AXOLOTYL TANK SET-UP HELP NEEDED!

[natalie]

Im totally lost with all the information i've read! I can't figure out how Im supposed to go about setting up a healthy tank for my axolotyl! There's too much to get my head around!
I'll be getting my axolotyl in a months time.

I especially don't understand the water (nitrate, etc) business.
I'd really appreciate step by step instructions, but any help I get will be VERY helpful!

Please help !!
Nat

 

[amy]

hiya. welcome to the site! the best setup is sand on the bottom as the substrate (they have a tendency to eat gravel). you could also have large river stones but i dont find they look that good or keep the dirt as well as sand. they like lots of places to hide so you can cut an ice cream tub in half and put some sand on top of it to keep it down. youll also need a good filter as axies are quite messy. heres something i wrote for someone else about cycling. tell me if you dont understand anything:
Ammonia is given off by the axolotl as they excrete. With an established filter (one that has lots of good bacteria on it and has been in the tank a while, adding filter starting products can help) the very harmful ammonia is converted into nitrItes which are a little less harmful than ammonia. With the combination of the established filter, these are converted into almost harmless nitrates which can get harmful if they get too high. This can be helped by removing 10% of the tank water every week or 20% every other week and adding lots of live plants which use nitrates as a fertiliser. You can buy test kits to measure the levels of these substances. A cycled tank should have 0ppm for both ammonia and nitrite and preferably 0 for nitrate too but is allowed to go relatively high. The instructions in the kit should tell you more.
although live plants have their benifits, they do disintergrate and are rather nasty when they do and as they decompose, it can increase the nitrites etc. if you are going to go for live plants, i find peace lilys are great with axies and dont readily disintergrate. if you need any more info just ask

 

[kim]

Natalie,

Have you taken a look at www.axolotl.org ?

There is loads of great information on there, everything you need to know, and what amy has said seems good to me!

 

[natalie]

Thanks for answering, thats soo nice of you two!
Well you've basically made what i've read before nice and simple for me. Simple: just get a filter, test the water (the kit will tell me how) and change the water a bit weekly. Oh no! decomposing plants - can't have that! i'll opt for fake plants.
THANKS!

Nat

 

[natalie]

That site IS very good!! Better than a book i'd read while standing at a pet shop for half an hour! thanks
Nat

 

[kim]

Nat,

Thats good you have got it all sorted.. the site is great and helped me loads when setting my tank up... Have you got your axie yet?

 

[mik]

A tip for anyone else browsing on stone size...I have tried quite a few set ups now and found that large stones can be irritating to axies if they totally cover an area of the tank.

If you ever get a chance with a large tank try an area of sand adjacent to an area of pea gravel and then and area of 1" cobbles or stones. They will avoid the stones completely.

Stones want to be really big and flat like slate or gravel sized.