New to axies, story + pics

[Kedreeva]

So, a few days ago I was offered a group of 3 axolotls that were in need of a new home. I've had fish tanks for most of my life and I've wanted axolotls for a while so I knew enough to feel comfortable taking them in.

I didn't have a lot of time, since pickup had to be sunday and it was wednesday when I got the call, so I grabbed spare aquarium parts from my own supplies (bubbler, river stones, filter + sponge covers ((used to be to keep baby mollies safe but it turns out they love a good strong current and never get sucked into the big filter the way some of the guppies used to)), feeding dish, and thermometer).

After a disaster with my biggest spare tank practically falling apart on me after being filled, I ditched it and went out to get supplies. New 30g tank, glass lid, LED lighting (for me, not them), new filter sponge and zeocarb media, and worst of all a chiller (that one set me back considerably... I don't even have AC for me, but my axies will stay cool).

Got home, set it all up dry, moved over water from my 55g (it has all the correct parameters for axies except temp) and swapped half and half the new bag of filter media stones for established stones from my 55g filter to help the tank get its cycle going faster. I capped the chiller output with an intake sponge to soften the water flow and cut and installed a filter sponge onto the filter output to soften that flow. I added a couple of the bigger young mollies, turned everything on, and started monitoring everything.

Sunday, I made the drive out to get the new kids. Packed up two buckets with lids and ice packs, and headed out. There ended up being 4, so I called a friend that I knew could take one of them that was near the pickup location, and then took all 4. I think it was 2 albino adults, 1 wild type adult, and one 5 inch GFP blue gill leucistic. The two albinos had severely damaged gills, one was missing them entirely on both sides, the other is missing most of them on one side and half of them on the other, and the latter is also missing toes (or always had shortened ones? I'm not sure how to tell if he was born like that or if he's lost them) and ammonia burns down his caudal fin. I can't see red spots on the wild type, but her caudal fin looks okay to me. They both have curled/damaged tail tips. The juvenile seems to be fine. The one with completely missing gills went home with my friend and the other three came here.

Anyway, we're 24 hours in and seeing how it goes. Water is holding between 62 and 64 degrees (chiller is set at 63). pH is at 7.6 (same as my mollies, so that was easy), ammonia is somewhere between 0 and .25 (the vial color isn't quiiiite bright yellow but it's not pale green, either). I did a 10% water change when I got home since the water was a tiny bit cloudy, and turned the bubbler on since it seemed like they were coming up to the top 3-4 times in an hour. The WT lady played in the bubbles for a little bit (she seemed weirdly excited about them? or else very, very confused) and now they are both settled by the chiller intake (seems to be a favorite spot).

I don't have a second tank for the juvenile, currently, so I'm debating on separater or floating secondary tank space kind of in the spirit of a fish breeder box, but made from one of those 2.5g critter keeper boxes so it can get fresh water and have access to air without the bigger ones injuring it til it gets a little bigger. Right now it's small enough to fit comfortably in one of my soft breeder net boxes, with a lid to keep it from tossing itself out into the big tank.

I'm currently thinking I want to pull the substrate and re-sort it (I had not expected the two to be as big as they are in person, so I'm worried that even though the stones are large, they will still get ideas about what's food) to exclude the smallest stones again, and put in white sand to fill in the gaps between stones to help keep things cleaner. I'm also going to invest in some broad-leafed silk plants to further dissipate the water flow and give them some cover, and a backdrop for them to block some light. I'm going to continue to do 10-25% water changes daily and keep an eye on the ammonia while they in-tank cycle but so far they seem to be doing alright. They're all eating well off tongs, earthworms and young mollies (and black worms instead of earthworms for the juvie).

Here are some pictures of things so far!

The full tank (everyone is hiding and I only turned the light on to grab a photo). You can see the black cylander of the chiller output to the upper right. The chiller intake is the pump at the bottom left. Filter is off center the only place it could fit between chiller tubing. The rock piece is slate (I had grabbed a piece of shale from my fish tank supplies but this morning read they need slate not shale so I swapped it out) and keeps them from falling into that corner behind the tube, but I am thinking I might stack the tubes and build them a shale hide.

She's really hard to get photos of because she's so dark, but other than the tail tip curl, she seems to be fine. With good water conditions/sluggish water, about how long should I expect that to take to heal?

This dude is killing me. He's gotten into EVERYTHING since he got here. He sits in the weirdest places. I watched him walk out of the hide, waddle across the tank until he bumped into the wall, turn around, and waddle to the other side until he bumped into the wall, and then he went back into the hide. Like he was just checking. Hoping those ammonia burns heal up and his gills come back.

