So many lotls...

[recrdchaos]

So, my boyfriend absolutely loves axolotls and since we had a spare 10 gal sitting around he picked some up from a guy on kijiji (basically Craigslist for all you non Canadians c in march or april.

However, we were supposed to get two leucistic (didn't want them to be lonely) and the guy decided to be nice and give us two wild type as well...

Honestly they've all been living in general harmony. Toes occasionally get nibbled, but usually they actually all seem to really like each other? sometimes they all sleep in a big cuddle pile which is really cute. We're pretty sure there's two males and two females, one of each color, but that's by the general shape and size (the two 'males' are big and have long pointy tails). The smaller male is about four inches. One of the females is considerabley smaller, easily a full inch.

We have a pretty nice little setup for them imo, five high quality fake plants of various sizes and shapes as well as two hides. Ones a japanese stone lantern that we got when they were tiny, but they still stuff themselves in there vertically, lol! The other is a good sized cave that could probably fit them all if they snuggled. They also really enjoy sitting on top of it. The filter is a waterfall filter made for a 20 gallon, on low. There's water dechlorinator in there for sure but I'd never heard of tank cycling in my life until I found this forum, so we didn't do that. The tube is most certainly green though. Heck thats not the only place there's green right now, they're due for a cleaning c:

They were being fed large frozen bloodworm pellets and theyd bloat up really fat on them (we just fed them when they didn't look like balls with legs any more lol), but now the pet store is only carrying these considerably smaller pellets. I've been giving them two a day and I'm still worried its not enough! I don't want us to accidentally be starving them. How can we tell if there's enough food?

We're going to get feeder fish for my roommate's turtle and mice for my snake today, so I thought we'd pick up some ghost shrimp for them. Should we get a tiny shrimp hide to see if they can stick around? I've seen people say on here that sometimes they kind of live in harmony (though obviously the lotls eat them, I just want to know if they'll eat them immediately). How many should we get?

We've also ordered a marimo for the tank, but it isn't here yet.

Sorry for the novel, I just don't want any accidental cruelty to animals to be going down here (and my boyfriend would be heartbroken if anything happened to his pets).

 

[snuggly time]

Welcome to the forum.

Have you tried feeding earthworms? They're really good for them. They will also love the shrimp if they can fit them in their mouths.

It's recommended 10 gallon per axolotl so you will most likely be needing an upgrade. That's a lot of lotls in a small space, which could result in some pretty foul water. More space will also hopefully result in less nibbles at each other. Also, if they're different sizes the bigger ones will pick on the smaller ones. It might be best to separate them if they're considerably smaller.

 

[RupertxGiles]

So, my boyfriend absolutely loves axolotls and since we had a spare 10 gal sitting around he picked some up from a guy on kijiji (basically Craigslist for all you non Canadians c in march or april.

However, we were supposed to get two leucistic (didn't want them to be lonely) and the guy decided to be nice and give us two wild type as well...

Honestly they've all been living in general harmony. Toes occasionally get nibbled, but usually they actually all seem to really like each other? sometimes they all sleep in a big cuddle pile which is really cute. We're pretty sure there's two males and two females, one of each color, but that's by the general shape and size (the two 'males' are big and have long pointy tails). The smaller male is about four inches. One of the females is considerabley smaller, easily a full inch.

We have a pretty nice little setup for them imo, five high quality fake plants of various sizes and shapes as well as two hides. Ones a japanese stone lantern that we got when they were tiny, but they still stuff themselves in there vertically, lol! The other is a good sized cave that could probably fit them all if they snuggled. They also really enjoy sitting on top of it. The filter is a waterfall filter made for a 20 gallon, on low. There's water dechlorinator in there for sure but I'd never heard of tank cycling in my life until I found this forum, so we didn't do that. The tube is most certainly green though. Heck thats not the only place there's green right now, they're due for a cleaning c:

They were being fed large frozen bloodworm pellets and theyd bloat up really fat on them (we just fed them when they didn't look like balls with legs any more lol), but now the pet store is only carrying these considerably smaller pellets. I've been giving them two a day and I'm still worried its not enough! I don't want us to accidentally be starving them. How can we tell if there's enough food?

We're going to get feeder fish for my roommate's turtle and mice for my snake today, so I thought we'd pick up some ghost shrimp for them. Should we get a tiny shrimp hide to see if they can stick around? I've seen people say on here that sometimes they kind of live in harmony (though obviously the lotls eat them, I just want to know if they'll eat them immediately). How many should we get?

We've also ordered a marimo for the tank, but it isn't here yet.

Sorry for the novel, I just don't want any accidental cruelty to animals to be going down here (and my boyfriend would be heartbroken if anything happened to his pets).

Well there is certainly cruelty to animals with what you plan to do with those fish and mice. Duh. Axolotls do just fine with a good quality pellet for variety, earthworms as a staple, bloodworms are good while they are young too. You definitely need to upgrade the tank. Technically you need a 40 gallon to comfortably house your axies.

 

[Alkylhalide]

You need at LEAST a 40gallon for 4 axolotls. Its cruel to have so many in a 10gallon, which you have not cycled, have you done any water changes? Do you test the water regularly?

And to have them all of varying sizes! They should be all close in size before adding them in together, te bigger ones can easily triumph overthe babies.

