Its amazing watching the differences between the Axelotls and normal fish fry. Fry swim about all the time yes these hatchlings lay at the bottom of the tub and dont move. They either lay on the bottom and dont move, point head up to the surface, or point tail up, all in a faship you would expect fish to be in if they were dead.
It seems they play dead and only move if some food goes swimming past and they snap at it. If you genttly move the water or tap its tail it goes psyco and swims like mad around the tub then plays dead again.
I have managed to get some BBS on the go and just put some in and you can see by the video. This was their first meal, after a few minutes they played dead again.
I suppose they dont and cant move much as they dont have the fins like fish do and they dont have legs yet. They jerk about when snap food quite clumsely, but its only really got its tail to move with, nothing to regulate direction. I still forget that the gills are not fins and what should be inside is outside, just like the Pompidou building in Paris.
They also seem to act the same as my little dwarf frogs, they come upto the surface to get air, not sure if its normal for the to do that as no circulating water or anything in the tub so maybe they just desperate for air, still the jury is out on that question. There is loads of bubbles on the surface very similar to my frogs. As Axelotls are not a fish and not a reptile but someting inbetween would not surprise me if similar to the frogs but still good to observe them.
Currently my hatchlings are at stage 3 of 5
