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Question: Changing water in tank/ moving axalotl

rebeccaann

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i recently changed my axalotls tank it's now much bigger thanks to my sisters fish dieing i got the larger tank! who would of thought something good came out of death, anyway! i had alot of trouble trying to figure out how to move him! in the pet shop they just kinda grabbed him which looked kinda scarey and slimey and i was scared i'd hurt him! so insted i got one of those fish bags (the ones you get your new bought fish in) and some how manuvered him into it! it took ages and i think i stressed him a fair bit that night when he went into his new tank he hardly moved i thought he was dead he wouldnt eat he just sat there. the next morning he was moving but only slightly he still wouldnt eat it's now a few days later and he's finally eating again! he started to improve after i found a large poop haha. but his tale seems to be slilghtly bent i'm not sure if i'm just being paranoid or if somethings really wrong with him? do you have any suggestions for how to move my axalotl (glom) out of his tank? without hurting him :( ? also, do you think something could be wrong with him?
 

Darkmaverick

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Its great that you took the initiative to transport and transfer the axie via a bag rather than with your hands. Handling an axie with bare hands is best avoided unless absolutely necessary. A lot of trauma can happen to the skin and internal organs of these soft bodied animals. Another method is to use a container to scoop the axie up.

It takes time for the axie to get adjusted to the new surroundings. As such, initially the axie may appear slightly stressed and inappetant. This should resolve over time.

Be sure to monitor the water temperature and parameters. You want to ensure that the stress is not attributed to these.
 

rebeccaann

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thank you for replying :)
yeah i was just really worried because it took me ages to actaully get him into the bag and i was worried i had over stressed him that way, and when i put him into his new tank he seemed like annoyed when he swam out of the bag and did a quick swim around the tank type thig but after that no movement for hours! i've never moved him before so i was very scared i had done something wrong.
also wondering if you have any idea! whats a good method of feeding an axalotl blood worms? i've tried to feed him some before and it was kinda succesful? i managed to get some to him but the rest desolved into the water and went everywhere! (totally off topic i know):rolleyes:
 

Darkmaverick

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If you look through my gallery, i incorprate a feeding dish that i embed in the substrate in my tank. I 'trained' my axies to associate going to the dish as feeding time. This would keep feeding confined to that one spot (which is near to the front of the tank) to permit easier cleaning as its more accessible.

With bloodworms, i use the syringe method. After defrosting and rinsing the worms, i suck them up in a 1 or 5ml syringe with a fine nozzle. I can then feed the axies either by directing a small stream directly into their mouths or slowly place a small volume each time in the feeding dish.

The other method commonly used is to defrost the worms in the cup/glass filled with tank water (with the worms at the bottom of the glass), and then tilting the glass against the side of the tank glass and then slowly lowering the glass to the bottom of the tank. The worms should remain clustered within the glass. THe axies will crawl into the glass and feed from there.

The last method is simply to feed the axies in a seperate tank from the main tank.
 

rebeccaann

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okay thank you i shall give it a try.
my axalotl doesnt eat things from the tank bottom though? like at all. he only eats things that touch his nose. i fear this will make feeding him other things apart from sinking food rather difficult.
 

Darkmaverick

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You can dangle earthworms, pieces of fish etc with a pair of forceps or direct a stream of bloodworms/blackworms around the face.
 

rebeccaann

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ok ill try some of those :) thank you!
by the way i just put a cube of bloodworms in a cup and let it defrost and put it into the tank lieing down side ways. glom eventually went into the cup and ate pretty much all of them!! YAY! :D thank you thank you thank you
 

scrappa

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Hi,

Your axolotls tail might be bent because of the flow being slightly strong.

I have two filters in my 20gallon 2ft tank atm because my 3 juveniles are going to the 3.5ft soon so im putting the crawfish in their.

They had the end of their tails curled then so i turned down the filters a bit so they would be fine with the flow.

Also DaveMaverick i found a good way to get the axie out lol.

