# New born axolotyls



## eitak (Jul 19, 2010)

Hi guys, I've just had some axolotyls eggs hatch but sm unsure what to feed them . . Anyone know what I dhould feed them?


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## GeckoJosh (Jul 19, 2010)

eitak said:


> Hi guys, I've just had some axolotyls eggs hatch but sm unsure what to feed them . . Anyone know what I dhould feed them?


 I would treat them like tadpoles and feed them boiled lettuce


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## eitak (Jul 19, 2010)

Really? Thnks I'll try tht


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## redbellybite (Jul 19, 2010)

put up pics ...I wanna see them ...and why wouldnt you feed what the parent gets fed ? smaller amounts of course ..


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## cris (Jul 19, 2010)

Im pretty sure they start on live food like mozzy larvae etc. and start eating dead food as they grow a bit.


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## kupper (Jul 19, 2010)

Daphnia baby brine and leave some live plants in there for them to munch on elodea seems to work well

Don't use lettuce as there is no nutritional value in it


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## eitak (Jul 19, 2010)

Where do I get brine shrimp from? 

I will post pics when I get home, I only have a few - like 6 . . got them from a store which sold adults but don't bother with the eggs as too much hassle . . So I took a few for fun, wish I got more now though I didn't think it was gonna be a success


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## redbellybite (Jul 19, 2010)

well cool cant wait to see the pics


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## eitak (Jul 19, 2010)

Only one has hatched the others look like they r abt too, they aren't very exciting only like 5mm long . . Will look alot better in a few days if they survive *fingers crossed*


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## eitak (Jul 19, 2010)

Are brine shrimp the same as sea monkeys?


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## syeph8 (Jul 19, 2010)

i thought you would feed them like those frozen small shrimp that you buy as fish food? most aquariums have frozen shrimp. then again, it may have to be live, in which case i have no idea. you may want to ask your nearest aquarium. or ring up a few aquariums around the place and see what they say.


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## xxMelissaxx (Jul 19, 2010)

Check out this site: Axolotls - Rearing from Egg to Adult

Fair bit of info there including:

"...their diet must consist solely of live food items of a very small size. They will ignore dead food until they have grown significantly. This is because, instinctively, young larvae respond to prey movement alone. It is not until later that smell will play an important role in feeding. If you cannot meet this demand for tiny live food, your larvae will starve to death, unless they eat each other"

Well worth a read.


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## xxMelissaxx (Jul 19, 2010)

A few cool pics on that site of the various stages of young too..


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## eitak (Jul 19, 2010)

Thanks guys for all ur help . . I called the place I got them from, they don't have brine shrimp, called a couple of aquariums they don't either . . I feel bad I should have been more organized but they developed so quickly! 

I will continue the hunt ( am thinking toy stores n buying sea monkeys) and hopefully can post pics of them growing up


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## xxMelissaxx (Jul 19, 2010)

You will need to hatch the brine shrimp - the ones stocked at aquariums and pet stores will be too large for them to eat.

I strongly suggest that you read all the information that you can get your hands on, otherwise your axolotls are going to die unfortunately.

Google is your friend. Read the article I posted above - there's a link to a page specifically outlining the food that your little axolotls can and can't eat.

Edit: There is a pellet-food method may work if you cannot obtain live food quick enough. The link is in the article I posted earlier.


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## Jay84 (Jul 19, 2010)

Also be careful as they grow. Have LOTS of live plants in the aquarium as they are VERY prone to cannibalism as they grow You may have to seperate them into smaller groups as they grow.


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## gycho (Jul 19, 2010)

hey the easiest and best for the little guys is hard boil an egg discard the white part and feed em the yolk you will have to break it up and basically put it infront of their nose they will love it 

any fish when i doubt of food boil an egg


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## gycho (Jul 19, 2010)

and remember to get the left overs out of the tank as it will create amonia and kills them so as much as they will eat in say five mins then get it out


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## Kenshin (Jul 19, 2010)

i used to breed apistogramma and wild forms of betta, you cant get much smaller fry then that i used to like to feed micro worm or viniger eel cultures they are easy and fast to setup/keep going


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## gycho (Jul 19, 2010)

lol use the egg ive been breeding fish for over 10 years


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## kupper (Jul 19, 2010)

Boiled egg won't work for them ........ Set up a brine shrimp hatchery takes 24 hours for them to hatch and Feed them


