Question: Can you tell the age from the length?

[Jade x]

Hi, iv got 3 axolotls, all about 15cm, but i don't know how old they are. I forgot to ask at the first pet shop and the other pet shop didn't know :/ but i was hoping that someone would know an approximate age of them? I know that it depends on food quality, and how often you feed and size of the tank, but they are in a 3 foot tank if anyone could help, Thanks

 

[oceanblue]

Most 15cm axolotls are young and still growing. If they have been reasonably well fed they are probably from eggs laid sometime between October last year and March this year.

I charted the growth of some of my axolotls and it was remarkably linear, so try to get an exact length, wait a week or four, re measure and calculate backwards to about 1cm. Obviously your tank conditions may not be the same as the breeders but it will give you a guess to date of hatching!

 

[laalflaach]

Hi, this isnt really going to help, but from the one batch of eggs I have got 21 axolotls surviving. They are 15 weeks old, born 11th may 2011, one is 6 inches long, one is 5 inches long, 5 are 4 inches long and the rest range from two inches upwards. It is really difficult to tell how old they are as you can see from the massive size range I have. They are obviously still young, it is just simply survival of the fittest, and then some.....

 

[Jade x]

Thanks for the reply! I did realise that they were going to be hard to age as they are from different batches and there size doesn't really help when trying to age . But ill just let them keep growing Thanks

 

[Jade x]

And yes they are well fed, twice a day with a mixture of earthworms, bloodworm, pellets and occasionally tadpoles, which they love!!!

 

[Aaran]

I got a wild at just over 6 inches born hatched end april this year

 

[xxianxx]

I also have noticed a massive difference in the growth rates of siblings, my batch which were layed this May , have a size range of 1.5 to 5 inches, average size 3.5 inches.

 

[Aaran]

My albino that was born about 2 weeks into may is pushing 5 inches, might be longer and my wild could be 7inches have to check tomorrow, but i noticed my wild grew faster than my albino, ile see how my little golden does, but in the past 2 weeks it seems to have doubled in size

 

[Aaran]

Just checked the sizes of my lotls, my wild codex is now 7inches, and my albino is just reaching 6inches (this one seems to have rocketed in size recently) and my lil golden is just about 3 inches