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Hiii!!!!

HMAxolotl

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Hi im new to the forum as you can tell and hope i can get alot of help and advice from everyone on here... Im new but i already need a load of help already.
Firstly i have a 3ft long and 1 and bit ft wide tank and was planning on getting 3 axolotls (very excited :D)... but will this be ok?
I have some medium sized pebbles for the floor of the tank and got them from a gardening centre, washed them off with a hose and boiled them for 3 hours is this ok?
I have a peice of black pvc pipe and some large rocks for them to hide...
Im thinking of feeding them a range of frozen bloodwrms, frozen brime shrimp and thrawed tubifex worms is this ok or should i be using live food aswell...?
My biggest dilema is with my water :( iv had the tank set up since the end of april and was a friends previously but when i had the water tested a week ago the parameters were all high... My problem is the person im getting them off of wants me to take them at the weekend (i feel like i have made her wait a a while and feel like im taking the p**s but i dont want to kill them!!! is there anything i can do to so that i can put them in my tank without killing them :confused:. Could i cycle the tank with them in there or is this a bad idea... You might think i dont know what im doing but i have done soooooooo much research and you cant really learn without having any experience....

I appreciate any help and advice to make me a great owner please and thank you...:eek:
 

Mac Myers

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Firstly i have a 3ft long and 1 and bit ft wide tank and was planning on getting 3 axolotls (very excited :D)... but will this be ok?

According to what I've read a 3 foot tank can support 3 Axolotls. That being said:
A. How full is the tank and how big are the animals? Axolotls make a lot of poop. They can mess up the water in an Olympic size pool if you are not diligent in your Husbandry.
B: You need to do water changes if the Parameters are high. I'll let someone with more experience talk to you about this. You did use a Water purifier to rid the water of Chlorine and Chloramines?
C. 3 Axolotls can be a hand full for the New Keeper.
I'd suggest 1 or 2 to keep the water quality easier to manage.

I have some medium sized pebbles for the floor of the tank and got them from a gardening centre, washed them off with a hose and boiled them for 3 hours is this ok?
I have a peice of black pvc pipe and some large rocks for them to hide...

I'd stay away from Gravel completely. If it's not too small then it will be soon. Sand, slate, or bare bottom are ok. I'd also use something other than Rocks. Unless you know what they are then you can have a problem with chemicals leaching into the water. And unless they are sooth they can be dangerous to the animals.[/QUOTE]

Im thinking of feeding them a range of frozen bloodwrms, frozen brime shrimp and thrawed tubifex worms is this ok or should i be using live food aswell...?.

Earthworms need to be the staple diet. The other stuff is ok as a supplement. I'd stay away from saltwater Brine Shrimp as these are freshwater animals and the biology is incompatible. [/QUOTE]


My biggest dilema is with my water :( iv had the tank set up since the end of april and was a friends previously but when i had the water tested a week ago the parameters were all high... My problem is the person im getting them off of wants me to take them at the weekend (i feel like i have made her wait a a while and feel like im taking the p**s but i dont want to kill them!!! is there anything i can do to so that i can put them in my tank without killing them :confused:. Could i cycle the tank with them in there or is this a bad idea... You might think i dont know what im doing but i have done soooooooo much research and you cant really learn without having any experience....

I appreciate any help and advice to make me a great owner please and thank you...:eek:

If you start in the water changes you will probably be "ok" by the weekend. And you CAN really learn without having any experience (with assistance from people on this board smarter than I. One of them will chime in soon.
Welcome! :happy:
 
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HMAxolotl

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According to what I've read a 3 foot tank can support 3 Axolotls. That being said:
A. How full is the tank and how big are the animals? Axolotls make a lot of poop. They can mess up the water in an Olympic size pool if you are not diligent in your Husbandry.
B: You need to do water changes if the Parameters are high. I'll let someone with more experience talk to you about this. You did use a Water purifier to rid the water of Chlorine and Chloramines?
C. 3 Axolotls can be a hand full for the New Keeper. I'd suggest 1 or 2 to keep the water quality easier to manage.
The tanks full to the top which is ruffly 30 cms and the person i am getting them off of said they are about 5cms atm... And i dont know if my tank cycled, i didnt use a water purifier :confused:... and i dont know how much clorine is in my tap water... The women assured me 3 wouldbe no more trouble than 2 :confused: but i will talk to them about this....

I'd stay away from Gravel completely. If it's not too small then it will be soon. Sand, slate, or bare bottom are ok. I'd also use something other than Rocks. Unless you know what they are then you can have a problem with chemicals leaching into the water. And unless they are sooth they can be dangerous to the animals.

the pebbles are medium sized there quite big to big for them to swallow and will a bare bottom not stress the axolotls out and isnt sand expensive... I dont know what else to use other than rocks.. I think these rocks are great but i quess the axolotls life are a million times greater....


Earthworms need to be the staple diet. The other stuff is ok as a supplement. I'd stay away from saltwater Brine Shrimp as these are freshwater animals and the biology is incompatible. [/QUOTE]

I dont know where to get earthworms from in england:confused:


If you start in the water changes you will probably be "ok" by the weekend. And you CAN really learn without having any experience (with assistance from people on this board smarter than I. One of them will chime in soon.
Welcome! :happy:[/QUOTE]
Oh i didnt mean i like that but some peole say dont get them if you dont have experience but iv read and listened and looked and everything i need some more help and then its learning from my own experience... But the water is the main problem that im very very worried about so someone who could help me especially with that would be great..
Thank you so much for your time :happy:
 

Mac Myers

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the pebbles are medium sized there quite big to big for them to swallow and will a bare bottom not stress the axolotls out and isnt sand expensive... I dont know what else to use other than rocks.. I think these rocks are great but i quess the axolotls life are a million times greater....

If they are "Rock" type stream pebbles... large... then you could use them. The only problem is that "large" pebbles are hard to clean because food drops into the spaces between the rocks. Can be hard to get out and the Axolotls won't have a chance to eat it. If you can find Earthworms it'll make the feeding MUCH easier and cleaner (except for the poop... there's no escaping the poop. You will have nightmares about the poop). I made that up... but Axies can give a small dog a run for it's money. Why am I talking about poop? :confused:
Since no one else has chimed in... I'd start with a 20% water change. Then get the water retested. I'd also get a water purifier conditioner. From what I hear, lots of the water in the UK (here too) has Chloramines and they can only be removed with a decent conditioner. Try to steer clear of the "Stresscoat" type products as they can goo things up. Some of them can lower some of the other chemicals as well. You'll probably want to buy a Master Test Kit for the water too. It's a bit of an investment.... but it's fun ( bit of a mad scientist here I think) and it saves 1034 trips to the store to get someone else to test it.
 
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lea

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hi and welcome....there is lots of info here for you and if you cant find just ask and someone will help out
 
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