Question: Help Me Again Please

Hi to all,

First a quick update on rexy, he is back in tank and seems to be doing well. :lol: He seems to have a little grin on his face, it's so cute.

BUT the last few days I noticed she seems to be climbing and hiding in the plants, she pretty much has not moved out of them now. I tried to coax her out with food but to no luck. Floating or hiding? She has always seemed quite slow except when she does her nightly swim around the tank. (she has stopped doing this aswell, as far as I know).

She is in a new tank (seperated her from rexy). The tank is 1 wk into it's cycling, have been doin' 20% water changes daily. 2ft x 1ft x 1ft, 2 pipe tunnels for hides, 5 elodia and 1 banna lilly for plants. No light as it is still getting built. With screen lid. I did have a air stone in there aswell as a little waterfall filter but the day before yesterday removed the air stone.
Currently
Nitrate 20 -30 ppm (keeping in mind my treated tap water is 20 ppm).
Nitrite nil
Ph 7.2
Amonia 1.0-2.0 ppm
Hardness 180 ppm
Temp 19 degrees

Can anyone give me any advice is this normal axie behaviour??
What's she doin she seems to be asleep in the plants on top of water all the time??
How much light for plants is too much for axie?? (my plants need light)
Do I need the airstone??

Much apreciated if anyone can answer my questions?? I'm really worried about my little girl now

Do you have a filter for the tank? If so, you don't need the airstone. Axolotls do not like light, which is why it is so difficult to have a planted aquarium with axolotls. You may wind up having to choose between plants or axolotls. Java moss and java ferns do fine in low light, so you could consider them as alternatives, or just use plastic plants if you want something more colorful.

My juvenile axolotls like to hang out in the plants, too. This is quite normal behavior. If no other "symptoms" arise, I would not worry about it. Just keep up with the daily water changes and look forward to the day the tank has finished cycling.

-Eva

yes like I said I have a small waterfall filter.
thanks heaps for your reply, I'm building a light for the tank at the moment so i'm just goin' to see how theyy go with it, if not i'll get plastic plants. It's just i really like the more natural thing.

She dosn't seem to be real happy she has been sitting basically in the same spot for nearly 2 days now I really don't think she is very happy does anyone have any advice please help me??????:dizzy:

Thought i'd type in another question here aswell. See if anyone can help me on this one.
how come my axies won't eat worms......????????
And what do I feed them???
They seem to like chicken liver, steak and feeder fish but I don't really like the idea of feeding them germy fish from the pet store, and i undersatnd beef and liver and such is not good for them all the time.

It could be down to the worms you are feeding them. Sometimes the worms will have a different taste if they have come from a compost heap and the axolotls don't always like this.
Sometimes they don't like worms that have been cut up. If you are cutting your worms try feeding whole smaller ones.
Others things to try are woodlice(slaters), snails (remove shell) and slugs (although I find my axies are not so keen on these).
You can also feed prawns and chunks of fish. Cod, haddock etc, they don't seem to have a preference.
Also bloodworms(frozen or live) will be enjoyed.

I agree with all the above recommendations. My axies like slugs. I had one which went through a phase of refusing worms and thrived on out of date smoked salmon! Don't worry too much about ideal food in the first instance. If you can get a variety of foods down them it is easier if you hit a problem with supply.

Little and often is usually best and when they are eating well you can decrease the frequency of feed and increase portion size.

Elodia thrives in my tank lit by a single fluorescent strip. It does not need to be rooted so if the axolotls bash it it is OK. I'm not talking five strands, a choking mass they can hide under.

If the axies can get out of the light do not worry too much about the brightness. They are nocturnal but not cave dwellers and Mexico is quite sunny.

Hi Little High,

My axies love the plants as well I think it gives them a better view of the whole tank and thats why they do it I have fourr and all of them behave like this so in my tank it is definitely the norm

It's been 4 days since she has eaten??
Thanks heaps for all the advice guys eases my mind a little.
I'm still really worried about her though, she just dosen't seem herself and she has always been such a pig. To go 4 days without food is different.

Have been trying to watch her more closely.

What kind of substrate do you have - bare bottom, sand, gravel, etc.? Could she have swallowed something that she is now having trouble passing (gravel is often the culprit)?

-Eva

You see that's what I was thinking. She has sand in her tank now but I bought her and rexy from a pet store that had no clue. They both had gravel in there tanks. I know she had been there for 3 wks in that tank with tiny gravel. I have not long put rexy back into his tank as he was trying to poop. 2 days in the fridge and woo hoo green water and gravel.

I was thinking of putting her in the fridge aswell to see if it helps. She just don't look happy she is back on bottom this morning but is suspended just above substrate. Really not being herself.

Could both of them have impaction from gravel I didn't think it happened that often for me to buy 2 sick axies and they both have belly's full of gravel?????

Going to buy a dark coloured container bigger than the one I got so the fridge visit won't be so squishy for her as she is a little bigger than he is (even with no tail).

PLEASE ADVICE ME OTHERWISE IF NEEDED thought it couldn't hurt for her to go in fridge for couple of days, see how she goes. She is also regrowing her tail and her right front leg. From being attacked 3wks prior to my purchase, what effect does this have on her behaviour???? (like you know i'm very knew to this)

little high said:

Could both of them have impaction from gravel I didn't think it happened that often for me to buy 2 sick axies and they both have belly's full of gravel?????

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If both axies were in a tank with gravel in the pet store, they would both have ingested it.

little high said:

PLEASE ADVICE ME OTHERWISE IF NEEDED thought it couldn't hurt for her to go in fridge for couple of days, see how she goes. She is also regrowing her tail and her right front leg. From being attacked 3wks prior to my purchase, what effect does this have on her behaviour???? (like you know i'm very knew to this)

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The fridge won't hurt her, far from it. The fridge will not only aid the axolotl in passing the ingested gravel, but will also relax her and help her to heal.

The fridge also slows the metabolism so she may not be inclined to eat while in the fridge, but the weight loss also slows right down.

Even if by some miracle she did not ingest gravel at the pet store and is just in a 'not in the mood to eat phase' - the fridge will be a nice vacation spot for her.

little high said:

She is also regrowing her tail and her right front leg. From being attacked 3wks prior to my purchase, what effect does this have on her behaviour?

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Axolotls are very tolerant creatures and they don't bear grudges. I imagine she looks on the missing leg and growing tail as an inconvenience only - they will grow back after all.

(I'll post my apologies in advance to your axie if she turns out to be a boy).

She is a she (roxy) and he is a he (rexy / sexy rexy), she ain't happy at the moment niether of them seem to be eating at all he is as skinny as anything and she is losing weight. She did eat 1 small dried shrimp last night was going to try them with some taylor tonight (fish I caught)

Just popped her in the fridge so we will see what comes of it.

Rexy the boy was back in tank as he had passed three peices of gravel in fridge but after doing my spot clean I inspected his first poop back in tank it had 2 peices of gravel in it. So I popped him back in fridge, yesterday and he has done a small poop but no gravel.

How long should I leave them in the fridge for?????

and his gills are shrinking quite badly he almost just has little nubs with 2-3 little filaments left.


What do I do???????
I am a little paniked about the two of em'
Trying to get some photo's up on here aswell.

You can leave them in the fridge for a week or two. It won't hurt them. They may not want to eat while in the fridge.
Posting some photo's are a good idea.....