Question: Advice please

[Mr stroudy]

Hi, i have been doing my reading on the net but any advice is more than welcome. I´m looking into getting an axolotl soon, i have the tank setup with no substrate or hides at the moment.
Do they prefer alot of decorations to hide or just a few?
Can i plant it heavily or not?
What is the best stable food source?

 

[Azhael]

Hi there.
All your questions are answered (plenty of times hehe) around the axolotl section. A quick search should answer your doubts.

 

[dazkeirle]

Hi, i have been doing my reading on the net but any advice is more than welcome. I´m looking into getting an axolotl soon, i have the tank setup with no substrate or hides at the moment.
Do they prefer alot of decorations to hide or just a few?
Can i plant it heavily or not?
What is the best stable food source?

OK,

Substrate - Sand all the way

Decorations or hides - depends on the space you have, they need somewhere to get away from the light and security, and they like things to bump into (it's their hobby) but they like to swim, so it's all about finding that balance.

Plant heavily - Up to you, some on here have lovely live plants and the axies love sitting in them, my axie has a few, which he perches in, but I don't have real plants, just artificial.

Food source - Wormery with common garden worms, that is all you need. You can make your own with an ice cream tub, compost, veg waste and some worms from the garden. Bloodworms, pellets, feeder fish etc can all be used for variety but earthworms are usually recommended as staple..

Hope that helps.

 

[Azhael]

Common garden worms (Lumbricus terrestris) don´t do well in wormeries...
If you want to culture worms yourself, which is highly recommendable, you´ll need a composting species of the Eisenia or Dendrobaena genera.

 

[ted22]

Yo, axies behaviours tend to change with age so your tank set up will change as your axie gets older (younger axies tend to like hanging around in plants, adult axies tend to just pull em up and destroy them if they get in thier way!) Its all about experimenting, my axie likes having alot of space to move about so a planted tank and lots of decor is not suitable for him ive just kept it minimal but imaginative with a huge cave, lots of open floor space and those silk (aquarium safe) reptile plants suction cupped onto the side for cover as to not get in Gomez's way when he's on a mission!

Alot of plants wont be suitable due to theyre high light and temp requirements (axies dont like light or heat) and you will find the plants will die, rot and cause water problems!

Id get a few just to keep it manageable (if one gets destroyed or dies it can easily be pulled out and replaced) in a heavly planted tank a plant may have been rotting for weeks before ud realise!

My first axie tank was (reasonably) planted but diddnt last long all the plants died within 6 weeks from lack of light. If anything get lots of moss! I bet it'll be nice and soft on your axies belly!

Planted tanks are great, look stunning and are almost self sufficient but I wouldnt reccommend it for an axie tank (you'll have enough work on your hands and doubt youd want to be constantly picking out bits of dead plant, it made a huge mess of my tank!)

The loverly people on here all tend to reccommend java fern or java moss as they can handle low light low temps and the abuse from an axolotl!

Food wise: earthworms all the way! Crickets, waxworms, bloodworms, pellets and shrimp can also be fed, Earthworms are the best staple food but the others are also suitable (go easy on waxworms or you'll have a very fat axie) the more variety of food the better! preferably live! (steer clear from freeze dried as have very little nutritional value!) I also feed small fish (guppies, mountian minnows) but these are from my own stock ive kept and bred so I know they are safe from infection/parasites, store bought fish need to be quarrantined for 30 days minimum!)

One thing..... GET A TURKEY BASTER! It will be the most effective weapon against the war on axo-poo, some people use a net, I tried and made a mess (RUBBISH IDEA!) I need a new bigger turkey baster my axie does such huge poos now and are too big to fit in the end and block it up!

Check out some of the exo terra silk plants I think theyd look good in your tank!

and substrate has to be sand (everyone that uses gravel will eventually end up with a dead axie, god i wish people researched abit before buying them! Its them that deserve to die not the axie!) Id go with lighter colored sand (i went for white) as any waste shows up clearly so is easily cleaned, however alot of people on here like the look of the black sand (does look nice!) but axo poo is pretty much black so wont show up as well (I dont know if this is actually an issue or not?!?) at least with white/light colored sand its nice and easy to see if it needs a clean!

Hope this is helpful to you!

 

[dragonlady]

Hi, i have been doing my reading on the net but any advice is more than welcome. I´m looking into getting an axolotl soon, i have the tank setup with no substrate or hides at the moment.
Do they prefer alot of decorations to hide or just a few?
Can i plant it heavily or not?
What is the best stable food source?

Hi there,

Have a look at Azhael's signature line - it has some very valuable links in it, including "axolotl.org." Have a look here - just click on it in his sig.

When younger, they swim more and may hang out in the tops of plants, or just hover around like an underwater helicopter - pretty cute! lol When they are older, they stay on the bottom more and may appreciate more floor space with some sort of substrate to grip (mine never liked the bare bottom). Sand is a common choice, but slate tiles look really nice too - just avoid gravel as advised and be aware that large stones are very difficult to keep clean as nasties creep into all the voids.

Sensitivity to light increases with age as well.

Plants are really up to you. Azhael is the man to ask about a planted tank. There's loads of info around the forum about plants - do a search. Plants can do a lot of work for you in a tank, but do your research, seek advice, and be careful where you buy your plants from. I personally don't have luck with them but there are several members who are. Check out axolotl sanctuary, there's a link there about aquascaping that includes a list for suggested live plants to use. A note about live plants, you will probably want to quarantine these in case of disease or "hitchhikers" like snails for example.

Food source? As stated, worms, worms, worms! lol Nightcrawlers are best nutritionally. If you have a pesticide/fertilizer free zone (such as your backyard), you can dig them yourself. If not, you can usually find these at a local baitshop. Frozen bloodworms are a nice change of pace (put them in a small submerged jar for feeding ease). Sinking carnivore pellets (zoo med newt pellets for example) are pretty good too, but be diligent about getting leftovers out. Other things can be used for occasional treats. Ted mentioned shrimp - make sure they're freshwater and if you want to use live, they should be quarantined for 30 days before adding them to your tank to avoid possible introduction of disease.

 

[Crysta]

Do they prefer alot of decorations to hide or just a few? A few will be fine
Can i plant it heavily or not? heavily planted around the back seems to be best, they do like to have a walk around and explore.
What is the best stable food source? Earthworms (and i'm sure this is an echo)

Because you're in the UK. I recommend worms direct. Yum Yum Wormies!

they are very reliable.

 

[dazkeirle]

Id go with lighter colored sand (i went for white) as any waste shows up clearly so is easily cleaned, however alot of people on here like the look of the black sand (does look nice!) but axo poo is pretty much black so wont show up as well (I dont know if this is actually an issue or not?!?)

Just so I don't upset him, I'll start this by saying Ted has lots of valuable experience and his advice is spot on......

however, gotta disagree here, I use black sand, and fine axie poo stands out alot more on black than it did on regular sand as my axies poo is actually grey usually, moreso than black.

It's stands out so much infact I can see it from the other side of the room, as it's about the only other thing that light reflects off in the tank.

It's all a matter of taste, I went for an all black tank, some like natural looking some like bare bottomed. Whatever happens just keep it clean and you're good!

Other than that Ted has it all covered, as do all the other helpful fellows here.

 

[dazkeirle]

Common garden worms (Lumbricus terrestris) don´t do well in wormeries...
If you want to culture worms yourself, which is highly recommendable, you´´ll need a composting species of the Eisenia or Dendrobaena genera.

My bad, I actually bought my Dendrobaena genera assuming they were common garden worms.