Pics

[mary]

Here are my 3 babies

 

[mary]

Here we go John, I did it - thanks for your help! The axolotl in question is the black on on the left (well I spose it stands to reason - cause she's the only black one!) Anyway she's usually a bit darker than what she is in the photo, 1: cause I used a flash, so she looks a bit more reflective and 2: cause she had just finished laying eggs and she was a bit pale - she's better now though. The large one in the middle is the male - he's 30cm (12 inches) and the golden albino hiding on the right is another female - I want to breed her with him next (i'll let him recover first!) So these are my 3 babies! Ande there's another 200 or so on the way! Thanks again John - I don't know why it worked this time - I didn't do anything different!!!

 

[john]

I predict you're going to be rather popular with the people on here due to that central axolotl. It looks like an albino due to the eyes, but it can't be, yet it is, but it can't be, yet it is, etc.

The black one is rather nice. Very fetching indeed

.

Did you do anything special to breed them?

Congratulations on the eggs you have and thank you for posting the photo.

 

[katy]

Hey, the middle one is similar to my Aztec; red eyes, but a golden tannish spotted colouration like a wildtype variant. I still can't figure out if she's an albino or not! Maybe it's a new phenotype

(Message edited by zenkatydid on July 31, 2004)

 

[katy]

Here's Aztec if you're interested:

 

[mary]

Well I brought the male in the middle from the pet shop as a novilty really , he was about 18 cm long then (a year ago almost) - but then i really really liked him so I got the black on from the local saturday markets and about a month ago I wanted to breed them but wasn't sure if the black one was a male or female - I was pretty sure the other one was a male. So I went and got the other female from the same guy i got the black one from. Then I took the other two back to the markets and asked the guy to check the sex for me as i wasn't sure. He offered 3 TIMES THE PRICE I PAYED FOR THE MALE!!! But i wasn't going to sell my baby!!! His gills are usually bright bright bright red, but this is taken just after he did his baby making thing!

I was going to send an interesting e-male to John about how I got them to breed - but I'll just post it on here instead. I had all three of them in the tank and was hoping and trying so so so hard! I had heaps of plants and rocks and I was putting ice cubes in the water to cool it down and evertything!!! But they just didn't seem interested!!! I was ripping my hair out!!! The lady at the pet shop said that I wouldn't be able to get them to breed and Even if i got them to lay eggs they would be infertile or not survive past the first week or so! So i was trying to prove her wrong and get some babies!!! I was even playing soothing music to them!!! How desperate is that!

Giving up on the breeding idea, the tank needed a really good clean out - like a scrub and full water change and everything! So I moved the male and the black female to a tub on the tile floor and the yellow female to a bucket by herself cause she had a little knick in her tail and i didn't want her to make the other axololts sick + the tub really wasn't big enough for 2 of them let alone 3! Anyway with all the plants from the normal tank in the tub it was a bit crowed. However I'm a very lazy person and I didn't get around to cleaning out the tank for over a week - then the other morning I went to feed them and there were eggs ! Hey presto!!! I've come to the conclusion that my lazyness caused this 1: the tub was on the cold tile floor 2: it was closer to the window than the tank was (both of these making it a few degrees cooler) 3: there was only the two of them 4: It was a bit darker cause it was in a corner on the floor between the wall and a book case and 5: there were the same amount of plants as before - but it seemed like more cause the were in a smaller space.

So this was really convienent cause i din't want to disturb the eggs by moving them to another tank - so i cleaned out the tank (finally!!!) and moved the male back in there and left the female to finish laying the eggs, then i moved her back when she was done. So i didn't ditturb the eggs.

Now all three of my babies are back in their origional home!

So I think this just goes to prove that sometimes we try too hard! I don't mean neglect your animals in any way - but we shouldn't fuss over every little detail! Leave them alone - they know what to do when the time comes!!!

Hey! It worked for me!!!

And when my male gets strong enough again (and i can handle all the little babies - I'm going to put him and the golden albino on the floor in the tub and see what happens!

 

[mik]

all 3 are an interesting bunch.

The black is almost certainly melanoid...reduced numbers of xanthophores but still plenty there to see. No reflective ring around the eye. Novices this is what we mean when we say this ring thing - good photo. My melanoids are absolutely black.

The golden is very dark but with iridophores plainly visible on the gills and tail crests.

Not sure what to make of the middle one such a strange colour and pattern. Obviously an albino and again iridophores on gills. Are the eyes pink or clear and colouring due to camera flash? Is the iris reflective it looks dark? Such a strange animal; fascinating!

 

[mary]

No his eyes have a bright red pupil, black ring then a blueish grey ring (skin really) everyone loves him!!! I don't think i used a flash in that photo - i usually don't cause i know they don't like it and if i want totake more than one photo, i don't want to give them a fright and have them move!!!

