disappear due to larger siblings eating them to survive. Use this guide for hatching BBS: http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-beginner-newt-salamander-axolotl-help-topics/f48-axolotls-ambystoma-mexicanum/f61-axolotl-eggs-larvae-breeding/88172-raising-baby-axolotls-baby-brine-shrimp-bbs.html

I would not put your Axolotls in the pond.
 
Hi Chris and Sully,

Thank you for the answer. I will try with brine shrimp then. I have raised my current axolotl that lay eggs from eggs. So I just think that I can raise them.

But the big number of axolotl is the problem. I will try my best to keep them alive. I think I will sell the eggs. I think cull the eggs is a bit bad. I do not want to kill them.
 
Yes trying to raise hundreds of larvae without the correct setups and knowledge causes problems. Culling is humane, and isn't really killing anything, it just stops the eggs from growing. Axolotls lay so many eggs to increase survival rates, most will die in their natural habitat trying to survive. But if you can actually sell them, sell them I suppose
 
Yes. Thank you Chris.
I will try to sell them. I try to post in the selling section but it seems that I do not have access to the page. I need at least 5 posts. Is there any other place or sites that I can sell these eggs ?
 
Make another post, your on 4 so far. Or PM a moderator.

I'm not sure of websites in your country to be honest, there is likely free pet add websites that you can use
 
OH, It is just another post. Thank you Chris. I will wait after posting this. Hopefully I can sell them.
 
If you can't sell them perhaps someone will take them for free. Otherwise, your risking being stuck with hundreds more because you didn't cull them, and the end results of them starving and eating each other is worse than freezing the eggs.
 
I've only 16 and they eat plenty; I keep a net for collecting daphnia from ponds and a bucket(with lid)
in the back of my car which I transfer water butts and a large aquarium
 
Yeah, Lucius. They eat a lot. Thanks for the idea. I will put some daphnia in the pond .. Hopefully there will be a lot of Daphnia soon in the pond.
 
It's extremely illegal to put them in a pond, introduction of a new species would be a very hefty fine


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
different countrys have different laws, but with that skin disease in holland and belgium you really should disinfect any nets you use.... water butts work quite well if you leave top of then daphnia can feed on green water
 
If the pond is on your own land in your garden then it is not illegal. But I would never put larvae in a pond, they would likely die. Sell or cull, then take action to avoid eggs in the future
 
I have already put the daphnia in the pond. Yeah the pond is in my garden. I hope I did not do anything bad.
 
Sorry I thought you were discussing putting your Axolotls in the pond still.

Daphnia are indigenous to the UK from what I understand, I'm not sure if it is illegal to introduce them to your pond in the Netherlands. I would not have thought so, since I can't see there being an environmental impact and I expect daphnia already exist in the Netherlands. Best to double check.

Collecting Daphnia from ponds is risky, you could be transferring diseases, parasites and unwanted predatory creatures. If you did source daphnia from ponds it would be best to quarantine and make sure you don't introduce anything else unwanted into your tank. Lots of people source their microfood this way, but I myself would not want to deal with the hassle.
 
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