Rainy Day Aquatics

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Tacoma, WA
Rainy Day Aquatics

Rainy Day Aquatics is owned by Emily Hoots in Washington State. I am an ethical, small-scale axolotl
(20)

11/12/2023

I just marked down all axolotls on the website! Orders placed by Monday night will ship Tuesday! www.rainydayaquatics.com

11/08/2023

I just listed many adults on the website! I am vastly decreasing my breeding stock and am letting go of some major stunners. Please check them out at www.rainy day aquatics.com. Several of these I expect to be snatched up quickly.

08/23/2023

Finally! My website is updated (for the most part!) with new photos/sizes and some new axolotls listed. Everything is discounted. I’ve been out of the loop for quite some time and will be working on responding to pending messages over the next few days. www.rainydayaquatics.com

04/19/2023

This little leucistic has a lot of potential to end up very heavily pigmented! It has the most yellow pigment I’ve ever seen in a 2 week old leucy. It’s always a good sign to see dark pigment on the gill stalks at such a young age.

04/14/2023

One-of-a-kind Pérignon, striking a pose.

04/11/2023

I LOVE these spotty sisters! These are hypomelanistic clutch mates and are extra special - not only was it a surprise to find hypomelanistics in this clutch, I raised their mother from eggs I received from the late Christie Natanauan Gibbs of Alaskan Axolotls several years ago. She would have been so happy and proud to know she had hypomelanistic lines. We miss you Christie - you were the most generous, humble, thoughtful, amazing person.

04/08/2023

Let me introduce to you an axanthic hypomelanistic! I think this one will darken a bit as it grows. I see lots of potential with this combination!

04/02/2023

🌟🌟NEW RELEASES🌟🌟
I’ve just listed juveniles from one of my latest clutches of hypomelanistics! Several hypomelanistic melanoids and hypomelanistic copper melanoids, as well as some of their non-hypo siblings are looking for new waters. The black melanoids are especially pretty, with light swirling patterns on their faces. Remember to use the code SPRING30, which is in effect until April 22!

03/27/2023

The hypomelanistic phenotype has so many variations. Here are three hypomelanistics and a melanoid hypomelanistic. I am really loving this spotted variant and plan on perpetuating the trait. These 4 subadults are my female holdbacks.

03/25/2023

Pérignon was feeling photogenic in her big-girl tank. She is my sparkliest axolotl.

03/22/2023

I’ve added 9 more axolotls to the website including some absolutely gorgeous gendered hypomelanistic holdback releases, a couple from my latest “Glitter Bomb” gold albino clutch, as well as adorable regular leucistics and wilds. Use code SPRING30 to get 30% off your entire order from now until April 22!!

03/12/2023

I just updated the website for the first time in a while with new juveniles as well as some mature adults of both genders and gendered subadults. Check them out at www.rainydayaquatics.com

01/30/2023

I’ve been a loyal customer of Eastern Aquatics Blackworms for 3 years now, and I attest to the quality of their product. Their blackworms are packed with nutrition and there’s nothing better for raising juvenile axolotls.

Apparently there is a rumor going around that Eastern Aquatics is going out of business, but nothing could be further from the truth. I spoke with the owner personally today and I’d like to help quash that rumor.

Eastern Aquatics will continue to have my loyalty and my weekly business.

Pictured below are some hypomelanistic varieties enjoying their blackworms.

12/17/2022

Who’s ready to geek out with me? Now that I’ve got hypomelanistic axanthics, I MUST find a way to identify them. Differentiating axanthics from other phenotypes is easy-peasy when you have a microscope. BUT….throw hypomelanistic and copper gene mutations in the clutch and we’ve got a significant challenge on our hands. What makes it even more challenging is the variation in dark pigment expression within the hypomelanistic phenotype - some have very little melanin, some have quite a bit more. My experience is that it is easiest to identify most phenotypes within the first two weeks of hatching. This is when the larvae are expressing their pigment cells in the most obvious identifiable patterns (the exception to this is expression of iridophores anywhere except the eyes but that’s a different project entirely).

Hypomelanistic axanthics and hypomelanistic melanoids have a varying degree of dark pigment in their eyes which seems to correlate with the concentration of melanophores they have on their body (ie darker eyes = more dark pigment cells AKA melanophores). The more dark pigment they have, the easier it is to identify their phenotypes.

