Self-destructive behavior

[lauren]

My wildtype juvenile is beginning to get curved gills, which usually equals stress from filter flow. So I replaced his corner filter with the smaller version.

All this did was cause him to move closer to the filter intake! He is sitting right perpendicular to the flow (and has been for an hour), and his gills are getting more curled.

Do they not sense stress?

 

[cynthia]

Lauren - try taking the filter out for a few days and see if it makes any difference.

Some axolotls do have gills that curl forward naturally. I raised one in a container with no air stone, no filter, nothing and its gills were bent forward like it had been living in a fast stream.

 

[dev]

You can also raise the water level so the drop from the filter if external is not too high thereby reducing the flow.