Hi Were new to axolotls and this threed

Hi to everyone firstly i have been reading over the forums for the last few days and found everyone to be a great hlp.
Well me and my wife brought our daughter her first axolotl for her 5th birthday(dont worry mum and dad will b doing all the looking after/care) and she called her MISTY lol from pokemon any hown this is our first time with axolotls and we want to make sure we have the right set up and we take good care of her. Weve had her home for about 4-5 days and she seems ok but there are a few things that concern me.
1. the filter the pet shop gave us makes the water run a little in the tank not a strong current but there is still a flow that can make her coral looking gills just mave a little. is this ok she dosent seem bothered by it.
2. At times we find her just strolling along the front of her tank but going from side to side and often trying to get in next to the filter and glass of the tank. she dosent fly rapidly around more just stroling from side to side but only for like an hour or so a day is this ok to b so active at times.

We were given frozen worms and beef liver blocks (i think) we gave her a bit of beef and she gulped that up straight away i have been feeding her evry second day as they told me .

so thanx for any hlp that can b given and we look forward to meeting all threw the forums

p.s These little guys are so wicked should of got one 15 years ago lol

Hello, welcome to the site. Concerning your waterflow question, I would say that that is fine. Just as long as her gills aren't bent forward and she doesn't show any signs of stress.
This is gennerally usual behavior just as long as she doesn't do it to often. She mihgt be hungry or she might just be curious. If your worried, run some tests on the water in the tank.
Food wise, worms are usually the best. I also noticed you have gravel in the tank, you may want to consider replacing it with sand as this can be swallowed by the Axolotl. Anyway, good luck with your new addition.

rply

Hey cheers for the reply Ian
Yeah we have seen alot in the forums and other sites saying that ordianry gravel isent the best and sand or larger river rocks are better. (im pretty sure the people at the pet store were more concerned about there sale than our tank) as asked that question coz i noticed they tend to suck in there food but they had no larger and said that this wouldnt b a prob but i have seen her spit about 3 pices out so far!!! anyhows thnx

Welcome aboard! I'm a newbie myself, so I can't add anything to your axie knowledge. But I wanted to say welcome! :happy:

Dawn T

thnx

Thnx xandert and hi and welcome yourself hope you are enjoying these little buggers as much as my family and me:wacko:

Not yet. Still looking forward to the arrival of my first axies! Here getting myself educated before they arrive. :happy: And anxious for their arrival. I'm still waiting to hear exactly when they should be arriving. On pins and needles!

Dawn T

Hi,
welcome to the site,
i also would recomend removal of gravel as soon as possible.
Is that fish i see in there with your axie or am i imaginind things.
If it is i recomendyou remove the to as they tend to nibble the axies gills thinking they are blood worm.

Bugger

well yesterday we made a silly mistake and broke the glass lid to her tank while feeding ouch!!!! so we are gunna get a new one next week but should we put anything over the top untill then?

and i changed my filter around with some advice from this site the pic on the left is the old way we had it set up causing a little to much water flow and on the right is a pic of the new setup with less flow and more bubbles thnx guys

srry for all the posts

couldnt add them to the previous post srry for all the post but thnx a heap for all the info

That gravel is a dangerous size: big enough to be eaten, but too big to be easily passed. This can cause fatal impactions.

gravel

ok guys thoes nasty little goldfish are out of the tank i did a water change yesterday ( 10 liters out of a 50 liter tank) and will do the same today as for the gravel when we get a chance to get to the pet store later this week il buy larger river rocks as a bottoming but i have had this tank up and running for about 1 1/2 weeks should i do a full water / gravel change when we buy it or should we wait for the 4 week cycle?

Since the tank hasn't established itself fully, I'd think you should do it now as to not cause the Axolotl to much stress and not disturb it once it's settled... a full water change might be a bit much. If its possible, try and take everything out while leaving in a much water as possible, so you don't have to recycle it. And if you have to do a full change then perhaps if you have a spare tank it could go in, that might help. Anyway hope all goes well, good luck.