Question: New Owner, Doing My Due Diligence, Wondering About Water Depth

[Gimpdiggity]

Hi everyone!!

I'm going to be the proud parent of a juvenile axolotl tomorrow afternoon. I'm getting him (maybe a girl, it's young) from a local breeder.

I've put together a 10 gallon tank for the axie, and it has the following features:
--Tile on the bottom of the tank that has been placed with aquarium sealant so that she has something to easily grip while walking/moving
--A sponge style filter in the back corner hooked up to a very small air pump for filtration
--A "cave" thing that I bought from a local pet store for aquariums
--A fake set of roots/plants to offer as another hiding place
--All glass cover with an LED light that won't be used very often

I've used SeaChem Prime for the water conditioning.

I've got some frozen bloodworms for feeding, and a baster to get them down near the axie.

My question is regarding the depth of the water in the 10 gallon tank. The axolotl will be a juvenile, and I've read that I probably shouldn't fill the tank up all the way to the top. However, I'm not sure what depth I should be filling it to? Right now it's about 3/4 full, but I can easily syphon some out if that is too deep, or add some more if it should be deeper.

I look forward to being a part of the community here.

Jeff

 

[Charlotl]

As far as I know having deep water won't hurt anything. It is just more convenient for cleaning and feeding. Although the deeper the water, the more ammonia and the like there can be without hurting the axolotl because it will be diluted. Just checking but is your tank cycled and what temperature is it going to stay at? If you have a mesh top instead of plastic or glass water can evaporate and will keep the tank cooler if that is something you need to worry about.

 

[AxolotlChris]

Deep water is not an issue as the lakes that Axolotls originate from are many feet deep. just don't fill to the top of the glass.

As Charlotl said, the more water the longer your Ammonia ect is kept at bay and a lid with vent holes to allow evaporation will aid your water temperature.

You'll want to look at a food which has more nutrients, small earth worms and pellets are nutritionally complete: Caudata Culture Articles - Worms

 

[Gimpdiggity]

As far as I know having deep water won't hurt anything. It is just more convenient for cleaning and feeding. Although the deeper the water, the more ammonia and the like there can be without hurting the axolotl because it will be diluted. Just checking but is your tank cycled and what temperature is it going to stay at? If you have a mesh top instead of plastic or glass water can evaporate and will keep the tank cooler if that is something you need to worry about.

Okay, that does make sense to me. The more water, the less easy it is for that water to get contaminated or overloaded with baddies.

I was going on a few spots that I had read that mentioned that small ones wouldn't like going quite so far to the surface to breath if they needed to.

Tank is not cycled...it's been running for several days, and I plan on doing daily water changes. I use well water and in the past I haven't really had any issues with fish in aquariums while letting them live in the tank while cycling.

Temperature is at about 66 right now as we keep the thermostat at 68, and this tank is in the lower level of the house. When it starts to get warmer, I will be looking into a chiller and possibly a larger tank, simply because I like the look of a bigger tank. Even in the summer, it seems like it rarely gets over about 68 in that lower level, so I may not end up needing the chiller even.

Deep water is not an issue as the lakes that Axolotls originate from are many feet deep. just don't fill to the top of the glass.

As Charlotl said, the more water the longer your Ammonia ect is kept at bay and a lid with vent holes to allow evaporation will aid your water temperature.

You'll want to look at a food which has more nutrients, small earth worms and pellets are nutritionally complete: Caudata Culture Articles - Worms

I was doing a LOT of reading on what to feed him, and I couldn't really figure it out. There seems to be so many people that feed so many things. I decided to keep him on bloodworms for a bit because that's what the breeder had been feeding her.

Earth worms would be good for me, as I can easily obtain them from several local places, and even in my yard in the nicer weather...I don't use any chemicals on the lawn at all.

I read that Newt and Salamander pellets can be a good choice, but the ones at the store seemed like they were so small, so I ended up passing on them. I will probably go back and get some, though, as I now realize that the axolotl himself isn't really very big yet.



Thanks for the input, guys!! :happy:

 

[AxolotlChris]

As you said your Axolotl is a juvenile so smaller pellets shouldn't be an issue. Try starting on cut up earth worms soon and gradually phase out the blood worm.

 

[Gimpdiggity]

I think I'll be trying to switch from the bloodworms pretty quick.

I noticed tonight after feeding that the water was fairly cloudy. This occurred immediately after feeding, and an ammonia test yielded what my wife and I were both certain was a color closer to 0 than to .25 PPT.

I did a bit of reading, and found quite a few references on various forums of frozen bloodworms causing cloudy water.

I was planning on taking out 20% of the water, then adding back in 40% more...seeing as the tank isn't anywhere close to full yet, so hopefully that will help.

I've also found that if I kind of strain the water that I am thawing the bloodworms in after they are thawed, that will probably help with the issue a bit.

On my days off I'll be going to grab some pellets and some earthworms, so hopefully I won't be worrying about feeding the bloodworms for more than another few days.

Other than the slightly cloudy water (which now, three hours later is noticeably clearer already) Europa seems to be doing fine. It swims a bit, eats happily, and has no signs of stress from viewing his actions or his gills.

 

[AxolotlChris]

Sorry for the late reply.

That sounds good, the water change will hopefully help with the cloudy water.

What dechlorinator are you using?(brand)

Keep ontop of your water testing to follow your cycle!