Question: VERY new axolotl mum

dumbblonde

New member
Joined
Sep 30, 2018
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Arizona
Country
United States
Display Name
Faith
I recently got my very first axolotl on Saturday with bare minimum knowledge on them which is my mistake, I should've done more research. I am just trying to do my best for them and I need some help/advice. I have it in a ten gallon open top aquarium (I know I need to get a cover for it, I bought one but then switched to a different filter that lowers the overall flow of water that hangs off the side instead of inside the tank).

Initially, the aquarium had a gravel substrate because I thought the gravel was big enough, but then I noticed the baby was trying to eat at the rocks. I also included a hide for them to go into and a live plant, I don't remember what it is called but I looked on here first to see if it was safe to use.

Now my aquarium has no substrate at all, a different filter, and I switched out the live plant for a moss ball since it doesn't need to be rooted, same hide as well and a bowl too (for blood worms). After I removed all the gravel, the water became cloudy.

I am trying to get the water tested as soon as possible, but I work as soon as I get out of school most days (high school student) :( I also purchased some black natural sand to replace as substrate but I don't know when to do it because I don't want to stress out my axie more than I need to :(

I'm also having trouble even determining if my axie is stressed or not. They act very curious when I approach the tank, even following my finger up and down the glass, still eating, and occasionally I see them swimming around the tank a little bit. However, their gills are curled forwards/upwards, and their tail is curled, but its more so the whole tail and not the tip (i cant tell if its curled because it likes to hangout in the 'tighter' spaces of the tank).

I will try to take pictures and post them to this thread when I get home, but if anyone can help me out I would really appreciate it. I'm just trying to do the best I can for my axie.
 
Pictures would be a good idea.


How big is your axie? If they're very small you might want to just go without substrate for the time being, you can add the sand later on...on that I have no useful advice, I would really like to swap out the brown sand in my 38 gallon for white sand...or layer the white on top of the brown, that might look neat...but I haven't ever actually added sand to a working tank before myself, I'm sure somebody has.



Is the water still cloudy? Also, I know you haven't been able to test your water, so i won't ask you what your water parameters are, but do you know the temperature of the water, and is your filter creating a current in the tank? If you can get one I can high recommend the API freshwater master test kit, it's what a lot of people on this forum use to test their water, myself included, it's very good.



You got an axolotl without knowing much about them, and right now you're taking the right step which is to find out more, this forum is really great for that. They're really fascinating animals, so i suggest reading up on them. It can sometimes take them a little time to get settled in to a new environment....one of my girls hid so effectively that I didn't see her for two days when I brought them home.
 
Pictures would be a good idea.


How big is your axie? If they're very small you might want to just go without substrate for the time being, you can add the sand later on...on that I have no useful advice, I would really like to swap out the brown sand in my 38 gallon for white sand...or layer the white on top of the brown, that might look neat...but I haven't ever actually added sand to a working tank before myself, I'm sure somebody has.



Is the water still cloudy? Also, I know you haven't been able to test your water, so i won't ask you what your water parameters are, but do you know the temperature of the water, and is your filter creating a current in the tank? If you can get one I can high recommend the API freshwater master test kit, it's what a lot of people on this forum use to test their water, myself included, it's very good.



You got an axolotl without knowing much about them, and right now you're taking the right step which is to find out more, this forum is really great for that. They're really fascinating animals, so i suggest reading up on them. It can sometimes take them a little time to get settled in to a new environment....one of my girls hid so effectively that I didn't see her for two days when I brought them home.

About 3/4 inches long, water is still cloudy. I only got blossom (axies name :) ) 3 days ago, but I'm not sure if that means the water should still be cloudy?? Should I try a water change? I'm doing my best to get my hands on a water testing kit as I've read that PetSmart and Petco test with inaccurate strips or something like that.

