Question: New Axolotl owner, read plenty (now: diary of Fred's new owner)

[dazkeirle]

it's pretty simple, i have a hood with basically two large wholes in the front for access.

On one side i have 4x fans and i block the remainder of the whole, on the other side i leave a 4" square whole and block the remainder.

This forces the air to move across thet tnk after being sucked in and out the extremem opposite side.

When it's warm i place a small 1 litre ice bottle directly beneath the fans, the fans movement keep the bottle in place and the air blows over the ice and increases evaporation.

Without the bottle, fan alone this morning the tank was 16.9, I'm sure it will go lower though. Very effective.

One thing you must be warey of though is evaporation removes pure water and leaves behind minerals and waste and after a while can leave you with slightly thick slimy water.

I ensure I keep the tank topped up each day with water to replace that lost but i also float some j-cloth on the surface to lick up the slimy film that can form.

Every saturday I'm doing a 20% water change, just to ensure that I'm diluting down any remaining particles from the water.

Just finished building my hatcheries for baby brine shrimp so I'm ready to be a parent, just waiting to hear about eggs I'm on a promise for.

Exciting times.

 

[dazkeirle]

Hi all,

Last night I took the plunge and installed Fred's new external filter, a Rena XP2.

I have to say that I'm very impressed by this thing, I followed the instructions to the t, and it all just worked. No priming issues, no filtration issues, just very easy install.

I suppose I'm most impressed with the attachment system which means i now have a very effective inlet at one side and i've got a spray bar at the other, with a stop valve in line turned all the way down to control current. It's absolutely silent, no noise whatsoever.

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I attached it to the the back of the tank with Duct tape, to avoid damaging the tank backing. All worked well. The lid now just sits on top on a slight angle, but the tube are where the cutouts are so doesn't move around and no vibrations so no noise. I was going to modify the hood so it would sit flush, but don't think i can be bothered. you dont notice it.

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When setting up, i put some of the old foam filter medium into the bio tray alone with the stars i bought to hopefully encourage some bacteria exchange.

The best thing is that the pace the old box was taking up in the tank is gone now, meaning more swimming room for fred. I just need to get a tall plant to hide the tubes.

p.s. also am growing some marimo moss balls int he other tank for eventual transfer to Fred's.

​

Update over, if anyone needs help with a Rena XP2, I'm your man. £40 well spent indeed.

 

[dazkeirle]

Just a little update, well the reason it hasn't updated for a while is that things have just been fine and dandy.

Fred obviously has his new mate in the other tank (Barney from "Diary of Barney") but he's just a very happy content Axie nowadays.

For his age he's now very active and swims all the time which is great to see.

He gets a little jealous of the wild one every other evening as he's on usually daily feeds, but I throw Fred some bloodworms to stop him stropping.

As Barney enjoys his Moss Balls so much I bought Fred some today (and tried him with 1 or Barneys last week). I'm excited for the little guy as he loves new things and think he's gonna enjoy kicking them about.

I suppose it's now just a waiting game for Barney to get up to size to get him in with his buddy, but then we all know as soon as that happens there's gonna be another pet in the tank, I just couldn't have it empty.

Something I'm toying with is adding Shrimp to the tank for entertainment and life, and so that may be something that happens soon.

The only other thing I suppose I should comment is I thought I'd lost Fred the other day, he was nowhere to be found in his tank. After investigating he was actually sat on my Rena's spray bar at the top of the tank.

The bar is fully submerged but I did freak that he was so near the surface so gave him a bit of a fright when I pushed him off. He wasn't very happy about that but hasn't done it since.

He has also decided that swimming is quite a lot of effort and has been practising swimming to the top or half way up the tank and then slowly gliding around until landing and starting again, lol.

Right now Fred still has the dim blue LEDs from his old tank, but to be honest they arn't enough for the big tank so I think I'll soon be moving that over and buying Fred either more, or a light tube, I just don't want anything too bright or hot.

That's a rap for now

 

[ted22]

Mate ive ordered some moss balls after seeing that your axies love em! Go Moss Balls!!!

 

[dazkeirle]

Mate they're ace, they become the most played with thing in the tank.

My Juvie love to stand up on them with his front feet, very fun to watch.

I think they just look funky rolling around (although they don't bob like you see in some videos).

I'm tempted to keep a few out, stick em in half a coke bottle on the window sill full of water packed with fertilizer and see how much faster they grow.

