Axolotl Care

Hi,

Have only owned my Axolotl's for around 2-3 months & am unsure on how to care for them.

There are a few questions i have in regards to this and was hoping to get some guidance from here.

1) What to feed them? ( i have only been feeding them frozen blood worms & pellets)

2) How do you feed them ( it seems some people physically feed them themseleves on here, i didnt know you had to do this)

3) How do you give a salt bath?

4) How do you check the water to make sure its not toxic for them?

5) What is the best tank setup plant & object wise?

6) How to keep them healthy to live long?

I have been scanning through the whole forum since this morning and found alot of helpful information but if anyone can help me with the above specific questions that would be great as i am a mega noob when it comes to this.

Thanks in advance

Hi Tony

I'm stalking you hehehehe....I'll start the ball rolling for you.....I use earthworms and blood worms, beef heart as a treat....I hand feed him with tweezers or my hand....salt baths someone else to talk about them I'm not sure how to attach to directions......You can buy them from the pet shop and you need to test nitrate, nitrite and ammonia.......Don't buy the stick test they are not very reliable.....I just have a few fake plants, a few live plants, a couple of rocks and a hollow log so he can hide( they like to hide) in it....Good water quality, good food, regular water changes and lots of love

lea:happy:

lea said:

hi tony

im stalking you hehehehe....ill start the ball rolling for you.....i use earthworms and blood worms, beef heart as a treat....i hand feed him with tweezers or my hand....salt baths someone else to talk about them im not sure how to attach to directions......you can buy them from the pet shop and you need to test nitrate, nitrite and anmiona.......dont buy the stick test they arnt very reliable.....i just have a few fake plants, a few live plants, a couple of rocks and i hollow log so he can hide( they like to hide) in it....good water quality, good food, regular water changes and lots of love

lea:happy:

Click to expand...

Hahah, thanks Lea,

Do you buy the food from a pet store or do you harvest yourself? i got rid of the fake plants becuase they seems to catch food in the which would eventually grow mould & smell so now all they have is a hollow log.

morning tony

i buy the food from the pet shop just to be sure it is safe.........but im going to start a worm farm soon..........

If you continue to look around the forum you'll see that the answers to all of your questions are here. I'm relatively new to the axolotl world as well, but with a look around this forum and Axolotls: The Fascinating Mexican Axolotl and the Tiger Salamander I found out all that I needed to know.

1) Earthworms make a good staple for axolotls, but they also happily eat bloodworms, pellets, small shrimps and feeder fish (so long as they are quarantined for at least 30 days prior to addition to your axolotl's environment.), and many people feed the occasional bit of beef heart as a treat. I am not sure about pellets as I've never used them but bloodworms on their own do not provide everything that your axolotl needs and would be insufficient as a sole food source. Beyond this, feel free to mix up your axolotl's diet and s/he will be very happy.

2) I personally hand-feed my axolotl. He'll instantly come to my hand as soon as it enters the water and gladly snaps up whatever I've got (and very often my fingers as well!). Axolotls do not really have teeth so although this can be startling it never hurts. Many people place food items in a dish for their axolotls and allow them to find the food on their own. Whatever you do, make sure to remove uneaten food to make sure that it doesn't decay and foul the water.

3) Salt baths I have no experience with, but there is a guide available that I'm sure somebody will be able to link you to. Is your axolotl currently suffering from an infection, or are you just wishing to get up-to-date just in case?

4) You need to buy water parameter test kits ASAP. Axolotls are very sensitive to changes in chemicals. You will need tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. A pH test couldn't hurt either. Do you know if your tank is cycled? If it is still cycling you will need to keep a very close eye on ammonia and nitrite levels and perform regular small water changes to keep these in check. As has already been said, you should get the reagent tests and not the test-strips as the strips are notoriously inaccurate.

5) Axolotls do not have eyelids and so are not very keen on bright lights. They very much like to hide as well. If you're keeping more than one axolotl make sure that you have at least one hide per axolotl to attempt to minimise aggression. Use large stones (no single stone should be smaller than your axolotl's head), fine sand or have the bottom of your tank completely bare. If you have gravel your axolotl will inevitably swallow some and this could be dangerous for him. If you use sand make sure that it is not more than an inch or so deep as nasty bacteria can grow in air pockets within the sand which can wreak havoc with your water quality. As long as your water quality is good and your axolotls have somewhere to hide the rest is just about aesthetics. Live plants help with nitrate levels and look pretty. Feel free to experiment with the environment to find something that keeps you and your axolotl happy!

6) Read around this forum and Axolotls: The Fascinating Mexican Axolotl and the Tiger Salamander and follow the information you glean and your axolotls should live long and healthy lives!

As I say, I am new to the world of axolotls and this information was all gathered from this forum and the website, so please read around. Good luck!

Thanks for the response sammy, Much appreciated mate, Unfortunantly one of my Axis Died on Friday afternoon, had a burial and everything, Very sad, I used my pool water test kit becuase i cant get out to a pet store untill tommrow, And the water seemed fine, i think the one that died was stressed due to being in a small tank, Am going to upgrade big time shortly.