Well she had been showing other signs, but I've only just got her and her journey home was quite stressful, and then her filter was too strong for her. I got her a new and far more gentle filter yesterday and she seems better now. Before her tail was curved and her gills were forward, but I figured that's got to be the case for all axies when they first arrive at their new home. Not her gills are approximately 45 degrees from her torso.
She does flick them regularly, but I was getting the impression she only did it when I came close to the tank. I have also noticed her take a couple of gulps of air from the surface. I read that this is is normal and she's just sort of stretching her lungs a bit. Her appetite isn't very good. I've only seen her eat about three blood-worms. These should be okay for her as they are the same as what she was being fed at the store she came from. However, I'll look into something else for her to eat. Maybe she'll fancy a nibble on an earthworm. What other food would people recommend for a small axie? As for behaviour, well I'm not familiar with her yet. She spends a lot of time sitting behind stones in her tank or in her hide. Sometimes I'll look up and quite unexpectedly she's just floating at the top of the tank, looking completely relaxed. She isn't gill flapping then. Then she'll swim about a bit and then just sit somewhere in the tank.
Right, I just went to observe her flapping and when she first flapped, I counted 22 seconds until the next flap. I watched for a little while. Intervals where this:
1st flap - 22 seconds - 2nd flap - 11 seconds - 3rd flap - 10 seconds - 4th flap - 15 seconds - 5th flap - 4 seconds - 6th flap - 10 seconds - 7th flap
I'm not sure as I didn't count the seconds before, but I did think that they were faster before... maybe she's calmed down a bit?
Regards, Fiona & Fumi ^_^