Pseudobranchus axanthias have bred

[Hajji]

Greetings, all...

I received two P. axanthias from a friend last year. They have been maintained in covered 10gal tank with a sponge filter, T-5 lights during the day (for the plants), Java Moss, Water Lettuce and Water Sprite over a gravel substrate (into which the sirens burrow).

The animals seemed to thrive in this setup. They've been fed live black worms, small live earthworms and--on rare occasions--live brine shrimp. Early on their behavior suggested they were pairing.

A month or so ago I began noticing increase in midbody girth in the (presumed) female and restlessness compared to the other animal.

This morning I found an as yet undetermined number siren larvae! They are different sizes, with the larger ones having very well-defined dark stripes--smaller ones less so.

I am in URGENT need of advice. I have never kept this species before. Will the parents pray on the larvae? What are the best food items (I'm assuming live) for the larvae?

Also, I live in Anchorage, AK. Obtaining live aquatic invertebrates from local streams is not an option this time of year. Can anyone suggest sources for small aquatic invertebrates that these larvae can eat?

I sincerely hope to successfully raise these larvae. Any and all advice is welcome!

Sincerely,

Al-Hajj Frederick H Minshall
Anchorage, AK

 

[velasco13000]

Im not too sure because I have never had them but they do have a care sheet

Caudata Culture Species Entry - Pseudobranchus

they should have info on the breeding and what to do...

 

[velasco13000]

yes you do have to remove them. Hatchling and juvenile dwarf sirens can be reared on brine shrimp and appropriately sized whiteworms or finely chopped blackworms. theres alot more to read on that care sheet...hope it helps

 

[maisy]

Lucky you! Good luck with them :happy:

 

[onetwentysix]

I would remove them. I've never found any Pseudobranchus larvae except newborns in my tanks, and assume any that I didn't remove as eggs were eaten.

I've had good luck with Daphnia and blackworms; both of which you can order online, though shipping to Alaska might be problematic. Plants can be important; there will tend to be small invertebrates with the plants that they can eat. I would try to vary the food if possible; I had problems when I was on an all Daphnia diet many years ago; they exhibited behavior that I think may have been related to calcium deficiency problems.

You can also do the brine shrimp thing, but I've never really been a fan of brine shrimp since they die so quickly and can foul the water; baby Daphnia moina tend to work quite well, and the parents will continue breeding until the animals are large enough to eat them.

Good luck with the sirens!

 

[Hajji]

Greetings again to all who were kind enough to post advice. I read the care sheet, and it was most helpful.

Update: The babies are difficult to safely catch, but I'm siphoning them out a few at a time. I have seen nearly ready-to-hatch eggs in the Java Moss. The jelly sacs were larger than the lumen of my siphon, so I've chosen to wait until they actually do hatch, and will remove them then.

At this writing have placed five in a plastic container with water from the original tank, water sprite and Java moss. There are many more in the parents' tank. It now seems clear the sirens have been breeding for a while. I'm seeing substantial sized difference and intensity of pattern.

I've managed to obtain ~ 1,000 moina, rotifers and other small aquatic inverts from my friend in FL who cultures them (and who sent me the Pseudobranchus pair last year). Have split them up between the parental Siren tank, the plastic container with the larvae, and another tank with two male and one female Pleurodeles waltl that have also reproduced.

I'm also separating the P. waltl larvae (and ready-to-hatch eggs) because I know beyond any doubt their parents eat them.

I received the two male Pleurodeles from another friend (who has successfully bred A. talpoidium, BTW) when they were one of 6 ~5-7mm captive-bred larvae. Four of them died the day after they arrived, but I raised the remaining two to subadult size--but of course they were both males. They began amplexing each other through lack of options.

However, obtained two females from my friend, and last year the larger female laid--infertile, as it turned out--eggs. This year there are a LOT more eggs, and they're fertile. I estimate in the neighborhood of at least 40 still uneaten.

The smaller female disappeared, and I suspect an individual I paid to care for my tanks when I work out of town left the top off and enabled her to escape. He no longer works for me. However, from the looks of things I'll be up to my armpits in Pleurodeles before long.

I can get live blackworms here in AK. Looks like I'll have to do like I did when I was raising the Pleurodeles and when my Cynops orientalis bred--chopped blackworms into 2-3 pieces till the larvae grew enough to take them whole.

I have bred the following amphibian species over the last ~4 years: Notophthalmus viridescens piarpicola, Cynops orientalis, Pleurodeles waltl, Pseudobranchus axanthius and Bombina orientalis--I have F2 generation of the latter. The F1 retained bright red venter--waiting to see if the F2 will--they're about 1/2 adult size, and venters are orange.

Also bred Badis badis, Heterandria formosa, Tanichthys albonubes, and Jordanella floridae. Formerly bred Elassoma okeefenokee and Aplocheilus lineolatus.

The Heterandria population is probably in the hundreds, and are the descendants of a single gravid female I "rescued" from an Anchorage pet store feeder tank about 9 years ago, along with some Etheostoma fusiforme. Have seen courtship behavior in the E. fusiforme but no offspring.

I suspect I came close to breeding Ambystoma gracile until a sudden drop in temperature at my windowsill killed the male. I had left the window cracked ~1 inch to maintain lower temperatures during the winter. The females were full of eggs.

Other observations:

I think the Pleurodeles need more floor space to facilitate the males positioning the female over the spermatophore. Plan to move them to a breeder filled with water-sprite, both rooted in "Eco-complete" and floating (a smaller version of this setup is where the Pleurodeles currently reside).

My two pair of N. v. piarpicola increased their numbers 10-fold. I raised all the offspring to adult size. However, I purchased some live food that had some kind of FW copepod mixed in with the food animals, and within about 10 days these wiped out my Notophthalmus. They began by attaching to their skin--within a day the animals were covered with lesions and quickly died. I wonder if anyone else has encountered this?

Sorry to make this so long. Not many people where I live who enjoy talking about things like this.

MaSalaam...

Hajji

 

[Hajji]

Update...have removed ten juveniles and one egg from the parents' tank, all seem to be doing well, visible indications of growth, some more than others.

The adults continue to lay, some of the later babies caught are from hatchings more recent than last post.

There are still an undetermined number of juveniles in the parents' tank--haven't been able to catch them yet and am unwilling to risk traumatizing them by tearing up the tank. Some of the babies have grown substantially.

Feeding them live moina, rotifers, etc. Have started cutting up blackworms for them. No indicating that they're taking these yet. Most are still pretty small.

 

[decal]

Very cool. I've been looking for a source of these guys for years, so it's a pleasure to experience this vicariously through you. Congrats and good luck!