Get a worm and dangle it in tweezers and as soon as the axie bites on lift and put a tub underneth the axie then when you let go the axie is happy because its been fed and is in the tub nice and fine :p.
 

scrappa

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Hi again,

Also for rebecca i feed my 3 axolotls that are about 4" long each half a blood worm cube without defrosting it so no mess.

I also let a quater of the blood worm cube defrost and put it down on the sand near the coconut shell and they go and dig around in the sand to find bits so then its all eaten aswell :).
 

rebeccaann

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yeah i tried feeding him forzen bits of the cube it was to difficult because it floats, and when he sorta dived for the cube i freak out and he doesnt end up getting it in his mouth :( which sucks. because i'm chicken lol.
 

scrappa

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Hi,

Just hold it down with your hands in front of him from straight out the freezer and he will bite bits off like one of mine or swallow like the other 2 do for me.
 

Kerry1968

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It is not advisable to feed axolotls bloodworms that are still frozen. It could in fact cause frostbite inside their stomachs.
 

scrappa

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Hi,

:0

I didn't know at all!

I've been feeding mine frozen bits of bloodworm for the month ive had them :(

I hope they are fine in that case.

Also i just moved them to the new 3.5ft tank :)

They seemed stressed and i had to move them from bucket to a bowl with my hand so they were very stressed.

But they look happier in the tank.

It has about 2.5ft more floor space all together because it isn't very deep.

And the crawfish got the 2ft so he looks happy :p.
 

Shari

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ive been feeding my axies cubes straight out of the freezer i just chuck it in the tank and bits fall off they catch them as they fall also best way to get axie out of tank is with a fish net lol can get nice big ones works well nice and fast and if net is big enough they lay straight (ever seen a dolphin movie where they lift it out of water?) also axies will get hungry enough and eat off the bottom of their tank i was a meanie when i started mine on pellets they got use to it eventually
 

Kerry1968

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Please remember to use punctuation, it is one of the rules of the forum. Without any capital letters or full stops it makes your post hard to read.

As I stated before, this is NOT the way to feed axolotls bloodworms, it can cause problems.
 

blabberwort

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shari I dont mean to be rude, but this is the 2nd post where you have stated what you do with your axies that isnt actually the best method. Your earlier post on another thread implied that people shouldnt even listen to advice given (which is sort of the point of this forum, to ask advice and try to follow), I would highly suggest that anyone asking for advice follows the more experienced members advice. In this case about the frozen bloodworms I would follow kerrys advice :happy:
 

scrappa

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Hi,

Yeah I didn't have any idea that i was doing anything wrong :(.

Sorry for bad info.

Hope nobodys axolotls get hurt.

But as always im not very experienced so someone else like kerry or davemaverick can probably answer questions lol.

And thanks to kerry i've stopped feeding them frozen blood worms.

And i would like to know can they eat kryll?

My crawfish seems to like it and if they will eat it i will buy alot for crawfish and axies.
 

scrappa

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yeah i tried feeding him forzen bits of the cube it was to difficult because it floats, and when he sorta dived for the cube i freak out and he doesnt end up getting it in his mouth :( which sucks. because i'm chicken lol.

Hi,

If he bit you it wouldnt hurt because theyre teeth are not sharp and are for gripping onto things so they dont get away.
 

dr34mr

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My axie used to "bite" me all the time, and i doesn't hurt. As a matter of fact it actually tickles! I'm very ticklish though.

In terms of moving your axie, i use a jar or large cup and gently convince him to climb on in. then i just hold my hand over the end so i don't loose too much water or let him escape. Then i can place him into a container.

When i first had my axie it would come and try to nibble on my hand when i was cleaning the tank. Some times i'd lie my hand flat on the bottom of the tank and he'd curl up on my hand. Maybe he felt like a warm change?

In terms of feeding, axolotls are very lazy in nature and so will only go looking for food if necessary. I have used a feeding spot where he always got fed, and so knew where to go to get food.
 
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