Coppers cannot produce black pigment. Their melanin is actually pheomelanin (reddish in color - think of them as the red-heads of the axolotl species) rather than eumelanin (ie “true/genuine-melanin” which is black or dark brown).

Taking these differences in melanin into account, we should be able to tell hypomelanistic axanthics apart from hypomelanistic axanthic coppers using their eye pigment. It’s very subtle and you NEED a microscope to do this. Comparison is also key. In the comparison photo that I’ve got here, you can see that the difference between the copper vs black eyes is still subtle, but more apparent than in the individual photos. Be careful though! A darker hypomelanistic axanthic copper will look a lot like a lighter hypomelanistic axanthic!

I’m not even going to get into adding the melanoid mutation just yet, but suffice it to say I’ll be spending many more hours looking under my microscope in the weeks to come…

12/13/2022

It’s time to SCIENCE! There is so much to discover with a microscope - I’m mesmerized by the flow of red blood cells in the gill filaments, corresponding to the rhythm of the heart. By the way, this is a hypomelanistic axanthic, which is what I was hoping to see in this clutch. I’m super excited to see how the entire clutch develops - I should have every albino and hypomelanistic variety except for leucistic/white, and can make some awesome comparison photos! I’m hoping to be able to identify hypomelanistic melanoid axanthic coppers (HMAC? MACH?) but it will be tricky…

12/11/2022

A compilation of Pérignon over the past year. She just turned 1 year old on December 8. I’ve kept my eye on her since she was 2” long and she has become the most spectacular axolotl I’ve ever seen. Take a look at all the photos to see her progressive development of iridophore “bursts”. While she is a relatively light axolotl compared to standard wild-types, she is not the lightest of the unique axolotls in the clutch.

I’m thinking of repeating this pairing of Bijou and Muzio so that I can calculate clutch ratios and catalogue it better this time around. I have Bijou’s brother Helios as well and am currently working on some test pairings with him to see if this trait of brown melanin (in non-coppers) is a new gene mutation or the result of polygenes.

12/08/2022

Sparkles and spots are up on the website! I’ve released a super high iridophore “Glitter Bomb” gold albino who has gendered male, as well as another super sparkly gold albino, and an adorable spotty hypomelanistic. Take a look! My last shipping day this year is Tuesday, December 13.

12/04/2022

Have you ever seen such a blindingly YELLOW axolotl??

12/04/2022

Nimbus says hello

12/04/2022

Adding to my previous post, here are some more hatchling comparison photos. It is often helpful to identify hatchlings in comparison to one another rather than looking at a single hatchling, hence the reason for this identification series. I’m always willing to help identify phenotypes of hatchlings, and am especially interested in the hypomelanistic phenotype. I hope to make a guide for identifying the hypomelanistic varieties in the future.

12/01/2022

Here are some new hatchling comparison photos I’ve labeled to help breeders identify phenotypes. I use a stereo microscope, but a macro lens clipped to a phone camera also works very well. What other comparisons are you interested in seeing?

11/30/2022

Stay dirty little baby!!

11/27/2022

More glamour shots of Pérignon

11/26/2022

“Pérignon”, my stunner from the “Champagne” clutch. She’s incredible and started developing thick coverage of iridophores at only 2-3” in size. Prior to the past year or so, it was thought that Starburst axolotls could not show their iridophore “bursts” until full grown, but I’ve observed otherwise here in several clutches including this one.

11/26/2022

A little axanthic is ready to hatch any time. I’m considering more and more the specific traits and phenotypes to which I am drawn. My “specialties” could be said to be the new hypomelanistic gene mutation and its combinations, and the Starburst trait. To that effect, I will be gradually phasing GFP out of my projects EXCEPT for my Glitter Bomb gold albino lines. There may be some GFP in some clutches as I phase this gene out over the next year or so. I pride myself in being able to accurately identify phenotypes in the hatchling stage. With the newly discovered hypomelanistic phenotype, this has become an even bigger and more exciting challenge. GFP thrown into the mix is going to almost assuredly cause misidentification, especially among axanthics, hypomelanistics, coppers, and their combinations. I want to be able to maintain a phenotype identification guarantee.

