Fishless cycling and Axie fridging?

[InsanityAxolotl]

Hi, its getting hot in sydney and ive bought a mini fridge set at 10c for my axies, doing daily water changes etc, but im wondering, my skinny axolotl is eating while at temps around 6-10c, is this fine at this temp? ive seen people say not to feed at low temp, but she is skinny and seems to be putting on weight now, im just worried about compaction,

Also while they are in here, im trying to keep my 70l cycled,
Im using Dr tims fishless cycle ammonia and keeping it at 2ppm, but my query is do i still have to 20% water change each week?
or maybe every 2 weeks in these stages?

Thank you in advance

 

[layna]

If you are doing a fishless cycle then the only time you need to do water changes is AFTER it had finished cycling where you want to do around 30% daily until the nitrATE is less than 40ppm.
Dont forget to does ammonia everyday whilst your axies arent in there (stop adding the day before you add your axies). Then you can add your axies to the tank and do once weekly water changes of around 20-30%

As for feeding your skinny lottle at 10c its not to cold to feed them so just keep feeding but dont feed as much as you would when they were in say 16c, try to keep their tummy the same width as their head.

 

[InsanityAxolotl]

Thank you, but the tank is already cycled, i just want to keep it cycled without them in there, so how often do you think i should water change an already cycled tank with no fish

?

 

[layna]

Sorry i missed that part.
I would continue to do a 30% weekly water change just to keep the nitrATE down and make it less hassle when you put the guys back in, otherwise you will have off the chart nitrATEs that you will need to bring down.
I would only dose around 1ppm of ammonia a day, not 2ppm, it might overload your cycle.

 

[Possum63]

Hello

Feeding in the fridge: as far as I'm aware feeding in the fridge doesn't usually work because of the lower temps means the axy's metabolism is slowed right down so they normally refuse food. It isn't dangerous to feed your axolotl at cold temps it's just that they don't normally eat. You don't need to worry about feeding in the fridge causing compaction because the fridge is commonly used to help a constipated axy get better or when an axy has swallowed pebbles and is at risk of compaction. In short, it helps them poop heaps lol

Now as for keep your cycle alive a easy way to do it - add all your axy poop from their fridge containers into your tank. It will mimic the ammonia load that your axys would normally provide when in the tank. If you don't have enough poop (If your axys are like mine and only poop every couple of days) then just use your ammonia stuff to help keep the cycle going on the days you don't have poop.

Like the other member said - you won't need to do water changes but if you don't want a huge hassle when it comes to putting your lotties back in just keep your normal water changes going