Emergency: any help is loved, please

Alright, my mom thought it was a wonderful idea to bring on an axolotl out of the blue.

He's small, and all I have is a 5 gallon bucket that he's currently in. The person that sold him to her told her they were basically betas with legs and can live without filters and are super easy to take care of.

So as of right now, I have a bucket with a baby Golden Axolotl in it and he's been eating pellets that I've cut up for him. That's all I have. My boyfriend has ordered me a filter and it'll come in any day.

When I clean out my large 40 gallon tank, how long should I let it cycle until it's safe for him?
Also we don't have a cooler, so if I keep checking the water, and maybe adding cold tap water if it gets too warm, will that work until I can afford a cooler?

Paul ( my axie ) is actually really lively, he eats well, and swims around a lot at night. He has no stress signs that I've read about, and looks perfectly healthy. I'm just trying to keep him that way.

Thanks everyone.

EDIT;; I also clean his water every day, since I only have pellets and it gets gross pretty quick.

And he's a baby, only 2 inches long.

Should I be able to see his insides?

I know that as far as keeping the water cold you don't want to add cold tap water. It's too much of a change for the little guy, and also like fish, he will go into shock. Which has a chance of stressing him out and even killing him.

What i would suggest is to keep an eye on the temprature as much as possible and if you are wanting to cool it down use a frozen water bottle or two. I fill mine with dechlorinated water and then i put them in the freezer. When the tank is a bit too warm i usually put in one and watch the temprature. You don't want it to drop or gain really fast for shock reasons.

i hope this helps a little bit. To me the temprature is always the tricky part. Good luck with you're little guy.

Cheylee's right about the temp change, stability is key. If your inside in air conditioning chances are the water's cool enough. Get a thermometer and check the temp and if it's 20C or below I wouldn't even worry about it, if it's 22-24 I'd think about getting a fan. a 40 gallon tank would be a nice size for one axolotl. As for cycling, a 5 gallon bucket would be easier to do water changes on, and your right to do waterchanges daily for the little guy, I have an axolotl thats about 3 inches in an uncycled ten gallon tank, and I have to do water changes every other day to keep the ammonia down. I'd keep up the daily waterchanges until the 40's up and running. However a 40 breeder would make it easier to keep the water in better parameters, and would probably be more enjoyable for you. You can put your axolotl in the 40 breeder without cycling, you'll just have to do waterchanges like you would on the 5 gallon.
When i first got my leucistic I was worried about being able to see his insides, but it will go away once he gets older. it's perfectly normal

You will definitely want a filter in there so that you don't have to change the water daily.
And yeah, young axies are pretty transparent. They will lose the transparency when they grow bigger. I have baby axolotls and you can really see everything in them, haha. Even what type of food they just ate.

Alright, thanks everyone. : ]

I'm just trying to make sure my little Paul is happy.

Once I get his tank set up I'll get some pictures up.

Thanks again!

i like your avatar

The person that sold him to her told her they were basically betas with legs and can live without filters and are super easy to take care of.

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Gotta laugh at that... I breed Bettas, they are entirely different in every way.. except they both live in water. :rofl:

I like your avatar too, so cute.