 

[john]

Mik - it's not a melanoid - too much yellow.

The middle one is a freak - I hope you breed him because I think it's highly unusual. Katy's is interesting and unusual too, but not as interesting as yours Mary. I hope Katy breeds her Aztec though.

 

[john]

Mik - re the black one, there are iridophores too, see them? I had a wildtype once that was darker than my melanoids. It's not that rare to get really dark wildtypes.

 

[mary]

hey katy! is aztec a female - we could start a worldwide freak show!!! lol

 

[katy]

i thought aztec was female when i got her, but as she's growing, she seems to be developing a lump a little too large for my liking. i've got a definite boy in with her, so we'll see how it goes when she matures.

 

[mary]

ok, maybe the freak show idea won't work then!!! Pitty

 

[mik]

John,

Yeah, a few iridophores on side of head would rule out melanoid. But notice the chocolate brown iris. I know you can have quite a significant variation between appearance for animals of a certain genotype but I find this one a little unusual. Nearly every wildtype axie I have seen has bright reflective rings around the eye. But if the iridiphores don't migrate there for whatever reason it has to be possible to have a wildtype with brown eye rings. He is very dark for a wildtype. On reflection I'm inclined to agree that he is wildtype.

My melanoids are absolutely black. It's a beggar to get decent photo they seem to drink up light.

Certainly agree that the middle one is a freak. But the lack of melanophores screams albino. But the red eyes suggest leucistic too (d/d a/a). Very curious.

I find the effects of this type of geno combination quite interesting (if thats what it is). The effects are not necessarily cumulative. Neither does one seem to overrule the other. Mutants eh, you have the beginnings of an axolotl Xmen type group together they will fight crime and save the universe.

Katy what are the eyes like on Aztec?

Mary would you mind slicing off a few body parts from the freak and sending off for DNA testing---only kidding!---honest!

Nice bunch of axies anyway.
There's a point what's the collective noun for a group of axies? my guess is a 'weird' of axies.

hmm rambling now, time to go take the dried frog pills.

 

[katy]

Aztec's eyes have pink pupils and golden iridospored rings around them. Here:

 

[kaysie]

I would definately like to see the offspring of Aztec and this little abnormally colored freak. That is, if they turn out to be able to mate. If not, there are always more freaks that turn up.

 

[mik]

wow cool foto. Cheers.

In some ways Aztec appears to be very similar to MRs freak. What is it's name? We can't keep calling it freak. It's just not nice.

Pity they are both male. It would have been most interesting to see the results from a mating. It would help confirm my d/d a/a hypothesis.

 

[katy]

well regardless of whether aztec turns out to be male, mary rose is in qld and i'm in nsw... so probably not going to happen anyway, unfortunately!

 

[mary]

WOW!!! I didn't realise you were in new south wales - i thought you were from the us or somthing! DUH! should have just looked at your profile!!! Where abouts do you live? You don't have to tell me - I understand - I could be a 75 year old man praying on innocent girls over the net (I'm not, I'm just saying - I understand if you don't want to give out personal info) this is my e-mail, incase you do want to tell me where you live

maryrosebudxoxo@yahoo.com.au

I live in Kingaroy - that's about 2 or so hours from Bris. So it's not like I'm forever away from NSW, and in the second week of the september school holidays i'm going to grafton - for the artsfest, I have a scholarship for full free tution for the week. I'm a designer and i won first place in an art show and that was part of the prize. I don't think you would probably care about this - but i'm just letting you know i'm not a 75 year old pervert!

Anyway I like the pic! I think you have more of a freak than me now!!! It looks like some sort of alien!!!!!

Also I have always called him freak, mik - even before it was confirmed - so he doesn't have a real name he's freak and the black one is insane and the yellow one - i havn't decided yet!

I agree with you mik - it must be a "weird" of axi's - it's the only thing that makes sense!!!

Where do you live mik? cause i can give you one of freak's kids - then you can do experiments on it, cause there is no way i'm harning my freak now that i know he really is a freak!!!!!!

Hey i just had the best idea!!! katy, if you want and if we can organise it YOU can have one of freaks kids!!!!!!!!! Then you can breed it with aztec and see what happens!!!! And if aztec has any babies then i can have one of them and breed it with freak!!!!!!! WE COULD HAVE A FREAK SHOW AFTER ALL!!!!!! HOW COOL!!!

 

[jenny]

wow the excitment in that post! lol well if you give mik one of the babies you can give me one to cos he lives near me..in manchester...in england lol...so i doubt there is lil chance of that happening...maybe if you let ur freaks join the circus and they travel to england...?