At 1" they should still be getting fed at least once a day, twice if you can. 4" you could get away with once a day, a good quality pellet or earthworms for them.

You REALLY need to cycle your tank! But i doubt youd be successful having 4 in a 10gallon, they create to much waste and there is not enough wAter. I had troubles cycling a 10gallon with 2axies that were 4" each..

You should of did a bit more research before buying these creatures. They are very sensitive to water quality problems thhats why it is so incredibly important to cycle your tank and to test your wAter.

You need to seperate the smaller ones from the big ones till they catch up, either via a bigger tank with a divider or putting them in tubs doing 100% water changes daily with dechlorinated water. They will not last long in that tank! My two outgrew it within a couple weeks and that was just two.

As far as feeder fish and shrimp i would recommend doing a little research on tankmate disasters. Im not 100% on ghost shrimp but i would not recommend adding any kind of feeder fish until the axies are bigger. I waited till mine were 7+" before adding guppies.. Before that the guppies were bold and nipping at gills. I had to wait till the guppies feared the lotls and now guppies live in harmony until one day they get a little to close.

 

[recrdchaos]

We actually did quite a lot of research? We did not intend on having four. At all. We planned on having 2, starting them in the ten gallon which was currently empty while they were very small, then moving them up to the twenty that my snake is in (as he's young too and would need another).

I've actually read all the tankmate disasters, and searched shrimp on the forum. Many people said that they buy the shrimp for the lotls. In fact I decided against guppies seeing as I read about multiple accounts of gill eating. We also didn't even get the shrimp when the store clerk said they were used to very warm water. I decided I should search it even more thoroughly to be sure.

Yes, actually, we change/add water at least weekly.

They're only different sizes because they're growing at slightly different rates. None of them are babies, they are all the same age. Honestly, the two males are sassier with each other than with the smaller girl.

The tank thing is something we're working on right now actually, we knew it was too small. We're students, so the unexpected extra gallons needed was a pretty big deal, ie we couldn't just run out and buy a 40 gallon tank. I've been keeping an eye on kijiji for a deal, but I'll start looking harder now that they're actually of a decent size.

 

[mackinthebox]

you guys are way overreating here, I have seen this happen a few times, someone come looking for advice and they get berated for not caring for the axolotl correctly...
If theyre small, then the 10 gallon will work just fine until you get a bigger tank
a 20 long would probably do just fine for 4 axies if you have good filtration
as long as theyre not nipping each other and causing serious damage then you should be ok with them there as well
Sure it would be nice for you to have a 40 gallon tank but I know lots of people who dont use tanks that big, in fact there is one girl on her from China that houses her axies in small tanks and they are some of the best looking axolotls i have ever seen, ive never seen gills bigger than what she is able to get out of them!

rule of thumb is ten galons per axolotl but its not set in stone

what are your water parameters? if you dont have a test kit I would recommend getting one
do you have any pics of your current set up and the axolotls?

 

[mackinthebox]

Well there is certainly cruelty to animals with what you plan to do with those fish and mice. Duh. Axolotls do just fine with a good quality pellet for variety, earthworms as a staple, bloodworms are good while they are young too. You definitely need to upgrade the tank. Technically you need a 40 gallon to comfortably house your axies.

cruelty to animals? are you serious?
feeder fish and feeder mice are a staple of many reptiles, amphibians, and fish... its not cruel and is in fact natural. do you think that the turtles or snakes in the wild would be kind enough to euthanize their meal before they eat it? no, theyre just going to eat it
some pets wont eat food unless its alive
I disagree with you here, this is not cruelty to animals and I think you need to adjust how you respond to people asking for help

 

[pondweed]

From my general understanding, for a smaller tank, you'll be okay with water quality so long as you watch it carefully and do more frequent changes. A larger tank is just a bit less work/more stable (also for temperature.)

It's great you're keeping an eye out for deals for a larger tank, though. I'm in a similar situation - strapped for cash as a student - and ended up buying a new but very basic tank since the price was similar to what was advertised secondhand. I wanted to be able to invest in a super filter. (Of course there are now hiccups because my Dad thinks my large tank is too large to move to Uni with me, so they may be temporarily housed in a 2ft instead of 3ft, with a different filter, and I've somehow got to find the cash for that.)

People see a lot of people treating their pets ignorantly, and so are quick to jump to conclusions. Please don't be put off by it.

I'm itching to get into a debate about feeder-animals, but I think I'll keep my mouth shut.

 

[Alkylhalide]

Sorry if i got off on the wrong foot. But i saw things like i heard about cycling a tank but ive never done that so i wont do it etc.. Which i think is a little ignorant.

I agree its possible to keep lots of lotls in a small tank, however not in a 10gallon. Unless you plan on doing 100% wAter changes daily and never cycle it. I have 4 lotls in a 25gallon though its not permanent. Three are 6" and two are 8.5" however my tank was cycled before adding them. I just need to do 20% water changes daily to keep the nitrates down and poop cleaned(but since my tank is cycled enough to handle the waste ammonia and nitrite are alwYs 0)
I could not keep up with even two juveniles in a 10gallon the cycle would just keep crashing everytime i trie adding them to the tank. I had it stable for two weeks before they outgrew it so it was a complete waste of time.

If you want healthy happy lotls you need to test the water and try to figure out what is best, but 10gallon will give you a lot more problems the it is worth.