New Axolotl Owner

[Shinreyu]

So I recently jut received my first golden albino axolotl in the mail 2 days ago. I had the tank set up for a few months cycling and my current readings are:

pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate 10-20? (Cant really tell on the freshwater master testing kit)

My temps today are around 70 but that's because it was a warmer than usual for this time of year. I'm hoping they drop again overnight.

I've been feeding him frozen bloodworms, he seems to eat about 4 or 5 a day before he loses interest.

I just hope i'm doing everything right...I tried to do as much research as possible before getting him. The first day I got him I noticed white flakes floating in the tank. He is really tiny, like maybe 2 inches, so I cant imagine what i could have been.

 

[AxolotlChris]

Congrats!

Best to do a 20-30% water change to get the Nitrate down. Have you continuously been feeding your cycle with an ammonia source the last few months?

Do you mean 4-5 blocks of frozen blood worm? Hes probably not interested because it doesn't move. Perhaps look at getting some Daphnia at this stage to change up the diet, brine shrimp is good also but make sure when you feed brine shrimp you suck them out with a syringe since they live in salt water, and you don't want to be adding a lot of salt water to your cycled tank.

How big is your tank?

not sure about the white flakes.. take a picture of your setup and Axolotl and post it, will give some more context to your situation

 

[Shinreyu]

Those were the readings I was getting after a 20% change last night so I will do another change later.

When I was cycling it I probably didn't add enough ammonia as I should have, honestly I was doing the nitrate test wrong until a week ago so i had no idea if I was cycling it properly because I wasn't seeing any results. I'll post a picture of the setup later but right now I have a bare bottom tank with some rocks and a couple decorations, nothing crazy.

I will try to get some daphnia, there's a local fish store nearby I can check. I think the blood worms a re a little difficult for him to eat. I see him try to swallow it and sometimes he spits it out and tries to swallow it again.

I have a 20 gallon tank also, Its a little big for him right now but im sure he'll grow into it lol.

 

[AxolotlChris]

Yeah go for another water change, keep an eye on the water parameters. What testing kit do you use? When cycling there needs to be a source of ammonia most the time for the beneficial bacteria to thrive.

20 gallon for such a small axolotl is too big, the depth of the water should roughly be just longer than the length of the Axolotl depending on their physical ability to swim to the surface for air. So you really shouldn't have your water deep. The size of the tank also makes it a lot harder for the Axolotl to find the food, especially daphnia and brine shrimp. and yes it sounds like the frozen blood worm is too big for him, plus hes so young he will only really feed by sense of movement, Axolotl don't have a great sense of smell at this stage which is why daphnia and brine shrimp would be better suited. make sure when your get the daphnia that it comes from a good source, you don't want to be putting parasites and diseases into your tank/tub.

You might want to consider moving him to a large plastic food tub, one that wont leach chemicals into the water (good quality tub). This will make it easier to feed him and he will be able to get to daphnia and brine shrimp a lot easier. Change the water nearly everyday with dechlorinated water.

Pictures the sooner the better

 

[Shinreyu]

I was thinking about moving him into a smaller container because I have such a hard time finding him. I will give that a shot, thanks a lot for your help!

 

[SteGriffWales]

enjoy