Axolotl newbie

Hey,
I am a new member and am going to get some axolotls. Any advice m8s???

Hey axi newby! All I can say is make sure you have your setup right! Sand is awesome! And if you can afford a chiller it is a life saver (literally). If you are going to get one or two, make sure your setup has been cycling for as long as you can (esp if you are having live plants, cause these can have dying issues which can make water almost unlivable for your loved ones) and spend as much time as you can reading all these sites because there is an awful lot to take into consideration with these little fellas (and its much easier to fix things and get them right without anyone in the tank)!
Can't wait to see your babies once you get them!

Oh and don't put too much stock in what the pet shops tell you....I always check here before taking any of their suggestions on board!

Good luck!

Thanks Row!!! I will defanatly post some pix when I get them!!! By the way what kind of axies do you have???

My little two (in the pic under my name) Jacqui was an albino, and very very beautiful. Miles is a brown baby....unfortunately due to my lack of knowledge and trying to amend all the very wrong things the pet shop told me, Jacqui died about a month and a half ago .
Miles is still struggling on, but was quite sick right from the beginning, and as a result is very thin and in the fridge in emergency care!

That would be my other suggestion actually. Make sure the stock you are buying comes from someone who knows what they are doing, because the pet shop my sister bought these from, DIDN'T! The other one in the tank with them, had already suffered from the white fungus (I could see it on him) and I asked what it was and whether it would infect the others and was told they didn't know what it was, but they were sure my two were fine (even though they had been in the same tank)! And he tried to sell me all three to put in a two foot tank, and from what I have read from here, a two foot tank isn't even really big enough to house two full grown axis let alone three!

I think your best bet is to buy from someone thru here, or at least recommended thru here, and just keep reading....knowledge is our greatest asset!

Hi, I've bought my son a gold axie - Afro. I've really got not much of an idea and the pet shops are pretty clueless. He's in a 20 inch tank with airator hoses and a filter, small pebbles and some larger rocks. I just want to make sure he's happy. But from reading I think his filter may be too strong as it's pushing water fairly hard out the top of it.
He didn't eat until this morning and we got him Friday (16/3/07). I'm getting a thermometer today and will get a water test kit too.
Oh, and how do I tell the sex???
Any suggestions for our new family member?}

You should go to www.axolotl.org and read
everything there!! It really helped me a lot!
To tell the sex wait until Your axie is
sexually mature, or until the tips of his toes
turn grey or brown. When that happens check its cloacal region. If it is a really big hump it is probably a male, but sometimes it is a female. You can't really be sure until it starts to produce spermatphores or little packets of sperm. If it has a smaller hump in its cloacal region then it probably is a female. It explains all of this at www.axolotl.org.

first thing i would say is get the gravel out of there! thats one of the main things that can kill them, because they suck in so much water and everything around them when they eat the gravel will get stuck in them! best get sand or stones bigger than their head!

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Quoting Karen Squires on Sunday 18 March 2007 - 23:36 (#POST125048):</font>

we got him Friday (16/3/07)<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

Did you cycle your tank? see: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

As for your filter, can you turn it down or tie something (plastic plant) round the outlet to diffuse the flow; or if it has a pipe attachment/spraybar turn it towards the glass so water hits the glass.

Gravel is only good as long as its permanently silicone to bottom of tank floor, Beata another axie has done it with her tank. Otherwise you will have problems as Laura says, four of ours still poo out gravel and its been over a year since they were on gravel.

After waiting 30+ years I am collecting my first Axy Friday, The tank is set up and waiting.( Having followed advise from these pages) I am aiming to feed it earth worms once weaned off what ever its been fed so far, but how often approx will it ( Lottie) need to feed. Thanks in advance

Julia- Um... probably like 3 or 4 times a week.

Julia depends on how big and age of your axie. If he's young, under 10cm he'll need twice daily feeding - you may need to chop earthworms up if they're too big for him to eat (we used to just chop the tail end - sounds cruel but they regrow! when our axies were little and give them that).
but generally we did
12-15cm once a day
over 15cm every two days
over 20cm every 3-4 days

When its warmer axies eat more often, colder they may eat less as their metabolism slows down.

yea, as kapo said, its very variable.
this is the amount my axies eat:
adults-once every 5 days(with an earthworm or 2 in the middle)
15cm-every other day
10cm-every day
4cm -twice a day

by the way, thats a lovely axie you got there, looks very similar to my grease!

Was let down on my Axolotl . But all was not lost I found an English ( as in England based) forum and through them have located 2, one brown one golden. I am going to fetch them this weekend. They have been housed together . The brown is described as being a year old, but the golden only 4 months so suspect that I may need to separate them..luckily she is giving me the tank set up..I have topped up my tank and aim to use that water....figured it would be better than fresh dechlorinated!. My worm colony has exploded...to the extent when I take the lid off they all jump out, so I put the little one back and the bigger ones are left run free. Anyway...suspect I am rambling again...no doubt I will be back!

Also discovered that Axolotl sales are seasonal...spoke to a gentleman at www.ameyzoo.co.uk . Was very helpful.

Hi Julia

Don't intend to be rude, but start a new thread so we can visit and help out or comment, if need be, and don't get it muddled up with the original poster's thread! Look forward to hearing more about your new additions!