From when I re-arranged the hides after getting an idea of their space requirements.

And the juvenile. Its gills sit slightly forward, but its tail isn't curled and the tips of the gills don't point down so I suspect it's just juvenile posture.

Anyway, that's my current adventure. If there's anything I've missed or that I should be doing differently (or doing in the next few days/weeks) for them or that you notice that I haven't, I'd love input.

 

[Wyvell]

looks great to me! I will say, the stones on the bottom have me a bit worried. I know a lot of people have no problems with them but I also know sometimes an axie will decide one of them is food and swallow it. this causes them to become impacted and they cannot pass the stones. I would switch the substrate to fine sand or large river stones. Good luck!

 

[Hayleyy]

It seems like you know exactly what you're doing. Good cool water should heal them up perfectly.
I agree with the above, remove the stones. Replace with the sand you were talking about. Stones bigger than an adults head is okay, I personally don't like them as they trap debris but they are safe to use.
Having the slate like that is a great idea (I have the same thing) as it adds floorspace, which is much more important than water height for axies. Another thing you can use are bathroom shelves which suction to the glass. I've been thinking (for my tank) a magnetic turtle dock would work, as long as the magnets are strong enough to hold the foam dock underwater.
Keep the little one separate until it's the same size. Dividers are good, but it will reduce the floorspace your adults have access to, and they are known to knock dividers down. The other idea you have is probably better, see if you can get a small hide in there with it so it has something to hide in or sit on (even if you don't have light on).

 

[Kedreeva]

Thanks for the input! After some consideration I think I am going to just go with the sand alone. I know there are some stones in there bigger than their heads but I am... tired. So I'm not going to fuss with sorting them.

On another note, is there anywhere online that sells large, smooth stones for decor that would be suitable for axolotls? I'd like to find a couple flat smooth ones to maybe put on the bottom. The slate is okay, but it's got so many angles on it, and I like curves. Our local fish stores are pretty lacking on this front, and I am not sure where else to look in terms of brick and mortar storefronts if not fish stores. I'm afraid landscaping or home depot/Lowes etc wouldn't have the right quality of stone or have impurities in the stone that could leach into the water.

I know that java ferns are good cold water live plants, but I also know that burying their roots is bad for them. In my fish tanks, we just tie fishing line around the roots and make a loop on the other side to bury in the gravel, that way their roots can grab nutrients from the water column like they like. I feel like that's asking for trouble with an axolotl, if they dig it up and try to eat the line, so how would one go about keeping java ferns in an axolotl tank? Alternatively, I have got a metric ton of java moss, it grows incredibly well here with the amano shrimp tending it. Do they eat this? Is it okay if they eat this? Incidentally, of course, not as a food source I am feeding to them, more like if it is in the tank will they mostly leave it alone?

If I wanted to eventually grow out a piece of driftwood covered in java moss for them in my other tank and transfer it once it's doing well, are there certain types of driftwood that are okay and not okay for axolotls? I have grapevine in my 55g because it's soft enough for my sailfin and my amano shrimp to chew on, but if there's a harder wood that's good for (or at least not harmful to) axolotls, I'd really like to do some better enrichment and decorating for them as we go. I know whatever I get has to be sanded smooth and i have the tools and know-how to do so (my dad's a woodworker), so I just need some advice on materials.

I have so many questions! It's going to be another busy night with them, switching substrates and setting up the floating tank for the juvie. I will post update photos when I am finished!

 

[Hayleyy]

https://www.caudata.org/axolotl-sanctuary/Aquascape.shtml This has a list of safe/unsafe rocks and plants I keep a screenshot on my phone so I can quickly look when shopping for them. Try your local hardware/garden store for smooth ones first as they are probably cheapest there. As long as they are on the safe list they are okay, and I think you can boil them first anyways to be safe.
When you get sand make sure to clean it thoroughly first (even if it says washed) and remove most/all of the tank water (keep in buckets to put back into tank). Putting sand in when there is water will make it cloudy and it will take longer to settle. More effort but I find it's better.
Fishing line is fine, as long as it is wrapped around they shouldn't be able to get it. I use it for my java fern and haven't had any issues yet. Some axolotls are more destructive and will pull things apart so just see how they react to the plants.
I have java moss in my tropical tank but not my axolotl tank, only because none of my decorations are suitable to tie it on to. I have heard heaps of people use it though so it must be okay. Do a search for java moss in the forum and see if anything comes up.
For driftwood you probably want a light colour wood. The tannins in the dark coloured ones are okay with axolotls (it will reduce the pH, but I believe is good for their slime coat) but they can turn the water yellow-brown. Over time this does reduce but I can't be bothered with that haha I also prefer the look of the lighter hard woods.
Ask all the questions! Everyone is here to help

 

[Kedreeva]

Hayleyy, thank you! That's a great link for plants and stones

Progress today:

The floater tank I bought for the juvenile ended up being cracked so it won't stay closed. I didn't notice until I was home and the nearest stores are 30 minutes away so she'll have to live in the safety net for one more day.