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## babba007 (Jul 19, 2010)

I didn't even know they laid eggs


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## xxMelissaxx (Jul 19, 2010)

travesey said:


> lol use the egg ive been breeding fish for over 10 years



Because something works for some species of fish, that hardly means that it will work for axolotls! Small, live feed is the way to go - as per instructions from people that have been breeding axolotls for 10 years - not fish


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## eitak (Jul 19, 2010)

Ok so I got them some live plants (elodea as suggested) and am hatching brine shrimp as I type - but these won't have for a day or two . two axolotls have hatched I hope they make it till the food hatches . . I'm Gonna call a around tomorrow looking for some daphnia as these are fresh water animals so I can just put them in with the hatchies to consume as they like . . 

Won't post pics yet as they are too small to see with the camera . . Hopefully will post pics in a few days or so . . 

Thanks again everyone for allll your help


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## xxMelissaxx (Jul 19, 2010)

eitak said:


> Ok so I got them some live plants (elodea as suggested) and am hatching brine shrimp as I type - but these won't have for a day or two . two axolotls have hatched I hope they make it till the food hatches . . I'm Gonna call a around tomorrow looking for some daphnia as these are fresh water animals so I can just put them in with the hatchies to consume as they like . .
> 
> Won't post pics yet as they are too small to see with the camera . . Hopefully will post pics in a few days or so . .
> 
> Thanks again everyone for allll your help



Glad to see you've now gone off and done some research - your axolotls now have a fair chance.

Good luck with it all - hope all goes fine  Keep us updated!


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## joanna_maryanna (Jul 19, 2010)

What about trying live blood worms?


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## Jay84 (Jul 20, 2010)

eitak said:


> Ok so I got them some live plants (elodea as suggested) and am hatching brine shrimp as I type - but these won't have for a day or two . two axolotls have hatched I hope they make it till the food hatches . . I'm Gonna call a around tomorrow looking for some daphnia as these are fresh water animals so I can just put them in with the hatchies to consume as they like . .
> 
> Won't post pics yet as they are too small to see with the camera . . Hopefully will post pics in a few days or so . .
> 
> Thanks again everyone for allll your help



You should be fine until you can get some daphnia and the brine shrimp hatch, as tadpoles usually do not eat for the first couple of days.

keep us updated as to how they go!!!!


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## eitak (Jul 20, 2010)

Ok do I have called almost everywhere and they all stock only frozen daphnia. So I guess I can try that but not really looking gd


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## teggs (Jul 20, 2010)

Get some live black worms from your local aquarium shop and cut them up into 3 or 4 sections, they will still wriggle so the babies can find them as they don't see very well they need to sense movement to feed. I have a few dozen babies black and white from two different females and they are growing well on the black worms. 
Make sure you have them in a tank with a clear clean bottom, I've found if you have gravel the babies won't find the food and will starve. 

good luck.


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## Chrisreptile (Jul 23, 2010)

Try contacting a local University or High School, they will often have Daphnia for use in Science, they might be able to help you out.


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## xxMelissaxx (Jul 23, 2010)

How did you go eitak? Get them feeding?


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## raaaa (Aug 8, 2010)

brine shrimp untill they get older also elodea for both hiding spots and food when they get old frozen blood worms or turtle dinner all of wich should be available from a decent pet shop


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## hazy7 (Aug 14, 2010)

I've also recently had some axo eggs hatch - just about all the eggs I had hatched so I ended up with ~50 or so baby axos. 18 degrees C temp, foam filter (low flow), fed them young live brine shrimp (72hr) and some of them seemed to be feeding, although it's not that easy to tell.

But after a few weeks they hadn't grown much even though I was feeding them once or often twice a day with plenty of brine shrimp (and of course doing regular water changes as the brine don't survive all that long in fresh water). The numbers of morts increased and eventually they all died which was very disappointing.

One thing I've read in this thread is not to have any gravel on the bottom of the tank; i had a thin layer of black gravel on the bottom of the rearing tank as I thought they would do better with a bit of camouflage/hiding spots. Maybe this was an issue I'm not sure.

However I have another batch of eggs ready to hatch in a few days so I'll give it another shot. Would really like to try Daphnia as food if I can get hold of it this time as they will survive until eaten in freshwater.

Hazy.


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