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I can’t get enough of these - watching them is so mesmerizing. These are holdbacks from my Champagne clutch. You may have noticed I also have a Supernova line. Rest assured that a “Champagne Supernova” clutch is in the works 🤩 . . . #champagne #supernova #champagnesupernova #oasis #caughtbeneaththelandslide #melanoid #copper #starburst #axolotl #magical #magicalcreatures #axolotlsofinstagram #aquaticpets #rainyday #aquatics #pnw

Gills like wings on this Champagne Melanoid. . . . . #melanoid #champagne #bubbly #winged #wings #takeflight #axolotl #rainyday #aquatics #pnw

This MAC from my Sun King Clutch has gills that are out of this world. Most of the clutch has amazing gills, inherited from their mom, Jewel. . . . #crazyhairdontcare #floof #floofsofinstagram #mac #melanoidaxanthiccopper #gillsfordays #axolotl #ambystoma #rainyday #aquatics #pnw

More fun with stereoscopy!! Here you can observe blood flow in the gill stalk, and if you look closely you can see individual red blood cells moving through capillaries in the gill filaments. Be sure to watch the entire clip as I change the focus toward the tip of the gill stalk and zoom in a bit more. . . . #science #scienceiscool #microscopy #microscope #stereoscope #stereoscopic #stereoscopicphotography #oxygen #respiration #redbloodcells #anatomy #physiology #axolotl #amphibian #aquatic #rainyday #aquatics #pnw

Another hatchling decided to be upside down for a while so I took the opportunity to get another video of the heart beating. This one is even better than the last one! To orient yourself, the head is pointing down and to the right. The anatomy of the heart, as well as the timing of the chamber contractions and the differences in arterial resistance between the pulmonary arteries and carotid and systemic arteries, ensures that most of the oxygen-depleted blood is sent to the lungs and gills (to be re-oxygenated), and most of the oxygen-rich blood is delivered to the rest of the body. . . . #heartbeat #axolotl #hatchling #ambystoma #anatomy #physiology #stereoscope #stereoscopic #scienceiscool #rainyday #aquatics

Axolotl hatchling heart beating, captured under my stereoscope. If you look closely you can also see red blood cells moving through vessels in the gill stalk in time with the rhythm of the heartbeat. Axolotls have a three-chambered heart - only one ventricle and two atria. . . . #rhythm #heart #heartbeat #circulation #cardiovascular #anatomy #axolotl #amphibian #rainyday #aquatics #pnw

The hypomelanistic babies are developing more dark pigment. As you can see, there is a lot of variation in both the shade of gold and the amount of melanin. They are nearly 3 months old. . . . #hypo #hypomelanistic #colormorph #galaxy #unique #newmorph #golden #sparkly #axolotl #ambystoma #ambystomamexicanum #amphibian #salamander #caudata #aquatic #aquariumhobby #breeder #rainyday #aquatics #pnw

These magical creatures are my hypomelanistic juveniles that are the older siblings to my hatchlings. These are 7 months old now and are showing some signs of gendering soon. Produced by Roofus Aquatics . . . . #hypo #hypomelanistic #golden #wonder #galaxy #nebula #milkyway #andromeda #GW #phenotype #genotype #genetics #colormorph #magical #creature #magicalcreatures #fantasticbeasts #waterdragon #axolotl #ambystoma #ambystomamexicanum #amphibians #rainyday #aquatics #pnw

Beauty and Brains #starburst

#messyhairdontcare Every day is a #goodhairday for this gold albino . . . #golden #albino #frizzyhair #frizz #floof #floofs #floofsofinstagram #floofster #axolotl #axolotls #ambystomamexicanum #waterdragon #rainyday #aquatics #pnw

I can’t get enough of him, look at the sparkles on his gills 🤩 . . . #gemini #twins #twoface #zodiac #whatsyoursign #blackandwhite #animalphotography #mosaic #axolotl #mutation #ambystomamexicanum #ambystoma #salamander #amphibians #amphibiansofinstagram #unusualpets #waterpuppy #waterdragon #rainyday #aquatics #pnw

Gemini just chillin’

💫Galaxy💫

I think it’s safe to say this is a Starburst 🌟

Rainy Day Aquatics

11/12/2023

11/08/2023

08/23/2023

04/19/2023

04/14/2023

04/11/2023

04/08/2023

04/02/2023

03/27/2023

03/25/2023

03/22/2023

03/12/2023

01/30/2023

12/17/2022

12/13/2022

12/11/2022

12/08/2022

12/04/2022

12/04/2022

12/04/2022

12/01/2022

11/30/2022

11/27/2022

11/26/2022

11/26/2022

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