So I've had Barnaby in the same tank since I got him a year ago, it was about 50L. I got a new bigger tank recently, which I worked out to be about 100L (28 gallons). Now we want to get a baby yabbie soon, and the idea is the put Barnaby into the bigger tank, and the yabbie into his old tank. We moved house about 3 weeks ago, and since then I'd say Barnaby has eaten only once or twice, and he wasn't eating very much just before we moved either. So I started slowly putting some of his water and sand into the new tank with some new water and sand, and putting some new water and sand into his old tank (trying to keep both of them with some bacteria). Yesterday I decided to just put him into the new tank, as it has the same proportion of old to new water and sand, but is much bigger, in the hopes this would make him happy so he'd eat again. Incidentally, it hasn't, he is still sulking and not swimming around a lot, but oh well.
Now, my question is - I had his old small filter and a new small filter on together in his new big tank, but I thought this might be too much water movement for him, so when I was at the fish store ogling the baby yabbies I bought a new filter, which said it was suitable for 80-150L. The guy recommended it, but when I got home I realised it might not be that great, based on it being an unrecognisable brand, the writing is all in asian characters, and it is frigging huge. Also, it doesn't say anywhere what the actual flow rate is. So I put it on anyway, on the slowest setting, and put the small new filter into the empty yabbie tank. But I decided to leave his old filter in there, because isn't all the bacteria mostly in the filter? But his old filter doesn't have an adjustable flow rate so now I'm worried his water flow is too high again. Should I just take his old filter out and let the new one build up it's own bacteria?
And then the other question is for when he starts eating properly again and is a bit more lively. Barnaby has been a pretty sickly little guy, he's had three bouts in the fridge and has always been skinny (I try and feed him as much as he'll take, which it why I'm so worried about his lack of eating), his stomach has never been as wide as his head, but it's an improvement on when I got him, when it was almost concave. Of course it's hard to tell when you see him every day, but I don't think he's grown since I got him. I don't know how old he was, but he is about 18cm from tip to tip. I wanted to move him to a bigger tank because I always feel sorry for him, just swimming back and forth in his tank, it must be boring. So now he has a bigger tank to swim back and forth in, that's an improvement, but I'd really like to get him a friend. But then I don't want his friend to hurt him. So, is this a normal size for an axolotl to get to? If I get him a friend of the same size, will he probably outgrow him and then pick on him? I always hear 30cm as the size axolotls grow to, and he is definitely not that long, I'm basically asking if that is the exception or the norm for them to get so big?
Oh, also, I want to get lots of plants for his new tank, is there anything to look out for that's no good for axolotls?
And I was thinking that since the tank is so tall, I could get one of those platforms that turtles have at the water level, but have it just half way up the tank, as something for him to rest on when he goes for a swim. Do you think he'd use that? I imagine they're quite expensive, but he usually likes sitting on top of his plants so I thought he might like it.
Now, my question is - I had his old small filter and a new small filter on together in his new big tank, but I thought this might be too much water movement for him, so when I was at the fish store ogling the baby yabbies I bought a new filter, which said it was suitable for 80-150L. The guy recommended it, but when I got home I realised it might not be that great, based on it being an unrecognisable brand, the writing is all in asian characters, and it is frigging huge. Also, it doesn't say anywhere what the actual flow rate is. So I put it on anyway, on the slowest setting, and put the small new filter into the empty yabbie tank. But I decided to leave his old filter in there, because isn't all the bacteria mostly in the filter? But his old filter doesn't have an adjustable flow rate so now I'm worried his water flow is too high again. Should I just take his old filter out and let the new one build up it's own bacteria?
And then the other question is for when he starts eating properly again and is a bit more lively. Barnaby has been a pretty sickly little guy, he's had three bouts in the fridge and has always been skinny (I try and feed him as much as he'll take, which it why I'm so worried about his lack of eating), his stomach has never been as wide as his head, but it's an improvement on when I got him, when it was almost concave. Of course it's hard to tell when you see him every day, but I don't think he's grown since I got him. I don't know how old he was, but he is about 18cm from tip to tip. I wanted to move him to a bigger tank because I always feel sorry for him, just swimming back and forth in his tank, it must be boring. So now he has a bigger tank to swim back and forth in, that's an improvement, but I'd really like to get him a friend. But then I don't want his friend to hurt him. So, is this a normal size for an axolotl to get to? If I get him a friend of the same size, will he probably outgrow him and then pick on him? I always hear 30cm as the size axolotls grow to, and he is definitely not that long, I'm basically asking if that is the exception or the norm for them to get so big?
Oh, also, I want to get lots of plants for his new tank, is there anything to look out for that's no good for axolotls?
And I was thinking that since the tank is so tall, I could get one of those platforms that turtles have at the water level, but have it just half way up the tank, as something for him to rest on when he goes for a swim. Do you think he'd use that? I imagine they're quite expensive, but he usually likes sitting on top of his plants so I thought he might like it.
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