Question: My first tank setup...

Hi all! First time Axolotl owner here.

Wondering if you could give me some feedback on my tank setup. I'm a teacher and so have set up this tank for ease of cleaning but also to make sure my little Axolotl (named Lockheed) is happy and so my students can best watch her move and grow.

The tank is 60cm L x 32cm W x 36cm H with a fountain filter thing that I've set at a low water flow and placed a plant under as well to stop the strong current. The temperature is at 16 Celsius. I do live in Sydney though so for summer I'm looking into making a mesh tank top (rather than the glass one on it now) and getting a fan or two set up to keep the temperature down.

I've opted for bare bottom and she's (I'm thinking she anyway) able to move easily around on the ground but she seems to enjoy swimming laps when I arrive in the early morning.

I tried feeding her worms for the first time yesterday as she wasn't taking the pellets but she when I woke up this morning, I noticed she'd thrown them up. I just fed her two pellets then and she seems to have taken them.


Any thoughts on gender?

View from above.

Side view.

Thanks! Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated!



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A tank without substrate does make cleaning easier. :happy:
Lockheed looks quite healthy, your tank looks pretty good, and it is great that you are showing such a wonderful animal to your students. You may want to consider a second hide, but if she seems comfortable as the tank is, then it's not a big concern.
As for regurgitating the worm, I had that problem when I first started feeding earthworms to my gang. My juvenile wild type still does it occasionally if it is a large worm, or a very active/wiggly worm. It's not a huge problem, just keep offering the worms, perhaps try smaller ones. If you suspect it is because the worms are too active, you could always try blanching the worms prior to feeding.
Best of luck and please keep us posted on your progress. :happy:

Donna001 said:

A tank without substrate does make cleaning easier. :happy:

Lockheed looks quite healthy, your tank looks pretty good, and it is great that you are showing such a wonderful animal to your students. You may want to consider a second hide, but if she seems comfortable as the tank is, then it's not a big concern.

As for regurgitating the worm, I had that problem when I first started feeding earthworms to my gang. My juvenile wild type still does it occasionally if it is a large worm, or a very active/wiggly worm. It's not a huge problem, just keep offering the worms, perhaps try smaller ones. If you suspect it is because the worms are too active, you could always try blanching the worms prior to feeding.

Best of luck and please keep us posted on your progress. :happy:

Click to expand...

Thanks Donna! I'm considering putting sand in as I've read that the Axolotls like to dig and play when they're still young. Is that right?

If I did, I'm assuming I should just clean the chunks out regularly? Should I remove all the sand and get new stuff after a while?



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I think sand is a good substrate to. Just beware your water will get cloudy when you first put new sand in. I rinsed my sand in buckets in the sink several times and my water still was cloudy for 2 or 3 days. I did use tge clumping agent to.

Mattwillie said:

Thanks Donna! I'm considering putting sand in as I've read that the Axolotls like to dig and play when they're still young. Is that right?

If I did, I'm assuming I should just clean the chunks out regularly? Should I remove all the sand and get new stuff after a while?



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Click to expand...

I think it lasts a while you can probably wash it again and reuse it. I have hade the same sand for 9 months in my aquarium. I vacuum every day or other day and lightly stab and mix sand once a week. They say not to make it to deep and to mix it up so gas bubbles dont form in sand?

Canecorsonewt said:

I think it lasts a while you can probably wash it again and reuse it. I have hade the same sand for 9 months in my aquarium. I vacuum every day or other day and lightly stab and mix sand once a week. They say not to make it to deep and to mix it up so gas bubbles dont form in sand?

Click to expand...

Awesome! How deep is too deep? It's probably at about 1inch? Maybe less.


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Canecorsonewt said:

I think sand is a good substrate to. Just beware your water will get cloudy when you first put new sand in. I rinsed my sand in buckets in the sink several times and my water still was cloudy for 2 or 3 days. I did use tge clumping agent to.

Click to expand...

Yep! Noticed that! Haha. It's not too bad thankfully!


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I've had the same sand in my tank for months. The waste just sits on the top, so it's really easy to see and siphon out. I've probably got more than an inch of sand in my tanks, it is deeper in some areas than others because some of my guys like sitting on top of the hides so I've used some sand piled up against the sides to help them get up there.
Sometimes I move the sand around a bit, check for bubbles etc.