Question: Flapping gills?

EEVEE84

EEVEE84

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Hi, just a quick question, when Klaus is doing what the axolotls do best (just sat there) sometimes he's flapping his gills from time to time (i.e. Throwing the gills back a little). Is that normal? All water parameters fine, Klaus eating quite well. Thanks for info/advice :)
 
Gill flapping is normal. As long as its not really fast and all the time.
 
Nope it's not all the time :) just out of curiosity what if if it was all the time and very fast? Does it mean stress or other ilness?
 
It generally means that they're not getting enough oxygen (which would probably also be stressful), the gill flapping is just like gills on any fish and move when they're taking in oxygen :)
 
Gill flapping is another sign of axolotl's lazy nature. While laying in one spot, they deplete the oxygen in the area immediately surrounding their gills. Instead of moving to a new spot, they just flap their gills to move fresh water over them.

How often they do it depends on how oxygenated your water is and the oxygen demands of the axolotl. If you don't have much of a filter/aeration, you might notice more gill flapping.
 
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