Why isn't this working?!?!

[musilvr4eva]

I've been breeding axolotls for a couple years now. I've experimented with different color combinations and picking certain colors to breed with certain colors to get the offspring I want. Well, I've been trying to breed my albino male (first time dad) to my leucistic female (successful mother in the past). My female has been chubby for the last year or so. I've kept my males and females seperate except for when it's time to breed. Well I don't know if females can produce eggs and hold them until sperm is present, but I wonder if that's the reason behind her chunkiness. Over the last month or so, she's laid twice, with the albino male both times. The first time was a very small batch (less than 50 eggs), so I left them together in hopes she'd lay again and go through a large weight loss. Well a week ago she laid a much larger batch. I removed the parents from the tank and let the eggs do their thing. Well only a handful of them have turned into something that will hatch shortly, the rest are just larger white spheres of when they were born, they're not forming at all. There has been no oxygen on the tank (that may be causing the problem). Is this color combo just not possible? Could the parents not be healthy enough to breed? Did I kill off all the eggs by removing the oxygen source? Any ideas would be helpful, I really want albino and leucistic babies!

~Emily~
musilvr4eva

 

[Jennewt]

There are several possibilities, and you have already identified them. It's possible that the tank is lacking oxygen. Did you turn off the filter after the eggs were laid? Next time add an air pump and air stone just to be on the safe side.

It's also possible that the male isn't fully fertilizing the eggs, for whatever reason. Incompatibility between the two axies maybe. A bad day for him (or her). Also, he being a first-time father may mean he's not as fertile as he will be when he's older, or he's just not very fertile for other reasons.

 

[musilvr4eva]

I removed the filter from the tank cause I needed it on another. I didn't think the eggs would need the oxygen until they started hatching. After I saw that things weren't going as they should, I added an air stone, but it seems it was too late. Lesson learned I guess! My male is about two years old, and the female is over three years old, so I figued both could breed, but something with them could be causing the problems too, who knows. Should I maybe try the pair again or just leave them be? The female is awful plump again (Do they retain eggs until sperm is present??) so I don't know if she needs to lay again or what. I just don't want to hurt either of them, but I really want to be sucessful with breeding the two together.

~Emily~
musilvr4eva

 

[tyaxloltl]

I am not that familiar with the genetic maltations of the Axloltls but I do know in other species it is not recommended to breed a mutation with another mutation. I would recommend you read the Genetics page,maybe the two can't breed.

 

[tipnatee]

All eggs need to be incubating with water movement and good oxygen , no water movement, eggs will pretty much liquify or die half way. And female once became a succesful mom over and over her body will always be fat . That's just how breeder mom looks like . But not every male are successful male breeder , first time dad sometime sperm not mature enough or not working ... Well... Maybe he just need a little practice. and albino breed with leucistic will have a bunch of wild babies .

 

[auntiejude]

If you cross a female albino with a leucisitc male you'll get wildtypes.
What exactly are you trying to achieve?