Help needed, new axolotl owner

[danchristopher]

URGENT Help needed, new axolotl owner

Hi, first post!!


So for my boyfriends birthday his sister got us a fish tank to put an axolotl in. She came over and setup the filter and put water in, but didn't mention to us anything about water conditioner or how a tank has to cycle with bacteria to get the right water balance.

We had the filter running for about 3-4 weeks in the water with nothing else in it except gravel before my boyfriend got excited one day and decided we should go buy an axolotl.

We returned home with two axolotls, water conditioner and some plants. I mentioned that I didn't think the tank was big enough for the two axolotls but he seemed to think it was fine and that his sister had said it would be.

I will never ever let him do anything like this again without some serious research because I am now terrified about what we might have done to these axolotls.
The tank is about 50x25x35cm and so holds barely 40 litres of water, while I have read that in lab conditions this is how they would generally be kept, we are obviously not running a lab and they need more room.

Once I did some more research on how to setup a fish tank I realised that we had made several mistakes. Unfortunately the stores who sold us the axolotls didn't really give us much information regarding having a properly setup tank or anything like that

So, I went out and purchased a big 3ft tank with a (much) better filter which I have setup and have had running for 24 hours now, I have put some plants in it and used Stress Zyme to put bacteria in the water.

My question is:
When is the earliest I can move the axies into this new tank? I know a tank has to cycle for as long as possible to get the bacteria going but I am extremely worried that their current tank is doing more damage to them than the new tank would.

I tested the water for pH and ammonia - the pH was around 7.6 which I have read is fine, but the ammonia levels look like they're getting up to the 2ppm mark which I have read can be fatal. I do not have a nitrite/nitrate tester but am about to run down to the shops and grab one.

One of the axolotls is very active and he likes to kind of bash around near the glass which makes me wonder if this is him stressing out because of water quality...
I have been doing regular water changes over the past few days of about 20% and the ammonia levels are not going down.

Would it be a better idea to put them into the new, bigger tank and do frequent water changes while it cycles?

The last thing I want is to see these axolotls harmed or stressed cause of what we have done to them. I already feel bad enough!
Any help would be great!!
Thanks.

 

[carsona246]

Re: URGENT Help needed, new axolotl owner

cycling is more than leaving your tank running for 3 weeks with the filter on. Cycling is the process of growing good bacteria that converts ammonia (worst toxin commonly found in tanks) to the slightly less dangerous nitrite, to the least deadly nitrate. You should google the nitrogen cycle and learn more about it, but seeing as you already have the axolotls you will be doing the cycle with your axolotls. I recommend you just switch your axolotls to the large tank now, it sounds like the smaller tank isn't cycled at all seeing as there is ammonia. Is there any nitrite by chance in the tank? If not, just make the switch now, more water equals more wiggle room for you. You should be checking the tank for ammonia on a daily basis and doing waterchanges whenever it reaches over .5 ppm's of ammonia. One thing that will help with the cycling process is plants, but you will need a ton of them, and a proper light that will allow them to grow. If you don't already have a ton of plants right now, i'd just cycle them regularly because plants can get pricey, and really wont help that much in the cycling process unless you have a ton that are growing quickly.
Another thing, you said you added gravel to your tank. Remove that asap, axolotls have a problem with ingesting gravel and getting impacted. I recommend bare bottom or sand substrate for your 3 foot tank. Sounds like you're doing your research now, and while it's usually better to research before, its better late than never. If you have any more questions feel free to ask, there are tons of people on here who know their stuff and like to help out.
edit: one last thing, if there is nitrite in your tank, you can always move the filter over to the 3 ft tank, and run both filters at the same time. Beneficial bacteria actually grows on surfaces, and does not float around in the water, so moving the filter to the other tank would hopefully transfer the majority of the bacteria you have to the new tank as well. Also thought i'd add this article on cycling in case you hadn't done any research on the nitrogen cycle yet and had no clue what I meant. http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

 

[danchristopher]

Re: URGENT Help needed, new axolotl owner

Thanks for your info.
I have been reading up on tank cycling a lot and understand about the bacteria and how ammonia is converted and things like that, which is how I came to the realisation that what we did was very, very wrong.
I have quite a few plants already but will buy some more - at this point the budget for these little guys has been totally blown so I'm not really worried about that anymore and just want them to survive.

I will check for nitrite in the smaller tank and will move the filter across accordingly. The filter in the small tank has lots of little plant things growing over parts of it which causes me to think that there is good bacteria in there.

I read about gravel being bad (even though the people I've spoken to at the local pet shop seem to keep telling me it's fine :/), so in the new tank I have put large pebbles which they will not be able to swallow.

The larger tank comes equipped with a light fitting and I have a light in there now, does it matter what the strength of the light is? Will a stronger light be better?
The tank actually came with blue-lights that could be hung over the top, as there were turtles in it previously, however I have taken those lights out and am using a normal light bulb. Is this sufficient for plant growth?

