New comers!

[HayleyK]

So I finally have more to my axolotl family. Introducing Pablo the golden and Pedro the wildtype. They're so freakin tiny I can't even deal with it. This is my first time with babies. They're about 4 months old and are about 1.5-2 inches in length. I was told they are slow growers.

They're in a separate tank from Carlos, my bigger axolotl (also a good, long form of quarantine).

They were on sand but was concerned with ingesting sand when eating bloodworms. I removed the sand and have a few large white pebbles (will be removed once it's turned dangerous).

I used the water from my original tank and a quarter of new fresh treated water.

I'm feeding them chopped up bloodworms. How many times a day? Is there something else?

They have a small filter that's flow is being blocked by a terracotta pot plant.

Any other suggestions?

 

[HayleyK]

Pablo

 

[digitalxri0t]

Growth rate depends on a few things. Quality of water, quality of food, temperature and the axolotl itself. Mine were laid in the middle of october and are at anywhere between 1 to 1.5

Water quality is super super super SUPER important with these guys (they're dirty D but especially with little ones because they can be fussy. Not hard to manage though with a decent filter and water changes. (Good job with stemming the flow!) When I was feeding blood worms I fed once a day at a regular time, this encouraged them to eat the cube or chunk I got for them within a reasonable amount of time without leaving it to rot in the tank. They may still be hungry after this, each one eats differently, you'll have to adjust to what they want to take in and watch closely, it'll help too with noticing if they get ill or anything along those lines.

Super cute by the way, I love golds but your wild is pretty too!

 

[HayleyK]

What makes babies so much dirtier than adults? Now I understand human babies are pretty messy, but axolotls?! :lol:

How often should I change the water? I do it once a week in my big tank about 20-30%.

They had about half a cube each, they're both got pudgy little tummies so that'll do for now. The guy fed them on black worms should I go back? He also had 50 in a 4 footer, I doubt all of them got to eat properly so hopefully they grow with my TLC

Thanks, they are very cute! I can't stop looking at them. I was originally just going to get a gold but this one was so cute I hope it stays a lighter color so I don't confuse him with Carlos!

 

[digitalxri0t]

I should clarify; They're dirty at all ages but more so as adults. Babies aren't as bad but still dirty little things LOL

How often depends on the size of tank you have them in. If it's a 10 gallon or something I'd say just change their water when you do the other tank. If it's smaller I'd say every few days.

Oh gosh the pudgy tummies. It's so much more obvious when they're that size! Ehh...black worms are good and bad. I always say feed live food, but black worms A) Burrow in sand B) Can hide under the pebbles leaving them safe and C) Pollute the water A LOT as well as hide in the filters and dirty it up faster. I say if they're eating the blood worms, save yourself the trouble and just do the blood worms. I have multiple juvies and babies and am SO done with black worms. In a space that big it's hard to say. Unless he was dumping food in by the handfuls it's likely you are right lol. Sometimes smaller is better with these guys. I'm sure they will, they have one on one attention from you, and love is key for them getting big! (or so I say >_>

I have several golds, so I know the feeling. And trust me, you'll be able to notice the difference, there'll be something to give him away when he's bigger even if he darkens up lol.

 

[HayleyK]

Oh it's much smaller only 4 gallons. It was supposed to be one axolotl - this always happens haha can never have too many! And they're only there temporarily. My partner was going to build an acrylic divider with holes in the big tank but they're both too tiny and will definitely end up as dinner so I'll just have to change they're water every few days. What's the chances of nipping? One is 2 inches the other is 1.5 inches.

Yeah I can't be bothered dealing with live food, looks like minced up bloodworms for now - easy to clean in a majority bare bottomed tank. When do I switch to cut up earthworms?
Yeah there were some that were 10cm from the same batch (separated though) so I'm guessing these guys are the runts

I can not wait to watch them grow and change color - especially anxious to see the gold as the gold parent died of a fungus. And see if the wildtype stays light! I guess mums can always tell the difference in kids even if their identical

Curious - What kind of gold do you think it'll be? A more yellow or more red?

Edit: why do my photos always end up the wrong way around if in my phone they are the right way up?

 

[digitalxri0t]

I'd do an 80-90% water change every 3/4 days, you can just pull the water out of the big tank and put it in theirs, it should be fine as long as the big tank has an established filter on it. Definitely don't do that lol, just leave them in the tank they're in, it's fine really. Nipping isn't an issue as long as they're well fed. The only time I had someone get a gill bitten or a foot chomped was because I ran out of food and the supplier kept having issues with shipping @_@ what a nightmare that was.

It's much easier that way. Sadly for me with as many as I have blood worms are no cost efficient so I'm stuck dealing with the black worms >P I kept 10 from my batch of 50, 4 of the biggest and 6 of the smallest, I noticed 99% of the wilds grew faster/better/stronger (heh) than the others, but then half the luecies caught up. As for the earth worms there's no set age. It depends on how big they get vs the worms and how inclined they are. I usually wait till mine are about 4 inches or forefinger length roughly to switch my kids to worms. I think it varies from person to person and of course axolotl to axolotl.

It's a fun process, and I'm sure the gold will be beautiful. (S)he has a good yellow coloring already and lots of iridiphores that will only get more vibrant the older it gets. Definitely yellow, the better the food the richer the color will be too. I have two grown axolotls from the same family and one is absolutely stunning, and the other is paler and more yellow than gold depending on how it's feeling. I'm going to be posting pictures of my gold here soon in my albums. I got some great shots of her today.

 

[HayleyK]

Yeah there's no way they're going into the big tank until they're much much bigger!

Ahhh I'm so excited to watch them grow!! I hope they're both stunning and vibrant.

Lastly - air stone or not to airstone??

 

[digitalxri0t]

Good good :3

I'm sure they will be, I've noticed wilds don't typically get too much darker after they hit a few inches. Here's hoping yours does stay light.

Don't bother. If they have the filter that should be pushing air into the water. Unless you see them coming up to the surface constantly to gulp for air (and not just learning how to float) they don't need it and it could cause unneeded stress for them.

 

[auntiejude]

I have 16 from the same brood, the biggest are 6.5cm, the smallest only 4cm. I have the 10 largest in a 60L (no airstone, just a filter), they get 2 cubes of frozen bloodworm a day and there's not much left! The 6 slightly smaller ones are still in a tub on one cube per day. I feed them in the evening, if all the bloodworm is gone in the morning I feed them a bit more. I treat them at the weekends with live daphnia or live bloodworms when I can get them, but frozen is fine.

You shouldn't get too much trouble with nipping if there's just 2 of them on a decent sized space - none of my 10 large ones have lost toes (yet), but my smallest lost some gills on one side before I separated them out by size (I call him Stumpy).

The tub gets a 100% change one day and 80% the next, the tank is fully cycled and gets a 50% change a week. If your tank isn't cycled yet you'll need to do regular checks on your water quality and more frequent changes.

They are little cuties though!

 

[HayleyK]

So roughly a cube a day for them? They're so small it doesn't look like they can fit much but they ate quite a bit

Yeah the tank has 3/4 tank water from old tank and 1/4 new treated water. The filter was a small one in the big tank (accompanied by a larger filter). I thought about throwing the small one out but thought it'd help with the big one atleadt, and it came in handy so I popped the small filter in small tank so I wouldn't have to worry about cycling it. But I will keep an eye on water readings.

Thanks, I'm in love already hehe