Twins!

[charlie]

I've been studying my developing eggs (avidly!) and found i've got a pair of twins
I was wondering if there's a safe way of separating them out - so i know which ones they are (just thought it might be interesting)

i've read that eggs attached to plants stand a much better chance of hatching (due to the airation) than those on the bottom of a tank - so i don't want to pop them in their own plastic cup and risk them dying (to satisfy my curiosity)

anyone got any ideas? or am i worrying too much about the airation thing?

answers would be appreciated

looks like i'll have some hatchlings soon - they're definately getting bigger bless em....brine shrimp hatchery is underway, and i'm stocking up on live daphnia just in case i've mistimed the brine shrimp!

Looks like Elisheba's started something with the plastic cups - i've got mine all ready for when the lil critters break out of their eggs

 

[kim]

Charlie, Leave them were they are, if they have developed ok where they are just leave them there or you may have some early babies...

I had 8 sets of twins, 2 in one egg! But i think there may have been an infection in my tank and all 100 have died

Good luck with yours!!

 

[jenny]

if the egg isnt attached to too much other gunk it is possible to move it by hand but not with a turkey baster because it most probably will hatch.

i moved quite a few of my eggs that i thought were fungusy by turkey baster and most hatched. i moved others by hand and they were fine.

it would be cool to see how a pair of twins develop and if they are identical!

i searched mine for twins but found none.

siamese twins would be cool.

 

[charlie]

will have a look tonight jenny, but will only move them if i can snip the plant frond off that they're stuck to

am sorry to hear your news kim - i'm kinda nervous about how well mine will fare once they're out -

just a question - how will i know that hatching is imminent? how big will they be, or is there summat else i should look out for?

 

[jarred]

I haven't experienced myself but I have read about it on John Clare's site, axolotl.org. You should check it out. (If you haven't already) There is some really good info on the growing of the embryos, hatching and rearing of axolotl larvae. There are pictures and everything.

 

[kim]

Charlie,

You can tell when its nearly hatching time.. There gills are really big and they move quite alot in there eggs.

I think all of me babies dieing may have been avoided, by not keeping them all in the same tub. The size of the tub was fine for them, but I think one may have got an infection and the rest got it too

But hey i'm sure i'll get some more eggs soon. Maybe in the summer i'll have better luck as I been having alot of problems getting food for them over christmas. I have 3 babies left out of the first batch of eggs I got.

 

[charlie]

looks like i'll have to get reading sooooon - have had 30 hatch last night and 2 more this morning!

 

[mik]

good luck charlie, just try to put some into separate containers so that the chance of infection doesn't wipe out your entire batch.

 

[cynthia]

Charlie - are you going to move the twins to their own container so you can keep track of them?

I never noticed twins in any of my batches of eggs. If I had I would have kept them separate to see if they grew up identical.

 

[jenny]

my axy just had more eggs and ive got twins to! i want to put them in a separate container but my air line only has two ports (one for the shrimps and one for the tub of new eggs)

will they be ok if say they are in a plastic cup and i squirt air in a few times, a few times a day with a turkey baster.

 

[cynthia]

jenny - I would get another air valve with more ports.

 

[charlie]

sadly twins hatched into the general scrum of loltlets

quite a lot of the offspring have sadly died (am down to about 40) this was across all containers so doubt it was an infection - however, it does seem to have been all the dark ones that didn't make it, so am wondering if they were genetically weaker? only 2 of the pale ones died, the rest are still going strong and only 2 of the dark ones are still with us

just a thought

am wondering whether an air line is needed as i'm doing daily water changes at the minute?????

 

[charlie]

having spent a bit of time examining the casualties, it seems that the lotls that died were not eating (even though there was plenty of food available)

another development - my numbers have gone up! when i stripped down the old tank where the eggs had been before hatching...i found 3 live larvae....goodness knows what they'd been living on, but they must've been eating something as they're the same size as the ones who've been eating daphnia for 2 weeks - i've named them Rocky, Tyson and Well'Ard lol!....at the minute i'm keeping them separate just in case they have something nasty from being so neglected

 

[cynthia]

charlie - I am glad you found some more survivors.

Have you tried hatching brine shrimp for them, or are they having daphnia?

 

[charlie]

I had a go with brine shrimp - but had no success at all - am not sure if i was sold geriatric eggs - anyway i gave up on them as i need something more reliable. So i've found somewhere with a regular supply of daphnia, and i clear them out of virtually their entire stock every Tuesday!

Looks like the entire thing's about to start again - I didn't get the old tank (where the eggs had been) stripped down in time to put Muff back....it was my job to put it back to rights this weekend.....and they've been at it again - Snork was busy covering all the new plants with eggs last night - so i think i'm going to be buying up the whole West Midlands crop of daphnia for some time

MUFF IS IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FROM SATURDAY! Poor Snork needs to rest her sexy lil tush for a few months

(Message edited by charlie on January 27, 2005)

 

[cynthia]

Charlie - True bad shrimp eggs are disappointing. If you have good eggs they are reliable. http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/brineshrimp_premium.html sells very good quality eggs. I buy the premium quality and have not had a problem with bad hatch rates.

Congrats on the 2nd batch!

 

[charlie]

will have to check them out, thanks

have moved the current batch of larvae into a larger container - think they might be getting big enough to nibble each other now

They sure take up a lot of time - but i'm really enjoying coming in from work and tiffling about with them, watching them grow .... and particularly watching them hunt the daphnia down *evil grin*

 

[vanessa]

Aww.. it'd be cute to see these little babies hatch. What are daphinas?
I like watching my axolotl hunt down Brine Shrimps which landed on the gravels and he actually gets some gravel in his mouth but he spits them out (whew!).

 

[charlie]

Daphnias are lil freshwater critters - similar to brine shrimp I guess - in all the most important ways (ie small moving creatures that will fit in baby lotls' mouths!)

 

[vanessa]

Oh yeah... they're water fleas? That's what someone told me.