Hi From Eastern Canada

Hi there!

I'm Chad and I'm from Moncton, New Brunswick, in Atlantic Canada.

I ended up with my sole newt purely by accident as I'm more of a fish keeper. I was offered a free aquarium with fish by someone who was moving away and as i'm catching and bagging fish, he asks me "Hey You want a newt?"

Saw this medium-sized firebelly (i think he's japanese, as he's not so plump, but i may be mistaken) stuck to the side of a 0.5 gallon plactic container (i won't honor it with the name "tank") with no filtration and only about 250 ml of water... with a bit of gravel built up on one side.

Couldn't let him (haven't sexed it yet) stay where he was so home he came, probably to be rehomed with someone experienced with newts. My wife and 4 year old fell in love with "Newton" and, well, that was 3 months ago. He has since been upgraded to a 10 gallon "Tropiquarium" setup with an Elite Mini filter, some "lucky bamboo" and some larger beach rocks built up to create a platform for him.

I've been perusing the site for the last week or so, looking at the various setups that people have to vivariums and my creative juices have been slowing, just like they were when I first got into fish keeping so who knows where this will go

I recently went so far as to buy a houseplant at the grocery store because it has live sphagnum moss around it, hoping to use some of it for Newton's renovation

Beyond that I'm also a member and forum moderator for the East Coast Aquarium Society which is based in Halifax Nova Scotia but covers the Atlantic provinces. I'm in the banking industry, but love to get my hands dirty with woodworking when I have the space and time and love to take everyday things and adapt them to serve my purposes with my aquatic hobbies.

I feel like a little kid again, full of questions and ideas. Looking forward to getting lots of advice and sharing experiences!

Chad
a.k.a. Bubba The Gump

Welcome to the forum Chad!

hi there, im new too im hoping to get an axolotl :happy:

Welcome to the forum! I feel so sorry for that newt when he was in a plastic container, buts nows he in a good home.

wow... it's been over 3 years since my last post... that's not good.

well, the only thing that is the same now as it was in my introduction is that I'm still primarily a fish keeper, but I'm no longer a banker (back to school, studying Web Design and Internet Application Development) and I'm doing things on my own as far as the social side of fish keeping, though I may be starting a new forum for our local hobbyists to connect and chat.

"Newton" has since been joined by 4 other FB's and they are now all fully aquatic, in a fully planted and filtered 12 gallon bowed cube tank with an internal filter box. It's a little small, but the water quality is doing great thanks to the plants, and I've had no health issued to speak of. I may upgrade their filtration with a small external canister running out of the filter box, but that is another project to add to the list. I'm also trying to convince my wife to let me build a new tank for them, but if that fails, I'll likely move them to a 120L long tank in the not too distant future.

I've also become the new owner of a 9 week old melanoid axolotls! s/he is still in his grow-out "container" getting daily water changes and feedings, and I now have to figure out what I'm going to house him/her in.

I've been playing with the idea of adapting a 12v cooler that I picked up for free to make it a chilling chamber of sorts, and I've been reading up on some of the DIY Peltier device cooling options that people have looked at here on the forum, and I think I'm just going to get a tank that fits inside the cooler and cut off one long side on the cooler to allow a viewing window. I'll leave enough space for airflow from the cooling fins to surround the tank. if that doesn't work well enough, then I think I may try to expand on this using the Peltier device from this cooler and 2 others, and make an insulated shell for a 120L tank or so using rigid insulation and my handy dandy wood working tools.

Anyway, just checking in.

Chad

I am glad he is doing good chad! Did the leucistic not make it by chance? I thought the leucie was getting better and knew you at least had experience with caudates and could give it the proper care. Im struggling right now with my last ill baby who wont make it much longer and have 3 that we are keeping from that batch that are doing awesome! Plus of course echo and texas

If you would like to post pictures i'd love to see him/her .. I havent heard anything from anyone else and it concerns me a bit because there are a lot of things that without this forum my axies wouldnt be healthy i ask questions daily i swear! Lol!

Well i know whatever the outcome this guy is in good hands
Has he grew much more? He was the runt of them all

By the way i dont stalk people i swear! Lol! I just saw a post saying eastern canada and got excited!

lol not stalking at all

S/He's ok, but the lucy didn't make it. I didn't get to put together (or source) the axie version of a Ringer's solution to try that, but it had a ton of fluid retention, and in my inexperience, I suspect it may have been somewhat genetic too, as it's feet/toes were pretty tiny, even for a baby axie. I've read something on here about small toes being a sign of a genetic issue that affects kidneys, which would match the symptoms, but then it could have been my fault too.

The Mel is eating bloodworms like a wolf. I ended up just using a toothpick to "hand feed" him, and he seems to be doing well. I moved him to a doubled container system, where he is in one container that sits inside a larger one and they both have water in them, so water temps are matched for water changes.

I'll see what I can do for pics.

Happy Trails,

Chad

Thats to bad im sorry for your loss he was ill but he started to recover. But i did tell you you could bring him home and see what happens. I did kind of have high hopes flr him though but thats to bad..

Ive had 3axos that developed fluid retention, i have one still that is not doing well and doesnt have much longer

Thats so interesting to know about the feet thing! Because all of the ones that had the fluid retention had weird stumpy limbs with almost webbed toes.


Im glad he is doing well! Hope he grows big and strong.

Its crazy how fast they grow.