As for the others, washed and washed and washed the new sand. I scooped the adults into one of the buckets of tank water, pulled all the stones and hides and decor, gently dropped in the sand and then gave it 15 minutes to settle. I vacuumed the sand because someone had taken a poop, which amounted to about a 15% water change, added back in the equipment, and turned all the electrical back on. I gave it another 20 minutes to cool back to 63 from 66, then added the adults back in. The juvenile was Very Unhappy for about an hour afterward, with her gills curled forward more than before, but she seems to have settled back down to normal now with more relaxed gills.

I did tank parameter testing- 62.6F, 7.6pH, 0.25 ammonia, 5 nitrites, 30ppm nitrates. I was not thrilled about those nitrite readings, but I think they're due in part to the enormous disturbance of the tank to swap the gravel and the point in the cycle of the tank everything's at. The axolotls are still destressing from the ruckus of the tank change, so I only changed out another 5g, so in total it was around 30% today and I'm going to let it continue to settle and cycle until tomorrow's water change.

They all took food tonight, some more than others. The albino doesn't seem particularly interested in food at the moment. He will take a part of an earthworm and then skedaddle and refuse to eat more. The wildtype took about a full worm in pieces and a couple ~1in molly babies. The juvie had some blackworms this morning and took 2 small earthworm bits and a little ~1cm molly this evening. I'm honestly not sure how much to feed them yet, the wildtype seems like she'd stuff herself silly if I let her, and the juvie always swims to the surface when I first walk over to the tank, looking for food.

The WT is gill flicking more than I would like (about every 3 seconds or so) but she's also got her face next to the chiller intake (they both like to stick their faces against that intake, which seems weird to me. I could understand if it was the output, where the water is colder, but I don't know what the appeal of the intake is) so I don't think she's ill, just silly. I kind of want to cap that intake with a sponge as well, but I'm not sure how that would affect the motor (I don't want to burn it out) so I'm going to call the store I bought the pump from and ask tomorrow before I do it. That way if she wants to stick her face in the intake at least it won't have quite such a concentrated flow (not that it's strong now, it's a small sluggish pump recommended by the shop for an axolotl setup, and their axolotl setup is great, so I trust that judgement).

For now, this is where the tank is at visually:

The albino is actually also GFP (I turned on the light to look at the little one and they both lit up green) so that was cool to find out. His ammonia burns on his caudal fin are actually clearing up already?

These two are of his gills, front and back. In the front one you can see the shortened claws too. Does that look like "born that way dwarf" or "got eaten off short" to you?

The WT was sitting out more today than yesterday and I got a better look at her. She seems to have some discoloration on one of her gills, a lighter patch on the middle right side gill. Any opinions on what is going on with them?

And the baby who apparently needs some more cleaning on that side of the netting, I thought i got it all earlier le sigh... cleaning is never done it seems.

 

[Kedreeva]

Came home to some nice, crystal-clear water!

I took parameters: 63.4F, 7.6pH, ~.5-1ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrites, 20ppm nitrates. I was not particularly worried about the ammonia, since i had treated the exchange water with Prime yesterday afternoon (instead of the other brand I had on hand that was just dechlorinator) and I've been using API's water test kit that can't differentiate harmful vs prime-treated-safe ammonia. It's never a problem for my other tank, every time I've ever tested that one for forever it's been 7.6, 0 amm, 0 nitrite, 20-40 nitrate, so I've ordered the Seachem kit that can tell the difference, just for peace of mind. I did another water change, 50% prime treated, and retested to .25ppm ammonia, 1ppm nitrites, 20ppm nitrates.

The big lady is out walking around very purposefully, and took an earthworm segment but walked away from more. I'm rapidly falling in love with her. She seems to have a very solid idea about her environment and wherever she is heading she goes straight there and then sits up on the tips of her toes. She looks like one of those little balloon animals on a string that float at exactly the right height to look like the child holding the string is walking them. So freaking cute.

Juvie spat out an earthworm tidbit, but gobbled up a couple of molly babies so she's just being picky. The albino is in the bigger hide and seemed to have no interest in coming out, so I didn't fuss with him. All seems to be progressing well for now!

