Question: Lots of Questions, Actually

[pawprint08]

Firstly, I am looking at buying 5 Axolotl eggs, and I think I have a seller. I have never owned an Axolotl, but I want to do it right and all the way from the beginning.

So here come the annoying, obsessive, first-time mother questions... If I get the eggs, how do I set them up to have the most likely hood of survival? I have seen some stuff that says you can put them each in individual, small tupperwear containers. I have seen another thing that says to put them on a plant and put an air stone in the water. Everyone seems to agree that the water should be low (a few inches?) and cold (68ish?). What do you do? Do I just plop them out of the bag (I'm guessing they will come in a bag) into the water? What is water cycling? People are saying to change the water in the tank every 1-2 days. Does that mean all of the water or is that just referring to the 20%?

If I get 5 eggs, and they all hatch, how long can they stay together and then when can they reunite? Do I need separate containers, or the tank divider thing?

Something I am pretty unclear on right now is their feeding. I don't really have the space to culture Daphnia, and I don't have a place to dig for earthworms. I have seen people saying that they buy earthworms at bait shops and have an earthworm farm, but how long do earthworms live? What do frozen Daphnia require/ do those exist? I have seen something saying they feed their Axies every day, and some say every other day. How much do they need to be fed when I do feed them? What do you feed your babies, and what do you feed your adults?

Do I need an airstone and a filter or just either or?

Sorry for all the questions! Thanks for supporting me as a new future mother!

 

[carsona246]

Axolotls - Breeding Axolotls Successfully
Make sure you do the research before you get the eggs. So many stupid mistakes can be solved by doing research before you have the animal. I will also say that if you've never had an axolotl that I recommend you just get an already hatched one. I also wanted to hatch an egg, but was talked out of it from members on the forum, and I'm really glad I was. The breeder I got my two from sent me a juvenile, and a larvae that didn't have it's limbs formed yet, so basically I got to observe the same growing proccess as I normally would have, but without all the work. Also I honestly think that the older the axolotl is the more personable/cute they are. My juvenile recognizes me and is so much more personable than my larvae is right now.

 

[pawprint08]

I understand that research must be done before I can do anything with Axolotls, but that is why I have come here and am asking questions. Forgive me if I am coming off as rude, but I just want answers to the specific questions I asked... the questions I obtained by doing research. Thank you, and I'm sorry again if that came off as rude.

 

[siona]

that's an awful lot of questions! To be honest a few minutes searching the forums here and you will have all the information you need and then some, rather than having people repeat themselves here. But a few quick answers for you that I have learned here:

Yes, eggs go straight in the tub/tank. Yes only a couple of inches water is needed. I change 50% water in the morning and 50% in the evening before feeding. you'll need to do a lot of reading on hatching your own brine shrimp (which is easy and fairly cheap don't worry). Larvae need live food small enough to fit their mouths. I agree with Carson that adults/juveniles are really lovely no matter how old they are...I'm rearing eggs for the first time and it is a lot of work. I've been out of my head worrying about them, and keeping on top of brineshrimp hatcheries and water changes...

I didn't know any of this a month ago - this forum has EVERYTHING you need to know already - go now and READ!

 

[Kaysie]

Your newly hatched babies will need tiny live food. This means daphnia, brineshrimp, or tiny worms of some sort. You're at least a couple of months from worrying about earthworms.

I agree with Siona. All of the questions you've asked have been asked previously on the forum. There's a search function located just above where you log in. It will search through both current threads, as well as our archives. It's a very useful tool!

 

[pawprint08]

Thank you for that information! I know there is a lot of information on this forum, I spent hours reading it last night, and the more I learned the more questions I had... thus this post. lol. Sorry if you guys see the same questions over and over. I'm headed to my library soon to read real books. haha.

 

[leilu]

I dont mind replying, i spent hours doing research before i got my axies but its not the same to ask someone directly, i Have two adult axies and am rearing 20 eggs atm they are due to hatch in 5is days. Seperate containers will work but mine are in their own tank (away from my adults) with an airstone. no filter till they have all legs and strong enough not to get sucked in. Temperature for the eggs can vary, the higher (max24) the temp the faster they will hatch, lowest 16. live food is a must the larvae will only respond to movement when they hatch for approx two weeks, after that you can feed them frozen food or pellets or earthworms. the water level is advised to be quite low maybe 2inches, this will concentrate their food making it easier for them to catch. when hatched they will not take food for maybe 24hrs as their tum will still be full of yolk, during this time they wont be swimming or moving much.

I would go for daphnia as they will survive in the tank till your axies eat them, that way they wont foul the water like brine shrimp would. Daphnia can be bought live from ebay or as eggs and all you have to do is add water and food. this can be done in a small container out of the way. you can buy food for daphnia again in ebay or look on axolotl.org or google a daphnia food recipie. Lower your water temp to give you more time to aquire live food. larvae will need feeding everyday, later when they are older it can go to 2-3 times weekly and you can dig up worms for them. (so long as no chemicals used on the soil theyre in)

Any water you use must be dechlorinated. either let a bowl of water stand for 24hrs before using or buy a dechlorinator solution from pet store. do water changes as often as you can maybe once every day or two days but not more than 50% at a time unless you think there is a problem. siphon off any uneaten food.

They should be fine together so long as its not a tiny tank and there are places to hide. they will snap at anything that moves so they may lose a limb if too close together, which will grow back. sand on the botton is preferable but not needed untill they are using all four legs to move around. An ideal temp is 18 degrees c. get your tank set up asap to so its at a nice steady temp and water has had some time in the tank.

I hope this helps ive probably forgotten loads