Odd behaviours in new axolotl...

Hi all,

We just got our axolotl today and have done everything the pet store told us to do. He/She has no substrate right now because I was concerned about him eating small stones so am thinking I might get her some larger pebble ones like I read on this site.

Anyway, after a few hours of non-activity...he started to do this little...jumpy hiccupy thing. She's stopped now, but he's running/swimming/wriggling from one end of the tank to the other. I'm worried about his spasms from earlier that caused her to leap into the air...water...and look like she was hiccuping....and then yeah...I didn't think he'd be so active I guess.

Tank has a Ph level of around 7.5 atm, and water has been dechlorinated etc etc etc.
Why has he been acting so weird? And how soon after bringing them home should we first attempt to feed them...what is the best food to attempt to feed them after bringing them home.

Sorry for all the questions...I can't find any really really good sites to get info from.

Thanks!
Sas

Hi there, how old are the axies?
When we got our babies, one of them swam madly and insanely around the top of the tank, banging into the glass for weeks...!!! mind you i didn't know about a cycled tank so they were put straight into filtered water. The other axie was settled tho' and was much calmer!
We fed our wee guys frozen blood worms ( thawed down briefly)- the worms were supplied from the pet shop and kept in cubes in the freezer.

Sas, have you read the best site on axolotl care yet? Visit www.axolotl.org and that should get you started on the basics.

Hey,
Thanks for replying.
I have checked out the site - it was how I found the forums. I guess I should read all associated pages.

My tank I suppose, has just started cycling.

From what I can tell, the axolotl tends to be a lot more active at night - swimming around his tank etc.
He still hasn't eaten - we got him on Sunday and it's not Tuesday. Should I be worried?

The water is now cloudy also and he came up for a gulp of air earlier, although this is the first time he's done it.

I can get a pic of our tank/setup if that would help.

Sas

Dont worry too much about the not eating for the first week or so as they quite often refuse to eat if they have been stressed. A change of environment is always very stressful.

The cloudy water is because of ammonia I think. U should get some test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate and possibly think of putting your baby in another container with daily 100% water changes till your tank is cycled. You can leave it in but you have to do partial water changes on the tank either every day or every second day (cant remember which). I find its just easier to put them in a plastic storage container and change the water in that daily till the tank is cycled.

Could be a reaction to the water

Thanks all,
She seems to have settled down quite a bit now.
I bought a filter, which stressed her...so have stuck a (fake) plant in front of it and also a large ornament (that she hides in) in front of it to curb the water flow - which even on 'low' is too much.

I bought an airstone yesterday but OMG the noise and the flow it made were dreadful! She almost immediately went nuts, so I've turned it off and she settled down and went back into her ornament *she likes to sleep there).

Would bringing the filter up to cause a minor disturbance on the waters surface (not crashing ripples, but a small gentle ripple) oxygenate the water enough? I will turn the air pump on intermittently if I need to...but she went nuts and didn't look happy.