Also do you have any recommendations for a good aquarium hood I can use with my filter? I am using the top fin silentstream 10 but I don't see any lid to accommodate for the filter hanging on the tank :/

Pictures coming up btw! Pls tell me if you think my axie looks stressed or if they're just looking how they are because of the space they have
 
I'm going to assume the tank is uncycled. I'm going to also recommend you get a freshwater aquarium testing kit. You'll be needing to test the water every day, sometimes twice a day if you plan to cycle with the axolotl in it. Be prepared for heavy water changes while cycling, and cycling with the animal in the tank will slow the cycle down due to the heavy amounts of water changes. You'll need to do more than a 50% change daily when you start getting spikes of ammonia and nitrite.
It's definitely do-able even with school or work, just expect to spend some time doing water changes and tests. I ended up doing a test in the morning and at night when I first put my two in their tank for the first two weeks. I wanted to make sure the filter and bacteria could handle the increased bio load that the axolotls had compared the feeder fish I used to cycle.
Now I test once a week before their weekly water change, just to make sure things are all still good and nothing happened.
What kind of plant did you get? Live plants can greatly benefit an aquarium, they help clean the water and remove nitrates so it might be good to throw the plant back in. If you want to keep doing bare-bottom you can put some substrate in a small terracotta pot and put the plant in the pot and then into the tank. Just avoid fertilizer or fertilized substrate as amphibians can absorb the added chemicals through their skin.
To put sand in I would wash the sand first to make sure it's free of any undesirable things, then move the axolotl into a small tub with decholrinated water and then put the sand in. Lowering the tank water a bit might help too, be aware that when you put the water back in you'll kick up a lot of the sand and it'll have to settle again. You don't have to waste the water either, you can put it into a bucket and re-add it. Or you can do the sand change during a water change day when the water is already low. Though you can keep on bare bottom while the axolotl is still young.
If you do decide to get more live plants I would quarantine them all in a separate tank for a week or so so you can check for any aquatic hitch hikers. Snails, bugs, etc. There are a few threads here on quarantining plants if you want to give those a read.
Young axolotls with long gills will often hold them forward naturally. So I can't be sure if your new one is stressed or not. It could just be getting used to the new environment.
Also if you don't have already, I would get a good tank thermometer, its getting into the colder months, though for Arizona I'm not sure how much of a difference winter makes, haha. But it's good to know your water temp as axolotls shouldn't be in warm or hot water. Anything over 75F is dangerous, and they prefer water between 62-65F.
I'm very glad you're doing the research now and want to do good by your new friend. Too many people don't even bother and I've seen a lot of sad or dying axolotls on other social media sites. You're doing a good thing by asking questions and seeking help and information. If you haven't already, I would also give this site a read: http://www.axolotl.org/ its an affiliated site to Caudata.org and has a lot of good information with regards to tank parameters, food and housing stuff. When your axolotl is big enough I suggest earthworms or chopped night-crawlers as they are the most nutritionally complete.
Best of luck to you and your new friend!
 
Hey luv I'm fairly new to the game too and we all make mistakes when we get our first axie's.
At minimum you'll want to have a 20 gallon tank for your axie. The plants in your tank are good because fresh plants will help cycle ammonium out of your tank. Water quality testing kits are a little pricey but well worth investing in because you'll want to test your water quality regularly while having your new pet. After a while you only really need to test if you think there may be a problem.
Also what filter are you using because the water flow could be something contributing to your axolotls stress. No substrate in your tank is good because it's way easier to clean but the lack of grip stresses out your axolotl.
You'll also want to watch the temperature of your tank and make sure your water is well dechlorinated too. Do you have hiding spots for your pet too? because that could also be an additional factor to his stress.
If your water is cloudy you may wan to consider feeding your axolotl outside of the tank in a bucket. An advantage of the bucket is you end up cycling about 3 gallons of water daily and I've never done a weekly water change and the water is crystal clear. Their food carries ammonia which is deadly to your axies so by keeping it out of the tank entirely you have one less thing to worry about. Many people have problems with their ammonia levels and mine is absolute 0, never had a problem. You just need to make sure your hands are nice and clean before handling your axie or else you could damage his slime coat. They say axolotls are pretty easy to take care of but the first few months will be really high maintenance.
As there are some problems with your tank you also have to remember that you're putting an animal in an entirely new environment and it will need some time to adjust.
Hope this helped at all and good luck with your new friend!
(Ps. You don't have to worry so much axolotls are very versatile. As long as you have a good tank environment for your axie and you keep them well fed you'll be just fine!)
 
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    There are no messages in the chat. Be the first one to say Hi!
    Back
    Top