Question about smaller then normal axolotls

[Alkylhalide]

I dont know how many people remember frank back in January. My little wild type baby that I found 11days after hatching in my adult tank. He was half the size of the rest from the batch and has grown really slowly.

Since ive found him he has been a great eater, never had any issues with feeding(other then all the other lotls were onto frozen food an he was still on bbs which sucked for me lol)

Problem is, it seems like his growth is severely stunted. He will be 7months old on the 5th of july and is approx 4.5" or maybe a bit closer to 5", he is extremely tiny, but healthy and eats well anyways.

Even the batch of eggs that were 6weeks younger then him quickly outgrew him.


Considering his age, do you think he will ever be big enough to be in a tank with adult axolotls? My adults range from 8-10"

He right now lives in a 10gallon tank by himself.

 

[Alkylhalide]

 

[Jonjey]

I have a wild type who is also stunted, he doesn't eat as much as my other axolotls and he is half the size as my golden who is around the same age. I don't know if he'll ever be as big as the rest of my guys but as long as they can't eat him when he's full grown I'm not worried about it.
Side note; Is that a purple axolotl or is it just the lighting/color scheme playing tricks on me? If it's actually a purple axolotl then you have a money tree on your hands breed that sucker like crazy!

 

[kjnorman]

In most vertebrates, severe malnourishment in early life leads to stunted growth, but herps (reptiles and amphibians) continue to grow, albeit increasingly slowly, throughout their lives.
So it might take him a while, but I wouldn't be surprised if he got there eventually.
It might be interesting, and informative, to measure him once every few weeks so you can see if he is growing, if his growth rate is slowing down, etc.

Just the fact that he is alive is pretty impressive - I have had a couple babies that went undiscovered for a while after hatching and managed not to get eaten, but none of them lived more than a few weeks after I found them.

 

[Alkylhalide]

I have a wild type who is also stunted, he doesn't eat as much as my other axolotls and he is half the size as my golden who is around the same age. I don't know if he'll ever be as big as the rest of my guys but as long as they can't eat him when he's full grown I'm not worried about it.
Side note; Is that a purple axolotl or is it just the lighting/color scheme playing tricks on me? If it's actually a purple axolotl then you have a money tree on your hands breed that sucker like crazy!

I dont think this guy looks purple, he is dark green and has a lot of gold in him. But I did just get rid of this wild type

he has purply/pink gills and a wild type with no pigment on his stomach.

Problem with all my babies I raised is they are technically related to all my adults, as I have two that are siblings and 3 that are siblings, giving me one female to mate, and two males that can mate with her. Nike(my other female) is not genetically fit to breed so yah >.< I would need a new bloodline to breed any offsprings I would get


Edit: and these two are the parents that made the awesome looking wild type >.<

 

[Alkylhalide]

In most vertebrates, severe malnourishment in early life leads to stunted growth, but herps (reptiles and amphibians) continue to grow, albeit increasingly slowly, throughout their lives.
So it might take him a while, but I wouldn't be surprised if he got there eventually.
It might be interesting, and informative, to measure him once every few weeks so you can see if he is growing, if his growth rate is slowing down, etc.

Just the fact that he is alive is pretty impressive - I have had a couple babies that went undiscovered for a while after hatching and managed not to get eaten, but none of them lived more than a few weeks after I found them.

Thank you that was really my only thought, that maybe I may get lucky and he will grow bigger, just very slowly. He has maybe grown 1.5-2" in the past three and a half months.

Regardless I have a 15gallon tank for the dude so he doesnt need to worry about the bullies in my 110gallon if need be.

I was very surprised too that he was alive! A couple weeks after I found him I noticed I had little custaceans living in my tank(almost microscopic) and my only thought is maybe he ate those, enough to keep him alive just not enough to grow. But he is 7 months now and doing fine, just really small. Just got rid of my last baby, 4months old and was already wayyy bigger then frank.