Soon to be an owner and slightly confused

kevan · Dec 6, 2005

Alright I'm a complete newbie at this and you all seem to be completely knowledgable on this topic. Im getting the eggs of some axies soon and....

1) Im getting a 10 gallon tank, a filter, a heater, the works. Can someone give me some information on keeping my ph levels, and blah blah blah

2) i have a question on what you should feed the babies- I used to have bettas and blah blah blah well ive been reading the axolotl.org webpage about food and ive mostly grasped the subject but my question is can i feed them "Hikari specialist fish food - Betta Bio-Gold"
it:
-reduces stress & related illness
-optimum nutritional balance
-never clouds the water
-floating pellet

Its a super small pellet ( it says its a baby pellet also.. if that helps any )

3) My gf is insisting that i take some of the baby goldfish that one of her goldfishes just produced this monday.. uhh so yeah.. ?

any pointers will help, thanks
also if someone would be so kind as to IM me on AIM ( adickted2insulin )so i can ask some other things.. Thanks a bunch =/

joan · Dec 6, 2005

1.) You don't need a heater. Don't buy it. My axolotls right now are at 50F and doing great.

You need to cycle your tank, an article about that can be read here. http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

You won't get hatchlings to eat pellet foods. They probably won't accept live food until they've grown their front legs, and probably their back. Floating pellets are usually not that great for carnivorous animals.

3.) Don't mix goldfish and axolotls. Goldfish are notorious fin nippers, and are very dirty, ammonia-wise. As far as feeder fish wise, they're high in saturated fat and Vitamin A, which can lead to a calcium deficiency.

sharn · Dec 7, 2005

about your ph levels, you need to get testing kits for that, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. test your tap waters ph and tell us what it is, normally you LFS will test it for free. tampering with PH levels are something that should be left to the experts, a less than id ph is better than a fluctuating one!

joan · Dec 7, 2005

pH is not nearly as important as ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Most people freak about their pH levels, but axolotls are okay with a fairly wide range (between 6 and 9ish). Be more concerned with the waste products (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate).

kevan · Dec 7, 2005

What do you suppose is the best way to cycle a tank? I jumped into the amphibian world pretty fast.
" Whats the best way for cycling. I have read tons and tons of information and its different every time. I have order eggs and will be shipped to me in a week or two. Whats the fastest way. I hear just having a feeding fish in the tank and changing the water helps. Or just putting brine shrimp in and changing the water bit by bit every 3 days.
ITS FRUSTRATING. HELP

"

I have that posted in the beginner section to but since this is quality of life i think it could also be stated in here. Thanks for ALLLLLLL of your help!

jeff · Dec 7, 2005

I seriously doubt there is a "best" way. I think just putting a few goldfish in a tank with a light to help the algea grow and plants would be fine.

sharn · Dec 7, 2005

nope, that causes alot of stress for the goldfish and they will die. kevan have a look at your other post, i replied to it there.

jeff · Dec 7, 2005

what causes them stress?

sharn · Dec 8, 2005

well in a cycling tank ammonia builds up insanely high and the same with nitrite making life rather miserable for the poor goldfish.

cynthia · Dec 8, 2005

Kevan - here is an article on tank cycling
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

jeff · Dec 8, 2005

Well depending on tank size I think the goldfish can handle it with water changes, after all , people do keep gold fish in plain old bowls. Also, filtering is not going to stop the cycling process either, it might slow it down, but turning a filter on for a few hours a day would have no real adverse effects.

sharn · Dec 8, 2005

no, filters speed things up if theyre established. water changes dilute the ammonia etc making more have to 'grow' or whatever it does so it can carry on.
thats why alot of goldfish die in bowls/ small tanks, too much ammonia and nitrite and not enough water changes.
also on the subject of turning on the filters for a few hours- bacteria need oxygen to live and turning off the filters for more than a few hours will kill a large percentage off

jeff · Dec 8, 2005

I do not agree that "turning the filters off" will kill off a "large percentage of bacteria", bacteria are hardy enough to fend for themselves for a few hours. Water changes do dilute the ammonia but not enough to make the cycle stop.
As for goldfish, the do well in small setups, I know of a few that have lived in a small bowl for over 9 years. Im not sure why the filters would speed things up that much, as they themselves are a micro-ecosystem, but not one that would cause a significant increase in ammonia or nitrate/nitrite.

suzanne · Dec 8, 2005

Jeff,

I believe the other reason why using goldfish or any other fish to help cycle the tank is not a good idea is because they can harbour nasties which will infect the tank and cause axies to suffer health problems....
This advice was given to me on the forum and I would rather do a fishless cycle than A) hurt the poor goldfish by giving them ammonia burn and B) introduce anything that could cause my axies harm.
It's the individuals choice but I thought I'd just offer another point of view.

Happy cycling Kevan

jeff · Dec 9, 2005

Suzanne, what would you recomend for kevan then?

suzanne · Dec 9, 2005

Jeff,
You can cycle a tank using easy decomposable foods such as brine shrimp and frozen food / fish flake paste.

This way you don't run the risk of introducing any nasties and exposing your "cycle" fish to ammonia.

You can find this under the link that Cynthia posted earlier.

Not disagreeing that cycling with fish doesn't work well just offering an alternative for those who don't want to use that method.

kevan · Dec 9, 2005

Wahhhhhh

You mean you can actually using that colorful fish flake stuff that just sit at the top of the water

... if im understanding this right.. this would have made my time way easier..

ive been sitting here trying to find time to get to the store haha and my girlfriend has got like a thousand fish in her tank and a bunch of that fish flake food stuff.. * sighs *

as for me.. I am going to get a few fish for my 10 gal tank whether it helps the cycling or not. All that i have really heard in all of the threads is goldfish may be gold.. ( oxymoron ( most of the time )) but theyre bad little creatures. RAWR!

so im going to get some other kind of a small fish while im in the process of getting an axie.

cynthia · Dec 9, 2005

Kevan - I would not add a "new fish" to a tank that is going to house axolotls. You could introduce parasites or disease.

sharn · Dec 11, 2005

yip kevan you can use gold fish flakes, anything that the bacteria can eat.
jeff, bacteria do need oxygen also and without filters moving water past/through them constantly you may lose a proportian

(Message edited by sharn on December 11, 2005)

joan · Dec 11, 2005

Sharn, I think the main purpose of using the filter while cycling is to build up the proper bacterial load ON the filter (which is where you want it). It's best to keep your filter running all the time during cycling.

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