Question: Shared tank

[mel]

Hi,
My name is Mel from Melbourne, Australia.
After much begging my 11 YO son obtained a black Axolotl.
2 years later we still have Hikaru, Son however has long lost interest.

Soooo, Mum, (me) have taken over the wee beastie.
I am quite fond of her but know little about their needs.

Still, she seems healthy.

I recently moved her from the gloom of my sons lair, into the sun room and she's sharing her tank with a large red commet.
I have put a glass divider in the tank, so the commet cant mistake Hikaru's frilly bits (lungs?) for fish food.


Hikaru has never seemed so animated and happy, she's swimming around, biting the bubbles from the filter/airiator, swimming to the top of the glass slope and sliding down again on her belly, she seems to be having a ball

The fish seems cool with the arrangement too
Is their any reason why I shouldnt do this?

 

[Snailbait]

Hi and welcome!

Firstly, I can't really see much from the pic as it's small, but it looks like you have gravel on the bottom? This can be extremely dangerous to axolotls, as they can swallow the rocks easily, which leads to impactions and other fatal problems. Sand, a bare tank, or very large pebbles (way bigger than your axolotl) are the way to go.

It's great that you seperated the goldfish, as they make terrible companions for axolotls.

If you're here to find out the best way to keep your axolotl, can you please tell us what Hikaru's current tank set up is? What are the water parameters (ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, pH etc.) and temperature, what sort of hides and things are in the tank, how often and what you feed her, and how big is the tank?

 

[mel]

:hmm
nitrates and stuff? wouldn't have a clue
We kept her in a 30x30x90 tank for 2 years with a bubbler thing. never changed the water completely, just 1/3 fresh every month or so, the tank kept amazingly clean.
no additions to the water.
play things- she had a deep ceramic vase to hide in, now I've moved things around a bit, she has a slide (the diagonal glass floor), her vase, a piece of aged driftwood to climb on, a walnut tree branch, and the fish to bump noses with. and a wine cork.
we feed her every 2 days in summer, every 3-5 in winter.
Frozen prawns (defrosted) garden worms and grubs, very lean fresh meat when I cant find a worm.

She now only has half the space, but I move the glass partition every day to give her a supervised swim with the fish. I can change the angle of the glass to vary her habitat shape and size.
I have two separate bubblers in the tank so they get plenty of oxygen.

Water temp, whatever it is in the ambient temp sunroom, winter 5-21C summer 15-35C if i dont have the air con on

she seems fine with this, my question was really about the effects of sharing the tank with the fish, goldfish are notoriously dirty, even if you change water frequently, they poo a lot

Mel

 

[Mac Myers]

:hmm
nitrates and stuff? wouldn't have a clue

You'll need a test kit or a pet store that can test your water regularly.

We kept her in a 30x30x90 tank for 2 years with a bubbler thing. never changed the water completely, just 1/3 fresh every month or so, the tank kept amazingly clean. no additions to the water.

What are the dimensions on that dual setup? The old dimensions were good. It's hard to tell from the picture but the setup looks completely unsuitable. And I mean COMPLETELY. What is the bubbler thing? A Filter?

play things- she had a deep ceramic vase to hide in, now I've moved things around a bit, she has a slide (the diagonal glass floor), her vase, a piece of aged driftwood to climb on, a walnut tree branch, and the fish to bump noses with. and a wine cork.
we feed her every 2 days in summer, every 3-5 in winter.
Frozen prawns (defrosted) garden worms and grubs, very lean fresh meat when I cant find a worm.

Get frozen or live bloodworms, buy or find earthworms, ditch the lean meat.

She now only has half the space, but I move the glass partition every day to give her a supervised swim with the fish. I can change the angle of the glass to vary her habitat shape and size.
I have two separate bubblers in the tank so they get plenty of oxygen.

Water temp, whatever it is in the ambient temp sunroom, winter 5-21C summer 15-35C if i dont have the air con on

IHow much is 1/2 the space? Anything over 20° is too warm. 35° will kill the Axolotl. Bubblers are air stones? Can you post more pictures of this setup?

she seems fine with this, my question was really about the effects of sharing the tank with the fish, goldfish are notoriously dirty, even if you change water frequently, they poo a lot
Mel

The fish might seem fine. The Axolotl will not be fine. Axolotls are dirty too. Their is no way that setup is going to work with that waterchange schedule and bubblers. What do you mean when you say "fresh" water? How big was the tank the animal was removed from was that the 30 x 30 x 90? Is that length, width, and height? Axolotls like "Gloom"! A sunroom sounds too bright, too warm.

I don't mean to come across as a jerk. But everything seems to be wrong with this setup.

 

[mel]

Hmm, interesting?
We've had her in this setup for two years without messing with the water etc.
The only things that have really changed is the swim space, which is not ideal but I can adjust that.the tank she is in is 30cm high, 90cm wide, 30cm deep,
She has about 70% of that space and goes walkies in the whole tank for about an hour per day.
The bubbler thing is a filter that also fountains the water onto the surface of the tank.
I have two of them in there, one each

There is no direct sunlight as the "sunroom" faces south and she's in a gloomy corner.
Ambient temps in Melbourne occaisionaly hit 35C for a day or two, dont know what the water temp in the tank would reach, maybe someone that lives in these temps might know?.

I suppose I'm trading her space a little for the company, they are interacting quite nicely, the movement of the fish seems to stimulate her a bit.

I have two bulldog clips on the top edge of the tank so I can adjust the swim area, feed Hikaru so she doesn't snap at the fishes fins, feed Otto, so he doesnt snap at hikaru's gills then let them swim around in the whole tank for a bit before separating them again.

mel

 

[mel]

Here's some better photo's of the set up




The forum seems to be shrinking the photo's

 

[melfly]

The tank is totally unsuitable for both of them.

I think its unfair on them both.
Both of those need a lot of space.

You need to remove the gravel for the axolotl and the fish needs much more space than its got.

I would suggest giving one of them up. Or getting a new tank for one.
I know you've tried to keep them both happy in this environment but I really dont think they will be.

Mel

 

[Mac Myers]

Once again.... not trying to be a jerk but.......
I agree with Mel completely. Plus the temps in the tank are going to be WAY too high if the ambient temps are 35° C in the room (or 28°). You'll need a constant supply of Ice Bottles to manage it. One right after the other. Probably about 30 should do it.

I'd rather have the Axolotl... but You need to re-home one of them ASAP... and with those temps the Fish will end up alone pretty soon anyway. You need to Fridge the Axolotl if your room temps are really that high. Heck... I'd die in that room. Axolotls don't need company or tank mates. To an Axolotl... a tank mate is just competition for territory and food.

 

[mel]

Well thanks for your replies, I realise that the space is small, this was just inspiration I had when I broke the fish tank last week

I'll get another ASAP.:happy: and take the gravel out

I am a bit puzzled about the water temp thing though.
We've had Hikaru through 3 summers, The temps are only that extreme for a few days, but would be in the mid twenties for most of the Australian summer.
and can easily be at around 28 for a week or more.
Some days it can be high as 38 indoors

It's never seemed to bother her, she eats, swims as normal.
Maybe they acclimatize or have been bred for higher temps?

 

[Mac Myers]

Some days it can be high as 38 indoors

It's never seemed to bother her, she eats, swims as normal.
Maybe they acclimatize or have been bred for higher temps?

No. Some animals are more tolerant than others. Not 38° degree tolerant. But tolerant of mid 20's depending on exposure times.
Good on the gravel too.

 

[mel]

Thank you for all your replies.
Mel