Is this normal for axies im new to them

We have had misty(axolotl) for about 1 1/2 weeks. And some treads say there not very active and other threads say some are so here is what misty is doing

she will stay at the bottom of the tank like she is sleeping or slowly just moving around all threw the day

But at night she will come up and swim around her tank all night
We have a filter that blows heaps of little air bubbles in her tank and quit often i see her swiming at the top of the tank catching them.
do they upset her or do they just like catching bubbles(she seems to like the bubbles better then the water flow of the spray bar)

She also likes to try to get on top of our filter

is this normal for them to swim about so much at night and sleep threw the day or are we doing something wrong and when she wakes shes trying to get to the surface for air?

so in short is it normal for axolotls to be active at times of the day?
can bubbles upset them? or can u have to much comming in to the tank?
and does she look sick or healthy?


well her are some pics of our tank and misty thank you to all that hlp
ohhh and the pet store gave us frozen blood worms and some type of beef squars. they told us only to feed her every 2nd day and the beef 1 a week coz its to fatty but from the threads here her body should b bigger than her head so is it ok to give her a little more beef as she seems to only like that to the worms?


We only had the light on to get some pics its usually a dull light in the room from the hall

I can't really see in the pictures whether she looks stressed or not. Usually you can see stress by the gills pushed forward.

Axolotl's are nocturnal animals so that would be the reason why she is more active during the night. She does look like she has reached sexual maturity (I think I see some black toes, I am sure others can correct me if I am wrong) that will mean that she will be less active anyway. Younger axolotl's are more active mainly because they will be in more need for food.

She does look healthy to me though, although I have never witnessed an axolotl climbing out the water onto of the filter. I can't see any harm in her catching bubbles if she doesn't looked stressed, what is the water flow like on the filter? Axolotls don't like alot of water flow.

with the filter blowing bubbles the way it does it only has a very small water flow close to the filter but when i had the spray bar there was a more constaint and stronger flow going right around the tank so it is fairly still apart from the flow the bubbles give off but there is tiny bubbles all over the top of the water

and thank you for the info and thaughts buddy

Axolotls are nocturnal so they will be more active during the night. Mine sleeps all through the day and then starts to swim around a lot at night so I would not be concerned if that is what Misty is doing.

The bubbles would only be stressful if they are causing a lot of water movement. Axolotls get stressed if there is a lot of water movement. But a lot of people have bubblers and have axolotls that love to gulp at them If your axolotl is stressed, her gills will curl forward as well as the tail tip will curl - I can't tell if this is the case from your pictures. Gulping at the surface is also fairly normal unless it is very frequent - it means there is not enough oxygen or the water quality is bad in the tank. Are all your water parameters normal?

I would suggest though, that you remove the gravel as soon as possible in your tank as it could be swallowed by Misty and cause impaction. You should use either sand or a bare floor.

Beef is not recommended for axolotls unless it is a treat. The petstore is right in that it is too fatty so I think you should only use that rarely. You could try earth worms or salmon pellets if your axolotl is not keen on the blood worm. However, if you can't obtain them keep trying with the bloodworm - your axolotl will eat it if she gets hungry enough!

Anyway, good luck with your new axie

Edit: Also I had always heard it was the body should be no wider than the head not bigger, but I could be wrong.