My axolotl breeding and growing out

[joanstone]

Thanks so much for sharing your photos,etc with us. Great job, very well done. I really like critters like these.

[discus rookie]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Just curious, how old are they in the various photos? I have no ides how fast they grow. I knew what they were from reading "MAD" magazine in the late fifties and early sixties. The word Axolotol often appearted in many places in the magazine because it was a funny word or the writers liked it.

In the last picture they were about 2 months old at 2.5". If I had raised them in warmer water they would be bigger but I kept them in cold water so they grew slower. I know other breeders have grown them in warmer water with success. I just tried to grow them in similar temp as their natural environment and I am in no rush.
Also, if I had kept them altogether in a small container they might eat each other and sometimes, one could become much bigger after eating a few of his siblings. I kept them apart in separate containers so I did not have this problem.
The parents are about 3 years old. When they are mature to breed the tips of their toes will change color--they will turn white on the wild and dark on the white kind.
Once they have all their limbs as shown in the last picture they are considered young adult.
In the first picture they were still encased in their eggs. The egg casing is like gel and stick to the rock and the walls of the tank.
They first appeared as a white dot inside the eggs, then the dot will get bigger and turn into a slight curved "U" and after that you can start to see the larvae developing inside the eggs.
The next few pictures showed them after they have hatched. They were fed live food at the time with daily water change and all containers wiped down daily, kind of like discus but the containers were much smaller. I had many many containers at the time so it was a lot of work.
Then they started to grow longer but they had no arm yet.
Soon, about 2 weeks later, they had arms but no legs.
Then their legs started to come out like two white lumps, which slowly developed into longer limbs then toes also started to come out.
The last picture is pretty much a young adult but they will continue to grow and they will be much bigger than that when they are fully mature.
The boys will have a slim and long body, with a big 'sac" around his back legs, the girl will be rounder and shorter.
Thank you for reading my thread.

[Allwin]

Very sweet, u did a wonderful job with these guys!!!

[brewmaster15]

Absolutely Beautiful!! Thanks for sharing! Reptiles and amphibians were my first passion long before discus.. You did a great job on those ! I used to have an axolotl years agos... they are really a very interesting amphibian! I have toyed with the idea of setting up another tank...funny this thread comes along.

What did you do with the offspring?

Great work again!
-al

[pcsb23]

I've never kept these, fascinating creatures though. Looks like you are doing a terrific job too, well done.

[discus rookie]

Absolutely Beautiful!! Thanks for sharing! Reptiles and amphibians were my first passion long before discus.. You did a great job on those ! I used to have an axolotl years agos... they are really a very interesting amphibian! I have toyed with the idea of setting up another tank...funny this thread comes along.

What did you do with the offspring?

Great work again!
-al

Hi Al,
Good to hear that you used to keep one. What morph was it?
I tried to breed them because I wanted more people to have the chance to keep them and enjoy them. I was very lucky that it worked out very well with my first try.
I still have most of them which I am still growing out. They are growing very fast.
Cheers,
Richard

[Fundulopanchax]

Very fascinating! Thank you for sharing your project, excellent results!

Ron

[discus rookie]

Thanks everyone.
I have found a video which is quite informative about axolotl, hope you enjoy it.

[brewmaster15]

Hi Richard,
Wish I was out near you when you were ready to let some of those go. Mine was a wild type....it was quite a while ago, I 've been looking to see if i have any old photos I could post, I will if I can find one.

Thanks again for sharing,
al

[discus rookie]

Hi Al, great to meet another axolotl keeping on a discus forum.

I am located in BC, Canada, right next to WA, USA. I am very sorry I am really not sure if I am allowed to export them into the US or else I would be more than happy to see some of them living under your great care.

Updates: I put 2 of my goldfish in their tank to let them get used to living with gold fish since several people who have purchased them from me said they wanted to put them in their goldfish tank/pond. I am very happy to report that they get along really well. I have placed some ornaments and rocks with cave-like holes in the tank just in case but everyone is out and about swimming and eating all getting along very well. I do not see any nipped gills on the axolotl nor nipped fin on the goldfish.

I am still feeding live microworms, live daphnia, Hikari frozen bloodworms, krills, and pellets. Water change 30-50% every 2-3 days.

[Sandy Clay]

Wow those are strange little creatures! I like em~

[Rick S]

So different and so cool, I love seeing threads like this. I was trying to figure out what the blue object was and realized it's an airplane crash. Seen these at a swap here in Chicago a few years back and couldn't stop looking at them. Well done.

Good Luck, Rick

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Thank you for sharing your success story with the Axolotl. Amazing looking creatures.

Do you have a chiller on your tank?

[April]

I'm going to be getting some
For my shop apparently.. Can they eat
ALS fdblack worms? Mine are on the way !


Sent by tapatalk in north Burnaby

[brewmaster15]

April,
I was able to get larvael spotted salamanders to eat hydrated freeze dried blackworms. I also was able to get eastern newts to eat them.

-al

I'm going to be getting some
For my shop apparently.. Can they eat
ALS fdblack worms? Mine are on the way !


Sent by tapatalk in north Burnaby