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Keeping Axolotls in Australia

Mot

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Hi, I'm from Melbourne Australia and well it can get very hot here. In the very near future, roughly around April, I'm going to be trying very hard (because of some genetic issue currently in the breeder?) but I'm curious what people recommend as I've been reading on Axolotl.org that they are quite needy in terms of the temperature they require. (Axolotl.org is also how i found this place :)) Like I have read about the Chillers and the "Ice Bottle Method" but I probably wont be home often enough to change it, especially in summer when we can get 45+ degree days.
 

WalkingFish

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Too hot of a tank can kill axolotls or stress them out or make them sick very very quickly. There are lots of fun DIY projects for chilling aquariums in your home like converting a small mini fridge into a chiller. These are all cool methods but Australia is really hardcore as far as heat goes. You're right Icing down your aquarium is not going to be enough also evaporation is not going to be able to keep up with the amount of heat that your house is probably going to be exposed to. I really would like to wait and see some better Solutions from someone else on this forum, but I'm just going to come out and say you probably should just get a real aquarium chiller from online. I know they're expensive usually at least a hundred bucks sometimes more depending on how big your tank is, but I truly think it's the best bet for people with extreme hot climates. Using ice bottles works great for small aquariums so does evaporation and other DIY projects. The problem is small aquariums get hot fast and you'll have to do a lot of maintaining to keep it chilled. Let's say you went with a big aquarium, that means you would need a lot of ice and a lot of effort to bring that aquarium temperature down. For all the hard work and time you will put into constantly maintaining your axolotls living space, I personally would cave and by the aquarium chiller. But like I said hopefully someone on this forum has a really great solution for your problem! Sorry I couldn't be more help. Hope you have a cool dark place in your home, maybe a basement? This will help combat how much cooling off you will need to do.
 

Mot

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Hey, Thanks WalkingFish, you definitely gave me some more insight into the whole chiller thing, I think I will end up buying one, and I'm thinking probably a 40b fish tank, as I would like two axolotls and I believe two fully grown axolotls can live in a 40b. Still if anyone else reads this and has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.
 

narny101

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Hi there,

I'm also in Melbourne and keeps axolotls,

On hot days I put frozen water bottles or a freeze pack in the tank and let it float. I also put some foam around the outside of the tank to insulate it.

I have done this for 3 years and so far has worked great


good luck
 
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