Would love to have some larger ones, my biggest is about 2.5" across but that's still big enough

 

[dazkeirle]

Here's Fred, today with his new lighting on trying to get that last little worm thats fallen under the Moss ball:

YouTube - Fred the axolotl feeding

And here he is a few moments earlier snapping away at a worm (sorry it's shaky, my phone was on the blink and had no visuals on the screen):

YouTube - Fred the axolotl snapping at worms

 

[dazkeirle]

perhaps a little too much change at once for Fred,

This weekend I gave his tank a move around, placing his hide at one end and his bogwood together. The purpose being that at some point another hide will be places the other end for Barney.

It appears Fred isn't best pleased about the move around as has been sulking in his hide ever since, barely coming out to play and only to grab his food.

I hope he doesn't think I do these things to annoy him, all for his own good.

Hopefully the little grumpster will snap out of it soon enough and be back to his old self.

 

[dazkeirle]

It's a very exciting day in my Axie world, after much deliberation I had decided that Fred and Barney should stop having to glare at each other through the glass.

While not ready just to bunk with each other due to size difference I want them to become friends and so constructed a divider using leftover moss wall mesh and some suction cups and zip ties.

Due to my 3D backing I had to make a mess that would extend the full length of the back wall and then jut out towards the front of the tank.

Te issue I had was how to divide the tank, 50/50, based on size, straight across? Afer consulting with Ted I went for an angled wall giving each Axie 18 inches in their shortest side and 21 inches in their longest.

I gave Barney's partition the side with the longest wall as opposed to glass as he loves to climb. I've left the 2 giant moss balls with Barney as Fred's side is already pretty filled with places for him to rest his eyes.

The whole process was painless and the two right now are relaxing in the left side of their partitions. There has been no snapping or aggression just signs of interest.

The divider will stay as long as necessary, over the next few days the 60 litre tank will become the shrimp farm, the new filter is already in there cycling, and I have 2 cocunut shell / java moss caves for the little critters (and a million moss balls lol).

This wouldn't be one of my posts without photos and a video, so for fans of my Axie story here you go.

Video:

sorry it's dark to begin with, it does get lighter when the lights go on.

YouTube - Fred and Barney together at last

Photos:

 

[dazkeirle]

After several hours of observation and an entire night there are no signs of aggression.

This morning Barney took a nice gulp of air for buoyancy and began to show Fred what he was all about, swimming.

While Fred has had to trade have of his tank, I think he's enjoying the entertainment of the little-un climbing and swimming about, I just hope he doesn't think he's food.

Time will tell but I can't see Barney needing to go back to his old tank, happy days.

 

[femme]

Ha Ha! that was awesome
I'm pretty sure it won't be long til they are together, they already look best of friends
You do know they will now be plotting together to find a way to break their wall and one morning you will get up and they will be hanging out together in Fred's hide
A closet kylie and Jason fan huh Daz?

 

[dazkeirle]

haha, I set up a bloody audio swap. Didn't think the audio would be heard lol.

The tune seamed fitting for the moment. :blush:

I will reward them with worms if they manage to get through my pen, I tell ya that thing is supper sturdy. I went a little OTT on the size of the suction cups, I reckon I'll pull the glass apart before I get them off.

 

[MaddogJones]

There is no doubt in my mind that Barney will get into Freds side (if I am right in thinking Barney is the wildtype).

I know Barneys type - he'll jump it, just you wait

 

[dazkeirle]

haha it would not surprise me,

99% of the time he's swimming or climbing, he is rarely on the ground.

He has about 2 inches of air to jump if he wants to get over the barrier. I'm fairly sure he won't climb that, but he could jump it echo the dolphin style I'm sure.

Luckily they are in a really chilled environment and certainly no reason to get freaked so hopefully it won't happen.

I think they'll be fine together now, even with the size difference, but I'm gonna leave it a little while to get Barney's size up a bit more and for them just to get really used to each other.

Barney has been good fro Fred, before he was a bit lazy and rarely swam, we used to call him grumpy, but now he's seen the life Barney has he's far more motivated and is rarely in his hide, swimming about all the time or climbing.

He is very interested in Barney and what he's about and often peers through, seens Barney doing something, storms off for a bit then can be seen trying to copy the other side of the tank.

The best example of this is standing on hind legs which Barney often does, I've caught Fred practising several times recently.

I just hope Barney isn't a female, there's no denying Fred is a male, considering his balls are almost human size (yes I know they're not really balls) but certainly look like it. I'd be afraid that Barney may be subjected to Fred's sexual frustration.

Fred does have his own trick though, which I've yet to catch on camera where he's stood horizontally on the ground, but points his tail up, dead straight, just like a dog. It's mad when he does it, and is just one of the many other dog like characteristics he has. I often wonder if his previous owners dog was in the conservatory where he lived.

 

[Shizeric]

It's mad when he does it, and is just one of the many other dog like characteristics he has. I often wonder if his previous owners dog was in the conservatory where he lived.

