New to having axolotls, would love some advice please :)

Hi there,
A few days ago I got a new axolotl and put it in with my existing one (whom I have had for two weeks), this new one is about 2 1/2 years old. After a couple of days she became very low energy and didn't move much at all, I thought she might have been too stressed out from being with the other ax as she had been in her own tank all of her life, so put her in a separate tank. This morning she was showing signs of stress as her tail was curved, since then I have put her into a smaller container, given her something to eat and placed her in a dark and safe place.

I think the main problem was that I didn't acclimatise her well enough to the new tank and am not sure what I should be doing from here... Do you think that she might come right as she gets used to the tank, are they hardy enough to get over that stress themselves?

Any help would be much appreciated

Sarah

Hi, I moved your post out of the Introductions area. The axolotl people are too shy to venture outside the axolotl part of the forum, so you'll have better luck getting answers here

Did you test the water parameters before putting her in? It does sound like stress from changing to a different water and different tank. But if your tank had any pre-existing ammonia, for example, that would be an indicator that you should keep her separated for now.

Jennewt said:

Hi, I moved your post out of the Introductions area. The axolotl people are too shy to venture outside the axolotl part of the forum, so you'll have better luck getting answers here

Click to expand...

@jennewt - :ha::ha:

@sarah: To add to what Jennewt has said, what size is your tank? You will want to make sure that the tank is large enough to handle the bioload for two axolotls (ammonia factories) and plus they need some space to move about as they primarily stay on the bottom.

Also, (for future reference) it is usually suggested to quarantine any potential new tank mates for about 30 days before introducing them to your tank. This helps prevent the spread of disease and such. Even if the axie appears healthy, it could be a carrier.

When you added the new tank mate, did you add his/her bag (travel container) water to the tank as well? If so, this could have caused your ammonia level to spike.