Starting up with these guys again.

Ok so here is the situation.

My girlfriend at the time and I decided that these guys were a good 1st timmers fish .... lets say we were wrong. But i did really like them and had a MASSIVE learning curve.

I now know a bit on these guys and have actually been a member on here for about a year just was only active for a bit back when i had them (about 4-6 months). I had troubles keeping the tempts down as i live in QLD. So this time i am going to invest in a chiller, can anyone tell me where to get a good cheapish chiller, i looked on guppies online and there is a 300l one for about $300. Wondering if anyone has had experience with them?

Also had problems with keeping chemicals down but that was only because they were in a small tank whilst i was waiting on a friend to build me my custom 4ft tank for them. As i have this custom tank for them i want to keep them again and i miss them .

Although this time i will be feeding them primarily pellets and worms. I think i am going to buy a worm farm from bunnings to feed them .

I would love for this tank to be planted/semi planted, can anyone give me some tips on how to obtain this as i know these guys do not have eye lids and do not like light to much.

Is anyone in qld around gold coast area breeding/keeping them that is on this forum, just would love to see a set up in person and pick whom ever's brains

ummmm i think that is about all for now.

Cheers

Worm farms are a GREAT idea! I have one for my axies (bought the worms from Bunnings) and it's awesome! Tips for buying worms: buy a lot! They sell them in 500 and 1000 packets. Just getting mine started took 1500, so investing in the beginning will make it easier later on. Your worm farm SHOULD come with an instruction leaflet (mine did) about what to do and what you can/can't feed your worms and how much of it. Abide by it.. you don't want those annoying little flies in your farm..

As for chillers I am also looking at getting one from 'guppies aquarium products' though I am down in VIC so I still have a few months till it's needed. I've heard good things about the site. If you will be using a canister filter, I've heard that you can link the output of filter to input of chiller, then chiller output to tank in a nice loop.. should make it easier!

And finally, welcome back to the world of axies! I look forward to chatting to you on here and seeing pics of your cuties!

yer i have used them before i used them alot a while ago but have not needed any new hardware/stock so its been a while and yer i am aware of the hooking it up the the canister, its an awesome idea.

thanks heaps

anyone got any advice for the planted side of things?

I have a wormfarm for my 2 axies, its great.

as for plants, I grow Ambulia in my axie tank. it grows very fast in even low light.

others have had success with java fern and java moss, but I could never get it to really take off in a axie tank.

ive always had sucess with elodea chris, i tried it with my goldfish first, its proper messy always bashing into it, and it seems to stay anchored in 1 - 1.5 inch of sand, i put a few pebbles down around it until it got rooted, then it was fine

I dont have a light it just sits near a windowsill,

I have also tested it with my lotl babies, i used some little off cuts, let them float in there tubs, they were in a display cabinet and only got little indirect light, and even then they grew, not super fast but they still grew.

Also seems a hardy plant i trim it all the time and all the off cuts grow, no surprise its a weed

just be mindful of possible temperature swings and algal growth if your tank is near a window.

I{m growing water wisteria and cabomba, and java moss with no problems in my tank. only have an 18w lightbulb on my actual tank, and the plants are competing with my plant filter. Still doing good.

I will be having java moss in the tank as i have almost an endless supply of it. i think i am going to try other types of mosses aswell and keep this tank mainly moss, although i am thinking of HG (hair grass) as my foreground, just wondering how well it goes in sand?

Might also have some stems but might keep them to pretty basic stems like yer elodea and some viagra val, i also have these tree looking plants that i might chuck in among the hardscape to look natural.

Rocks as my hardscape might even chuck in a big piece of driftood i have.

I think i am also going to steal a couple of MereB's ideas with the UGF, media in the hills and also the intake and outtake positioning to help with the filtration.

I have to run a canister for the chiller so that will hook up to the UGF.

I think i am going to make a start on this one pretty soon, my tank is also set up for breeding and can be seperated into 2 different tanks.

This tank was originally specially made for axies