Question: Tank cycling

It sounds right to me. I've scooped up all the bloodworms as I don't want an ammonia surplus.
The temperature in the bucket is only 19 so better than the tank I've been working on haha!
Hope the ice bags work for you too :D
 
I'm glad your little guy got to you safe and sound! The bucket is a great idea for him right now and with as small as he is, it would be better to be cycling without him. I know they are tough, but the mom in me says to "baby" them! ;) Just get a good set of parameters once you get your kit and go from there.

It is normal for him not to eat right away, give him a few more hours, then try again once you see him starting to move around, exploring. It is important for juvies that size to eat daily. If he's too stressed today, he's too stressed, but I'd try again late this afternoon or evening.

With the ice bags, just make sure you replace them as needed. You don't want the tank temp to creep back up while you're waiting for a bag to refreeze.
 
It sounds like your doing a good job :D lol yeah same here, my axies container thing is about 19 C :p, wish my tank was..... I need someone with a car to do me a favour lol... how many bags did you use... Just the one?... but two might get temp even lower hmmm :wacko:
 
I know what you mean Shannon. He is just so small I can't imagine him being able to cope with anything. I think that's just human nature as our babies are so vulnerable when they are that young! I will definitely try and feed him again later. I caught him moving around when I was showing my mum him so he is definitely getting braver :D
Yeah I've got about 5 ice bags frozen so there is always one ready to go in when one melts. I only had one in Hayley but if you want the temperature to drop quicker then shove in 2 if you like. Just remember you'd need to have like 10 frozen then to switch between :happy:
Are your axies in the tank yet? Just I suppose you could just chuck in tons of ice bags to get it down really quickly if they weren't in there. Once it's down it seems to be easy to maintain using ice bags.
Oooh and I forgot to say. Use dechlorinated water in the ice bags just in case the leak, although that hasn't happened to me yet!
:D
 
not in the tank yet just getting the temp down first so im just going to steal your idea lol, so hopfully they will be swimming happily in there tomorrow... :D
 
Hayley,

I have lots of water bottles and gel packs in my freezer in sizes from 10cm x 15cm by 1cm thick Gel packs to 2 Liter water Bottles. Wife gets mad that I use so much space (plus I have frozen bloodworms in there). I also keep 6 Gallons of water in the fridge for water changes and temperature stabilization.
 
Just thought I'd try out some photo attachments on here so if this works it will be photo of Charlie!
 

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I take it those red bits in him are bloodworms by the way?
 
Mac Myers said:
Hayley,

I have lots of water bottles and gel packs in my freezer in sizes from 10cm x 15cm by 1cm thick Gel packs to 2 Liter water Bottles. Wife gets mad that I use so much space (plus I have frozen bloodworms in there). I also keep 6 Gallons of water in the fridge for water changes and temperature stabilization.
Click to expand...

Wow, Mac. Sounds like my house! Frozen bloodworms, frozen rodents, ice packs, frozen bottles of ice...I actually bought a chest freezer for our food because my regular freezer is just too full of "necessities!" lol That doesn't even include the wormery or my little cricket farm! :rolleyes: I think I still have 3 kids around here somewhere too....

Oh, Charlie is a little guy!! Is he a regular albino or a golden albino? Doesn't look like he has dark eyes in the pic...So cute at that size, watching their personalities develop! They are such silly little things, darting around, always on the move! Keep us updated on his development!!

Oh yeah, their little bodies are pretty transparent at this stage - you can even see their heart beating! There's a great video that a member put together...I'll see if I can find it!

Found it!!! check it out! video thread
 
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Wow that video was amazing! :D Thanks for that!
Does this mean that Charlie is still a larvae? I thought he would be much bigger. It was a bit of a shock seeing how small he was today :lol:
I'm going to have a look and see if I can see his heart beating later. Just now I'm just letting him settle him with some peace and quiet :D
I think he's just a regular albino. He does have white eyes yeah. And of course I will keep you updated on his development. Will definitely be taking loads of photos! :D
 
Awww so small can't wait to see some more pictures :D and that is a great video, it looked like my little axie :happy:.... Im going to fit in as many bottles as i can in the freezer to much food though im going to take over one of our freezers, just hope someone dosnt drink my bottles of water lol.... Oh do all axolotls do that jump float thing when they take a gulp of food, mine do this quite cute but is it normal...lol Sorry for asking questions here..
 
