anjelloca
New member
Hey guys I’m new here!!!!!! My name’s Jello, I’ve posted an intro post in the introductions page already but I wanted to post my general story here. This is my first time owning anything other than a cat or a dog but I've been researching axolotls for the last 3 years while I was in vet tech school so bear with me.
So I finally moved into a big enough house to keep an aquarium. It’s a 25 gallon with a medium sized Reptofilter that I’m changing out every week. It’s taken me almost a year to cycle because the store I bought my axolotl from is extremely particular about who they sell their animals to. I’ve had my water tested every week at their store and either my ammonia or nitrates were always too high (a friend had given me her old tank she kept saltwater fish in). I finally got my tank at good parameters using Seachem’s Stability & Prime and adopted my first axolotl a little more than a week ago!
Coco Chanel is a 5mth female leucistic about 4-5 inches long and I’m hand-feeding her 1 cricket every 12 hours (I’m gut-loading my crickets with oranges & apples for a hydration source, and crushed dog & cat food as a dry food source). I’ve added 2 minnows to the tank to see if she’ll be interested or at least attempt to chase them. So far she’s only ever followed them with her head. I figure she’s not trying to catch any because she’s full so tomorrow I’m gonna try not feeding her any crickets and see if she’ll chase after them. I think they might be too big too. I’ve posted pictures of my tank setup and Chanel down below. I wanted to put some type of substrate in like maybe sand but I’ve just heard so many horror stories I’m a little scared to, but I would like to add a substrate during her next water change to make the tank a little prettier, I'm just not sure what type of sand.
I checked parameters today and nitrates were a little high as well as ammonia (0.5ppm) so I changed out 40% of the water like I’m planning on doing weekly and then rechecked parameters after 4 hours and this is where they’re at right now:
Nitrite: 0-20ppm (safe)
Nitrate: 0ppm (safe)
Hardness: 75ppm (soft)
Alkalinity: 300ppm (high)
pH: 7.8 (alk)
Ammonia: 0ppm
Temp: 65 F
She’s still extremely shy – she’ll raise her head a little when she see’s me coming with a cricket (she backs away when my boyfriend does it lol :lol but otherwise she spends most of her time in hiding and only ever comes out to swim to the surface for a gulp of air. It makes me a little sad, but I don’t know if it’s just her personality or if it takes time for most axolotls to warm up to you. She doesn't seem stressed at all, so I don't know.
One of the veterinarians I work with sees axolotls so I have a place to take her if she ever gets sick or needs antibiotic/antifungal treatments.
I’m sorry if this is so long!! I just want to know that I’m doing everything right. I’m planning on getting a couple axolotl eggs as well and raising those – I already have a tiny lil tank set up for that. Hopefully I have a bigger tank before those become juvenile. Any advice or feedback would be awesome.
So I finally moved into a big enough house to keep an aquarium. It’s a 25 gallon with a medium sized Reptofilter that I’m changing out every week. It’s taken me almost a year to cycle because the store I bought my axolotl from is extremely particular about who they sell their animals to. I’ve had my water tested every week at their store and either my ammonia or nitrates were always too high (a friend had given me her old tank she kept saltwater fish in). I finally got my tank at good parameters using Seachem’s Stability & Prime and adopted my first axolotl a little more than a week ago!
Coco Chanel is a 5mth female leucistic about 4-5 inches long and I’m hand-feeding her 1 cricket every 12 hours (I’m gut-loading my crickets with oranges & apples for a hydration source, and crushed dog & cat food as a dry food source). I’ve added 2 minnows to the tank to see if she’ll be interested or at least attempt to chase them. So far she’s only ever followed them with her head. I figure she’s not trying to catch any because she’s full so tomorrow I’m gonna try not feeding her any crickets and see if she’ll chase after them. I think they might be too big too. I’ve posted pictures of my tank setup and Chanel down below. I wanted to put some type of substrate in like maybe sand but I’ve just heard so many horror stories I’m a little scared to, but I would like to add a substrate during her next water change to make the tank a little prettier, I'm just not sure what type of sand.
I checked parameters today and nitrates were a little high as well as ammonia (0.5ppm) so I changed out 40% of the water like I’m planning on doing weekly and then rechecked parameters after 4 hours and this is where they’re at right now:
Nitrite: 0-20ppm (safe)
Nitrate: 0ppm (safe)
Hardness: 75ppm (soft)
Alkalinity: 300ppm (high)
pH: 7.8 (alk)
Ammonia: 0ppm
Temp: 65 F
She’s still extremely shy – she’ll raise her head a little when she see’s me coming with a cricket (she backs away when my boyfriend does it lol :lol but otherwise she spends most of her time in hiding and only ever comes out to swim to the surface for a gulp of air. It makes me a little sad, but I don’t know if it’s just her personality or if it takes time for most axolotls to warm up to you. She doesn't seem stressed at all, so I don't know.
One of the veterinarians I work with sees axolotls so I have a place to take her if she ever gets sick or needs antibiotic/antifungal treatments.
I’m sorry if this is so long!! I just want to know that I’m doing everything right. I’m planning on getting a couple axolotl eggs as well and raising those – I already have a tiny lil tank set up for that. Hopefully I have a bigger tank before those become juvenile. Any advice or feedback would be awesome.