And lastly, is there a guide somewhere as to the best way to move them from the smaller tank into the larger tank?
I read something about putting them into a bucket with some of their current water and adding in water from the new tank once every 15 minutes for an hour before making the move. Does this sound appropriate?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[fishcakey]

This is bound to come up.. but please tell me you replaced the gravel with a proper substrate?! Even pebbles can be really bad, you're better off just having a bare bottom tank if nothing else. There are some pretty bad horror stories about even very large pebbles (bigger than their head)

 

[carsona246]

Sounds like you're on your way. Your lighting needs to be in the 6500k spectrum of light(i think?), or you can just get a generic lightbulb that says for plants or daylight on it. When i went planted tank i got a cheapo light bulb from lowes that said fish and plants on it, and had 6500k spectrum lighting, and my plants did alright. Just make sure the bulb you get is for plants. I actually just took my lightbulb out to see the spectrum, and it's not on my bulb, so you may have to google your light bulb to see if it's plant friendly. The power of your light isn't super important, especially seeing as your keeping axolotls and don't want to stress them out with large lights. Just try to keep low light plants that grow quickly, and need minimal care.
Your description of acclimating your axolotls would be just fine. I usually move them in a tupperware container full of the old tank water and float the tupperware in the new water for about half an hour to get them used to the temp. After that I dip a side of the tupperware in the water for a second to allow a little water in every 5 minutes. The idea is to give them enough time to get used to the different temperature, and water condition.

 

[danchristopher]

Thank you again for your information

Have put the axolotls in their new home, there are plenty of plants and hopefully everything will work out with regular water changes.
Nikita seems to be enjoying her new surroundings, when we first put her in the smaller tank her she just hung up at the top of the tank not doing much....in the new tank she is wondering around the bottom exploring, however she is still refusing to eat. She seems interested in food, just won't open her mouth to take it.... I fed her tank mate and Nikita came swimming up and snapped at his mouth :S
When I tried to feed her afterwards, she was again despondent. :/

Am feeding her crickets as that's what the girl at the pet store told me she was eating previously but she has not eaten anything since she's been with us. Perhaps I should try some worms?

I am also a little concerned about water flow, I have a lot of plants underneath to lessen it but perhaps it's not enough? When either of them are sitting at the bottom of the tank underneath the filter their gills move minimally. Not much else in the tank moves (plants, etc.) except the plants directly under the filter itself, but the axies seem to like to hang out in that area...
Should I invest in a splash bar or how can I make one? Or does this amount of movement in the water sound reasonable? ..

 

[Aaran]

I just got another 2 axo's the otherday and had them down the motorway haha. They seemed a little stressed, but i got them both to eat the first night within minutes of moving into their new tank, try some frozenbloodworm at the bottom of the tank, drop it in at night and then let them eat in the darkness its a good way to settle them in, at the moment im having battles with my pair as they are trying to steal the pippette off me!

 

[erin24]

Goodluck! Petstores are awful with directions.

 

[iSuzie]

the best food for axolotls is earthworms they love them and they have the most nutrition for axolotls there are other foods you can feed them for treats and other stable foods that can become a main diet, but as for crickets, i have never heard of axies eating them so i have no idea haha but this is a little food table about foods i have previously written that might help you, hope this helps

Main Food's
Earthworms - best food for axolotls as they are the most nutritional food source for axolotls and should be organic and not sourced from the wild

Pellets - are a stable diet for axolotls and are available at pet shops

Black worms - are a nutritional source of food also available from aquarium shop not from the wild as these may have parasites

Treats
Bloodworm's - a good treat but are very messy and will require a big clean up after feeding

Meal Worms - axolotls can’t digest there outer shell so they are not ideal as main food but are good as a treat

Tuna - in spring water not brine or any flavoured water

Prawns - uncooked is best

Other Possibility's But Not Recommended {If Possible Avoid These Types Of Foods}
These following types of food are for if there is no other choice available to the owner and should be avoided
Feeder fish - most pet shops will recommend feeder fish but they can have nasty parasites also they can nip at the axolotl's gill and cause some damage - not recommended

Slugs - also can have parasites and nasty’s if sourced from the wild they should be - avoided

Tadpoles - not always easy to find and also can have parasites if found in the wild

Anything else found in the wild should also be avoided because of parasites and pesticides

 

[danchristopher]

Thanks for your posts, my axolotls are totally fine now and eat a healthy diet of earthworms and occasionally blackworms and frozen bloodworm. On the Caudata Culture page on foods for caudates it does mention crickets, although it says not for most aquatic caudates (I believe they are not 'meaty' enough for axies), my axolotls ate them up and seemed to enjoy them. As soon as I found other food I switched them over though they like their worms much better.

This thread should serve as a reminder to all to do your own research (!!) and not rely on the advice of others, be it family members (who've never actually had experience with axolotls) or people in pet stores who think they know what they're talking about !

 

[xxianxx]

Re: URGENT Help needed, new axolotl owner

I read about gravel being bad (even though the people I've spoken to at the local pet shop seem to keep telling me it's fine :/)

If you spend more than five minutes on this site you will get fed up of reading about pet shops and gravel.

 

[alamao]

I would recommend you use sand for the substrate thats what I use. you'll get cute little foot prints all over the bottom of the tank and they can swollow sand as they just digest it as with gravel they swollow it but can't dijest it and die an agonising death.. I have found it is damn well impossible to not find food for a adult axolotl in Australia (babys another problem). Use water conditioner aqua one seems to work best. You can feed axolotls slugs, snails without the shell, mealworms, earthworms, maggots, bloodworms, blackworms, in australia we have plenty of snails and slugs around so you can't not find food for them. I use Aqua One Water Conditioner and Axolotls don't like water current so I found its best to just have an air stone and have the filter on a timer that goes for a half hour every 3 hours but thats not nessesary really as It is best to do 25% water changes every few days and it keeps Ammonia levels down too.