Should they float

ravenous

ravenous

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Hey guys
My new borns have a really strange thing going on right now. Half of them are just floating on top of the water but they are not dead or anything but just float there. Does this mean there lives are soon to be over. They are about 1 and a half weeks old. PLease Help
Dan..
 
Are you feeding them? If they don't have food in their belly, they can get air bubbles and float. Feeding them should clear this up. My newborns were just immersed in a tub of daphnia and allowed to feed constantly. I never had airbubble problems.
 
Dan - Are they floating right side up?

What are you feeding them? You should be able to see if there is food in their bellies.

Is their water clean and cool?
 
yes water is clean and cool. I have been feeding them but not sure if they have been eating, any feeding suggestions.
Ta Dan
 
What are you feeding them?

Newly hatched larvae need live food to eat for quite some time. Newly hatched brine shrimp and daphnia are the foods of choice.

If you are feeding newly hatched brine shrimp your larvae will have orange bellies, as new brine shrimp are orange.

If you have been not been supplying live food they could be dieing.
 
I used to have this problem also. I do believe that it is food related - ie not having enough. You probably know this, but its vital to have food small enough for them to eat, thats baby brine shrimp, not grown.

Its difficult when there are so many mouths to feed. I used to do the following:
Lower the water level at feeding times so the food is easier to catch.

Separate the floating ones to a shallow bowl and feed immediately.

From memory you have about 80 babies?? Separate them out into smaller tubs so there is less competition for food between them.

I used to feed microworms alternately with live brine shrimp hatchlings. Daphnia was not available readily and the microworms lasted well.

(Message edited by waltona on June 27, 2005)
 
microworms hey, are the readily available do most pet stores supply them and how are they kept anything like brined shrimp eggs or do you buy them live? Do they live in salt water or fresh water?
 
They are not that easy to find in WA - only in one shop I have seen so far. They are kept in a oats/yeast/water slush so aren't actually aquatic at all as far as I'm aware. You buy them live in containers and then keep replenishing the food for them. They are however only hairlike little things so are suitable only for babies not axolotls of any size.
 
how do you fined them in all the slush and are they worth getting?
 
Thanks heaps guys, i have baby brime shrimp and once in they all floated back down to the bottom so this is looking good.
How long untill these guys will be roughly 5cm long?
Again thanks..
 
I'd say you're looking at 6 - 8 weeks, depends on a lot of factors though so could be faster.
 
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