Question: Plants, feeding and metamorphosis

Hi all,

Our axolotl, the Tiniest, is doing MUCH better since her stone eating incident several months ago. She is growing all the time, and we are picking up a new bigger tank for her tomorrow. It's a 50 gal. tall tank, and we're really looking forward to setting it up with tons of plants, hiding spots and "friends" -- read, swimming food.

We just went to a new shop that touted having 30 yrs experience with aquarium care and maintenance. We were told that there aren't really any plants that will do well in an axolotl tank (because we are keeping it cold) and that all axolotls change to tiger salamanders (because all of his have in the last 30 yrs).

We went to this place with high hopes, and we are less than pleased now. Can you all offer some advice? Everything we've read, EVERYWHERE, says that tiger salamanders and axolotls are different species. Is this true, or does this guy really know what he's talking about?

Also, he gave us some plants, but said it would be more of an experiment to see what would work. What have people successfully used in your tanks? We really want to have real plants in our tank, but we also want the plants to do more than just hold on for dear life.

Finally, with regard to feeding our axolotl -- I'm pasting this from an incorrect location where I posted it before.

Our question is regarding the non-living food. How do people feed their axolotls? Currently, we put her in a separate container to feed her. This is mainly to cut down on mess in the tank, but also we've run into a problem. She simply won't eat on her own. We got her as an embryo, and we started feeding her Daphnia and other small zooplankton using a pipette. Since then, she pretty much won't eat anything that isn't hanging off the pipette. She readily attacks an empty pipette, but she doesn't seem to use her senses to detect food in her container.

Suggestions? We've been feeding her a mix of blood worms and salmon pellets. If this is a bad diet, too, let us know. She'll be 1 yr. old in March, and she's about 7-8 inches long. Also, is it true that their bellies should be as wide as their heads? We don't want her to be fat.

Thanks!
Jessie, Anna and the Tiniest

PS -- once we get her tank all set up, we'll post some pics. Can someone recommend a good plant distributor? Our local aquarium shop closed.

Alrite, let's start with the most important topics first, and work our way down.

Axolotls are NOT Tiger Salamanders..Axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum) and Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) larvae look similar, and can often be confused, but there are distinct differences.

For plants, I LOVE java fern, java moss, and pretty much any anubias species...they all do very well in low light/low temp tanks and are gorgeous. Here are a few other plants you can check out:

• Anubias Nana - great plant, virtually indestructible, hardy and low maintenance.
• Anubias Isabelle - very tough, taller than the Nana.
• Anubias Barteri - just like the Nana, but a bit bigger and with rounder leaves.
• Java Fern - one of the toughest aquatic plants you can get - grows anywhere!
• Java Moss - grows anywhere as well, can be made into a sort-of "carpet"
• Lilaeopsis - this is like grass, you can make a beautiful lawn in your tank with it.
• Eleocharis (Hairgrass) - same as with Lilaeopsis tends to be a bit taller though.
• Pongol - this is actually Mondo Grass, so it's not a true aquatic but survives (doesn't grow, just survives) for ages submerged, not really recommended.
• Congensis - quite striking for a centrepiece plant.
• Riccia - Riccia generally needs a lot of light to grow properly, thus only suitable for brighter tanks.
• Narrow Chain Sword - another grassy-type thing. Looks pretty, grows happily.

In terms of feeding, earthworms are gonna be your best bet. A lot of people do use blood worms and pellets, but for the ideal healthy Axolotl you should use earthworms. Fresh out of your garden/yard are fine as long as no pesticides/fertilizers are present.

If you want to cut down on mess, some people place a baby food jar sideways in the tank and place the food in there to cut down on the mess, and remove the jar after feeding..but hand feeding earthworms should produce minimal mess.

Perhaps the fish store did have experience with FISH, but Axolotls are a whole different world.

just to add to what shizeric posted, water wisteria, and cabomba have been working great for me. I have a 40 breeder with less than 1 wpg, and they're doing fine. They don't grow nearly as fast as they would in tropical with the appropriate lighting, but they're growing, and that means they're taking in nitrates

+1 for anubias - it's lurvely. And I just planted two lawns of lilaeopsis and the 'lotls are rarely out of it, they love it! I'm new to plants, so I'll know more in a few months if it all stays alive

We used to feed ours bloodworm cubes, but swapped to earthworms, which go down way better, they get very excited at food time!

As for feeding: she has you trained to feed her!

It's just a habit, like any habits they pick up. She associates the pipette with food, and doesn't recognize the food without the pipette.

Thanks for all your comments. We've got the tank up and cycling now, and The Tiniest won't stop staring at it from her current home.....I think she knows it's for her.

We are thinking of switching to tongs and are looking forward to setting up a worm "farm" for her once the ground thaws. We are hoping to harvest some worms from our garden then use them to do some composting of our food (we're vegetarians), and we'll keep the worm population in check by feeding some to The Tiniest! We have done worm composting in the past, and they reproduce like mad, so this is perfect.