When he starts barking I hope you catch that on camera.

 

[dazkeirle]

well last night was an experience.

I thought it may have been time to remove the divider in the tank, to allow Barney and Fred to co-exist and make friends, however things didn't go as expected.

What happened was this:

• to begin they didn't really notice each other.
• Fred turns around as Barney approaches.
• Barney snaps at Fred tail, I put a net between them just in case
• 10 minutes pass
• then they walk around for a bit, then walk to each other head to head.
• another surprised snap.
• I'm on hand with net to separate at all times.
• everything dies down and all of a sudden they're on top of each other tail wrapped around each others faces with no issues
• as they walk away a surprised snap from Barney.
• 10 minutes pass
• Barney sits on the grass in the corner
• Fred comes from under, getting very interested in his flapping gills
• He stalks em, I'm panicking after a while he walks away.
• 10 minutes pass, and Freds the other side of the tank
• Barney comes in behind and generally snaps again.

5 Snaps over about 40 minutes, pretty much every time together, 4 from Barney, 1 from Fred.

I decided it wasn't time and the divider went back up. No injuries, just a little stress from them both.

I guess now wasn't the time?
Or Barney's still too playful?
Or this is normal and the surprised snapping at dangly bits passes?

All I know is it was a very stressful time, the only times I could tell if they were getting on was when they were next to one another. Those are the times snapping happened. My heart could not take any more.

I have videos of everything but will need editing due to my sounding little a little woman with my stressed whining and all the accidental swearing. lol

So that's that for now. Any advice?

 

[dazkeirle]

Well i spent a great deal of time consoling myself with Ted yesterday and in the end I decided that last night Id give things another try.

This time i didnt remove the wall entirely I just folded it back so the could get at each other.

They've been together for over 12 hours now, and in all the time i was in the room there was no aggression, just plenty of sitting on each others heads and playing.

I feel that perhaps on the first try they were upset because i was stood over it, with a net, making then either think it was feeding time or worrying them by interfering.

This time Ive just let them to it, and they seem fine.

 

[ted22]

Wehey! Nice one! That was probably the scariest thing you are ever gonna have to do!

 

[dazkeirle]

Well after a full 18 hours together they are happily playing together.

I've seen it all, foot on mouth, balls on head, lifting and flipping each other, tail slaps the lot. If it were going to kick off again, it surely would have done. I think looking at em now the only reason it would kick off if I were to try and seperate and so the divider is gone!

Crazy creatures who now seem so much happier to have company.

Also have successfully fed with no issues. Here are two vids for you guys to see the two together (sorry Barney is quite camo on film, switch to HD mode to see em better).

YouTube - Fred and Barney the Axolotls happily playing

YouTube - Fred and Barney the Axolotls, after 18 hours the best of pals

 

[dazkeirle]

All is good in the land of Fred and Barney. They are the best of friends now.

Keeping 2 axies is different to keeping 1 in a tank, there are things you need to be aware of.

Being a little rough with water changes and/or moving items around in the tank can really annoy axies. I found this out the hard was and upset Fred. He wasn't used to the position of a few fake plants and was lashing out at them after the water change. Barney got in his way and got a little snap.

Barney backed off and left him alone, a few minutes later Fred was back, at twice his size, feeling sorry for himself and wanting to make up and get some contact again.

I now know I need to be a bit careful with water movement.

Anyway Fred is still an old man, and last night went to "sleep" in his hide about 6pm, but Barney being Barney wanted to stay up and swim, and swim he did.

5 hours straight of doing lengths in the 3ft wide tank, it's no wonder he's so svelt.

Fred occasionally popped his head out to say, keep it down!

It's so monotonous I wanted to catch it on video, but to spare you 5 hours of swimming, here's a very cute 3 minute highlight. switch to HD for better viewing.

YouTube - Barney the Axolotl swims lengths as Fred sleeps

note. Barney has been staying in Fred's hide with him, but to avoid potential aggression about territory there is now another hide at the other side of the tank, not shown in this video though.

 

[nixx1985]

WOW took me 4h to read this whole thread lol. Amazing stuff btw and very detailed. I am cycling my tank at the moment and waiting for my axie to be available since the stores are out of stock at the moment. I am wondering how old are your axie? and how big is your new tank? I read it somewhere but too lazy to look for the page it was on . Cuz I want to get 2 also but you are not suppose to but juvi together since they bite each other or some sort. And there is no way i can afford 2nd tank for which i'll combine at the end. let say in the future i buy a new juvi and add em with my adult axie, appearantly tat is not suggested also. So if I want 2 axie, i have to buy them both now and raise em together, i guess??