How do I tell if my filter is too powerful?

[FireStar]

Yeah, like the title says. How do I tell if my filter is too powerful for my axies?

My tank is 65L x 35W x 31H (cm)
My current filter is 5.5L x 5W x 22H (again in cms)

I think it's an Aqua One.
The axolotls came with filter. There previous owner had them with it for 2 years and I though it would be fine with me too but when I put it on they freaked out and swum all over the place.

I tried to create a spray bar but I'm not sure how effective it is.

Any tips or advice?

 

[Olivia97]

Are they stressed? Curled forward gills and a hooked tail are signs of stress.

 

[mackinthebox]

Ive got an internal filter in mine, its got a pretty strong current so I placed a big rock in front of it
My axies have a great time dropping down into the current and riding it to the other side of the tank!! they actually seem to have a blast doing this, lol

As for telling if they dont like it most of the posts Ive seen here have said to watch their gills, if theyre stressed out by the current you will seem the curve very far forward, its very noticeable
Also, the tip of their tail may bend or curve at a sharp angle very near the end of the tip when they are stressed as well

 

[FireStar]

They were thrashing about when I first put the filter on, now they're hiding away from it. I can't quite tell if their gills are forwards facing. Their tails aren't curled, but it's a bit hard to tell with Saturn cause he's missing the tip of his (came like that, hopefully will re-grow).

Also, I tried to feed them but they both spat the food back out.

 

[FireStar]

Still, all help is appreciated:happy:

 

[miguelmannao29]

my filters a stingray elite 10 in a 10 gallon tank as recomended. i just set mine up yesterday. when i turned it on it looked like my 3 juvies were getting sucked in and they were all over the place aswell.. so i decided to turn the filter off...

 

[FireStar]

Yeah, I don't know if it good for the filter or the tank, but I now have the filter facing the wall. The axies seem ok about it.

When I had it the right way around, they were going absolutely psycho swimming about, kick sand everywhere

 

[Kaysie]

It's better to have no filter at all and have to do extra water changes than it is to have too strong of a filter.

 

[FireStar]

Ok, how often should I been changing the water?

 

[matto]

From my experience axolotls really don't like any water movement, so like Kaysie said it's better not to have a filter if you can get away with it (unless you can get a very small one), I don't really know how often your meant to change the water but I don't have any filter and change a bit every day, your tank is the same as mine roughly so why not try without?