How do you know when to feed?

[vanillaXtiffy]

How do you know when your newly hatched larvae are ready to eat? Do they move around a bit more, or is it just guesswork? Right now all of mine just sit at the bottom. Occasionally one will move and that starts them all off zipping around, but then they settle back down. I'm not sure exactly when they hatched because most of them were already hatched when the package arrived, but I'd hazard a guess at about 1-2 days ago.

 

[Kaysie]

They need to eat once they've absorbed their yolksac. This should happen within a day or two of hatching.

 

[vanillaXtiffy]

That's all well and good, but seeing as they're so small and it's difficult to see if they look full, are there any telltale signs, or do you just try them with food and hope they eat?

 

[digger]

I always place small daphnia with mine as soon as they hatch as some eat sooner than others.

 

[philbaker76]

I introduce daphnia to my hatching tank as soon as I put the spawn in. Gives them time to breed, so pleanty of daphnia for the first couple of days when the Axolotls start to hatch.

 

[vanillaXtiffy]

I couldn't manage to get any live daphnia. Only Brineshrimp, and I have a microworm culture on the way in case I run out of shrimp. I also have frozen daphnia as a backup backup. So, I guess I'll just toss some shrimp in there everyday and see if they eat it, then siphon the rest out.

 

[Kaysie]

That's a good strategy. It's not the least labor intensive, but it works.

 

[vanillaXtiffy]

Whatever keeps them alive.

 

[Bellabelloo]

I could never tell if my larvae where ready to eat, they where given food twice a day, in this case brine shrimp. They where then cleaned out daily in the evening prior to their last feed.

 

[vanillaXtiffy]

=3 That's what I've been doing. I'm pretty sure they're eating it now. When I put it in the tank, they start swimming around like crazy, then settle back down after a while.