Question: Can I use a fluval 404 filter for my axies?

Unfortunately it seems the place I first checked is the only game in town; went to the mall today and the store that was rumored to have them is gone. When I was there (at the first place) they had 5 'lotls, 3 different sized wilds and 2 whites. They wanted $60 for the white ones because they were bigger, the cheapest one was a little guy for about $40 if I remember right.

They didn't look super healthy so I'm a little upset...wish there was someone in my area that was a good breeder. Heck, I'm tempted to just get eggs and try going that way just to make sure they're raised right. But that's a whole bunch of work in its own. What to do, what to do...


Also, I'm not sure what to do for my filter, as it has four baskets and when I went to the pet shop they had bio noodles but not bio balls.
 
Erm im not sure on the mechanics of filters so ill leave that to someone else, unless you could purchase them off ebay or amazon?
Is this them? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fluval-Bi...905245637?pt=Fish_Filters&hash=item35c3066fc5

As for buying the lottles, raising them from eggs is a daily chore and you will lose some, but the end result could be worth it to know they are healthy and that YOU raised them.
Have you looked on the buying/selling forums on here to see if anyone near you has any?
 
...I'm not sure, the filter is big and confuses me ;__;

As for the axies, I looked around and didn't seen anything in my area. I live on the lower populated side of the country, and the closest user I've seen to my area so far is emmyk, and she's still roughly 5 or 6 hours away. While she is very nice, I have no idea if she sells babies.
 
I know of a few people who buy from breeders online. The axolotls ship in a day, and if you buy from the right person they will be in good health when they arrive. It's not the best option, I realize, but I figured I'd throw the suggestion out anyway.
 
Hello

I'm sorry, I thought I had posted a reply for your filter but it doesn't seem to have gone through.

You could get away without bioballs in your filter and just have extra noodles. But I would recommend you try source the media online from ebay or something so that you get all the media you need. Otherwise I would have your filter set up as follows:
Bottom: empty
First (lowest) basket: noodles with a blue sponge (the coarsest sponge you can get)
Second basket: Noodles again with black sponge
Third basket: Noodles with filter wool
Forth basket: carbon if you want to include carbon (note that carbon isn't necessary and I've never bother with it in my filters).

As for buying eggs - its a lot of fun. You get to see them develope and grow and it ensures they are raised how you want them to be. That said, it is a lot of work and I would probably reccommend you get a juvie before eggs as eggs can go terribly wrong terribly easily. If you do enough research and know you will have the time to invest into the eggs though I would go that way.

As for emmyk, she is very lovely and has a very gorgeous lotl but as far as I'm aware she doesn't breed. There are a few very reputable breeders on here though that will ship. And they have a range of sizes from eggs to juvies and all sorts of colours.
 
Possum63 said:
Hello

I'm sorry, I thought I had posted a reply for your filter but it doesn't seem to have gone through.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it seem like I was ignoring you! I just see thing a lot better when they're numbered (and it's not late at night).

Thank you for the advice, would I put the noodles on top of the sponge, or underneath of them? And why do you leave the bottom one empty? Excuse all the questions, I just want to make sure I get it exactly perfect.
 
PatchworkClocks said:
I know of a few people who buy from breeders online. The axolotls ship in a day, and if you buy from the right person they will be in good health when they arrive. It's not the best option, I realize, but I figured I'd throw the suggestion out anyway.
Click to expand...

Oh no, I appreciate the input. I've been toying with the idea, seeing as how the local pet store has left me with no choice, but eggs sounded like fun. I didn't get my job like I was hoping, so I'll have more time on my hands. My boyfriend wants to help too, so it'll make the task quite a bit easier. I'll have to wait until at least November to get them, but it'll be worth the wait for the right care. Plus, I know once he sees them as babies he'll want to keep one of his own, hehehe :cool:
 
No worries. I would leave the bottom empty only because I wouldnt know what to put there. Thats where the bio balls would go normally. you could put even more noodles there if wanted, it wouldnt harm. And normally the sponge goes in the top of the noodles but I dont think it really matters :)
 
Ah man sorry you didnt get the job, that sucks! But at least youll be able to raise lots of babies :p just make sure you can source everything they will need i.e daphnia, live blood worms ect to keep them fed and keep their water clean and you should be fine :D
 
Actually, I had a question about keeping the water clean; tap water is an absolute no no, correct? I mean, if I'm changing water for them, I probably won't want to use chlorinated water?

I was also thinking bbs for food until they'd be big enough for blood worms.
 
Tap water is absolutely no no depending on where you live unless it is treated (aged). For example, I lived on my parents farm for a month with my lotls and because their water is a mixture of spring water and rain water I didn't have a problem using tap water (It hadn't been treated like town supplies and I knew it had no hard metals that would be detrimental to my lotls heath). Now I live in town I need to treat all tap water.

All you have to do though is get a good decholorinator and everytime you do a water change treat it first. Normally people will treat and then let it set a hour or two to bring to room temp and make sure the ager has worked, but this isn't always necessary :)

Foods for freshly hatched include microworms, bbs, daphnia... thats all I can think of atm. Then you can move onto live bloodworms once they are slightly bigger. After that and once they will accept dead food you have a huge range of options :)
 
Thanks so much for all the help, sorry the reply took so long! It occurred to me however that my cat is entirely too inquisitive for his own good, and would probably kill all the babies. He tries to love on anything bigger than him and eat anything smaller :p Soo, babies are out of the question until I can get a space that I could kick the cats out of. Mail order juvies it is!

So with the water, is there a good dechlorinator that you would recommend? I was looking at some at the pet store that was sort of an all in one nitrate, nitrite and chlorine dropper, but I'd like to get input first.

When I get the chance, I'll post pictures of my filter so that I can find out if it's missing anything, and if so what I need to get for it. Also, my...(I'll call him father in law for ease :p) just got a new HOB filter and aquarium ornaments for his goldfish tank. I was wondering if I could take any of his old ornaments and keep them in sealed plastic bags until I get my tank up and running, so that I would have some bacteria to get the cycle started. Also, I cleaned his old filter to see if it would still be operable at all, but I may have broken it (whoops). Can I use the sponge in it for media in my canister?
 
As far as using the sponge, it's a great idea... But remember it has to stay in the cycled water until you use it. If it's been out of the water, all the bacteria dies off quickly... :D
 
SariYappa said:
As far as using the sponge, it's a great idea... But remember it has to stay in the cycled water until you use it. If it's been out of the water, all the bacteria dies off quickly... :D
Click to expand...

Ah, well in that case I think everything is probably dead by now then! Haha, is it still a decent idea to use it though? I figured it would be better than buying a new one.
 
If it's not going to be beneficial with bacteria, i would go new. Goldfish are very dirty, and extremely high in amonia :(

That's just my opinion though. Good luck :happy:
 
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