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I'm slowly taking over the freezer too. Have my own drawer now. I think that will be expanded soon :lol:
Jump float thing? Mine axie finally ate some food. I was so proud! :D I put a few bloodworms in the water and he's been searching around for them all night! How much should I be feeding him and how often? I heard like as much as he can eat in 5 minutes but he eats so slowly I feel this is a bit unfair on him :lol:
 
Yes, juvies definitely do that "jump/float" thing when they eat, it becomes less prominent with age. It is definitely addictive and has always tempted me to overfeed just to see it! lol You'll be seeing all sorts of odd behaviors as he grows! Oh, sometimes he will just float around, this has panicked many new owners, no worries, it's just something they do. Just make sure he remains upright and can easily return to the bottom.

Take plenty of pictures as you will be amazed how quickly he grows!

A general rule of thumb is what they can eat in 15 min.

P.S. Sarah, glad to hear he ate for you! ;)
 
Glad he ate some food for you i didnt even see mine eat they were to shy but they even have let me hand feed them bit messy though so i stoped lol.. Yeah me too i stuffed all the food in the other draws, i think i might take over our other freezer as well... And sarah watch the video from about 3.00 mins and you will see what i mean about the float/jump thing its so cute and funny lol.. And glad to know that this is normal Shannon and i will be taking new pictures everyday as one of them seems to quite like me now as it use to hide before but now it comes right to the front and has a nice good look at me and a swim right infront of me... The other one dosnt seem to like me as much but i bet it will when i put them in their nice new home :D
 
Oooh I see what you mean. That's so cool! Mine just seems to push the bloodworms into a certain position and then they disappear :p
Thanks for alerting us to the floating thing Shannon. That would definitely give me a fright!!
I got some earthworms today so I might see if he will try a bit.
I watched Charlie for ages and he wasn't feeding. My boyfriend was watching him later and he ate for him! So I sneaked over to watch too ;) Glad you can hand feed yours now. I can't wait for that day! :D
I'm sure they will both LOVE you when they get put into their lovely tank :D Is it nearly ready? I'm still waiting on my test kit. I'm never ordering from thetropicalfishshop.com again! Next day delivery has now turned 4 day delivery! :angry:
 
Yeah gave me a fright i was likw oh what you doing there little axie (hehe do it again), hopfully im getting some earthwoms today as well :happy: but im not to keen on having to cut them up and stuff :confused::(... i think thats why i havnt got any for them yet been trying to avoid it but i suppose i will sooner or later so they can do even more growing and so that my tank dosnt get coverd in bloodworms :D...Im just waiting for all of the bottles to freeze and then might put them in tonight.. I think you should ask for a discount for that 4 days! Definatly should get a discount me thinks lol
 
Hehe yeah I wanted to give them live but my axie is so little think I will have to cut them up. My mum wasn't happy when my earthworms arrived in the post this morning :lol: Hope you get some today.
I sent an angry email today asking my money back for the tests and then went to pets at home and bought the API test. I hope I get my money back :rolleyes:
Can someone tell me what my results mean?
pH was 7.6
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate inbetween 0 and 5
I'm thinking about putting my wee guy in the tank after doing 25% water change. Is this a good idea? I plan to do a 20-25% water change every day until my ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0 and my nitrate is under 20. This is what I want right? :happy: Temperature is good as well! Finally!
 
:rofl: Someones playing a practical joke what are these worms doing here lol. I might try and find the smallest ones and feed them live i really dont want to have to cut them up lol... My mum had a problem with the worms when i asked her if she sprayed any pesticides and when she said no i said im going to dig up your garden for some worms then.. Didnt in the end as i wont know if they have come from a garden which has sprayed pesticides... Glad you sent an angry email i hope you get money back... All my results were 0 apart from the nitite or nitrate not sure what one... But i dont know about that but i think i should so im going to keep an eye on what everyone says, but i think the ammonia should be 0 :rolleyes: lol
 
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I used this site for my worms. Don't know if you've heard of it. I got the small worms, which I think are still too big for my tiny axie, for like £3. At least you know they are safe then you can breed them like I'm doing. Your mum will get a shock when they come in the post haha! Don't think the postie was happy either with the "live insect" sticker hehe.
I'm away to do an ammonia test now to check it's down. If so he's going in because I feel so sorry for him in the mop bucket and as long as I check the levels each day and do water changes I'm sure he'll be fine.
 
I will definatly check out the wbsite i think the small ones will be ok for my axies hopfully lol... but £3 that sounds quite good, how are you going to breed them i had a look but still not to sure on how i think my mum will get a bigger shock from me brreding them than seeing the sticker so i dont think she will like me very much :grin:... Hopfully i will be putting mine in later if i get the temp down :D...
 
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