 

[Hayleyy]

Wow! Great progress! Good to see they are starting to heal up.
Not sure about how you can tell if the gills were bitten or just short, but if they do grow it's more likely they had been bitten.
Your tank is still cycling so keep testing it every day and do water changes as needed. The juvie will probably be more susceptible to water conditions so keep an eye on it. Be aware that ammonia becomes more dangerous the higher the pH, so if you have ammonia in the tank always check for high pH levels.
Feed as much as they want to eat (unless they are getting way too chunky). Bucky is always ravenous at dinner time, and will eat a couple of worms and even some pellets He (who might actually be a she) came to me skinny but has fattened up nicely haha

 

[Kedreeva]

Haha thanks, I have done a lot of fish aquariums, I know the cycle etc stuff pretty well by now XD Cycling a little tank off my big tank is way easier than starting from scratch. This puppy took a lot of time and effort, but, you know, worth it!

It'll be a while before this tank is at that level, but I love working on tanks.


Our water here is... weird? The pH is 7.6. Like, all of it, all the time, and physics don't really appear to apply to it. No matter what I do, chemicals, plants, seashells, driftwood, baking soda.... nothing changes it for long, it just slides back to 7.6, even out of the tap not even in fish tanks.

I'm still waiting on the pellets I ordered... I went with Rangen salmon pellets. The adults both look fatty to me. They were on a diet of earthworms and goldfish at their previous home. The juvenile looks well fed but not fatty, and appears always ravenous... as long as it's food she likes.

I really need to name these guys, but I am attempting to wait until my partner gets back from his trip to help. He was excited when I called to discuss whether or not we could take them on, and he's not usually excited about my pets. To be fair, most of my pets are not excited about him, either, so that's fair enough.

 

[Hayleyy]

That is a great looking tank!! The higher points are also a great idea for axolotls. The Stargate decoration is awesome.
Don't worry about the pH, where I live it's around the same as yours. As long as it isn't too acidic (or alkaline paired with high ammonia) axies don't usually get bothered. If you want to lower it the tannins in driftwood I believe helps (but can turn the water murky). In my tropical tank I use coral fragments from my LFS, as it was off even the high pH charts. Not sure about using that with axolotls though, unless you can wrap it in a bag
When I choose names I go with themes, years ago I had Dean, Sam and Cas. Then I had Daenerys and Drogo. Dany died soon after I got Drogo (and had bitten off his arm) so he was renamed to Bucky. My next one will probably be Steve/Cap

 

[Floranfauna]

Hi, what brand of chiller did you buy? I don't have axies yet but I'm thinking about it. Thanks in advance.

 

[Kedreeva]

Hi, what brand of chiller did you buy? I don't have axies yet but I'm thinking about it. Thanks in advance.

It's an Artica. A mini artica. The chiller itself is pretty big, it reminds me of, like, a desktop computer base. It runs almost silently, is freeon free, and has minimal heat output (imo) so far, but it does need clearance in front of and behind it (especially behind it) for air flow and heat output, so it can't go into an aquarium cabinet. You wouldn't want it under the aquarium in a cabinet anyway, since the heat it outputs would just heat up the aquarium you're trying to chill.

In order to get the chiller to work, in addition to the chiller I had to buy a water pump (I let my LFS rec one, they actually do know what they're doing unlike some places) and two lengths of plastic tubing to connect it to the chiller. The chiller can't (if I understand it correctly) pull water in or push it out again on its own, the water pump does that. I also needed to purchase a sponge to cap the end of the chiller output to disperse the water flow. I just used a pre-filter sponge like the sort you'd put on an aquarium filter intake.

------

In a general update, the black one is now named Diva, and she loves the Rangen pelleted chow, and will swim to the top to take the first bite from my fingers and then snuffle around the food bowl for the rest. The juvenile still doesn't have a name, but she has relaxed a lot since things settled down and stabilized. The tank parameters are heading steadily in the correct direction for a full cycle with minimal interference on my part.

I do think that the albino (named Daisy, Duke of Wiggles by my friends), may have either come with a blockage or eaten a stone before I pulled them. His belly, even upon receipt before going into my tank, was distended toward the lower end (which I noted but didn't really think about, since I was unfamiliar with typical axolotl body shapes and hadn't had time to see any behavioral patterns to tell me something was off), and from the get-go he has not shown nearly the same appetite as the others, despite eating a little bit here and there. So, he is currently in the fridge and I've located the vet our local conservancy uses in case he doesn't spit anything up in the next few days.

 

[Hayleyy]

Yep all this chiller info is correct. You will need to buy the right size pump to pump water into the chiller, and like a filter something to reduce the output