Maybe this wasn't a good idea

Lets start at the beggining. So last week I went away and came back to find out my parents had killed my fish (yes fish not axolotl). They promised me they would buy me some new fish, so the tank was cleaned and on sunday (3 days ago) we went to the aquarium place to look at fish. I have always wanted an axolotl but my parents have always said no, but to my suprise this time they said yes. I was caught by suprise but had little time to think before they changed their minds. And so now I have Norbet and Lemon. I have never had axolotls before and have no idea what I am doing or whats normal but I am pretty sure something is wrong with one of them. So here is some info on them.

Pebbles
He (unsure if he actually is a he) is a grey colour and very speckly. He is about 8-9 cm long and I am unsure of how old he is. He seems to be ok to me, swims around casually, is eating and loves to sit on the plants. Though there is like a white patch on his head, he had it when we got him and it hasn't seemed to change in size.

Lemon
He (once again unsure if he is a he) is a yellow colour with slightly darker gills. He is about 9-10cm long and I am unsure of how old he is. I think there might be something wrong with him. He still eats, and also has the white patch on his head which he had when we got him (seems to have grown alittle) but yesterday there was a time when we though he was dead cause he wasn't moving at all (the day before he had been swimming around with Pebbles), and his gills tend to stand up a bit more then Pebbles.

The tank
Its an Aqua One AR-380, 34L copacity and has a built in filter and light. I have some fake plants in their, mostly along the back wall, a half of some PVC pipe that they can get under and there is one other ornament that I wouldn't know how to describe that they can get into. The temperature is under 21 degrees C, unsure what the exact temperature is cause the current thermometer doesn't go below that (going to buy a new thermometer today). I have tested the water cause I have no idea what to get to do it.

Feed
They are currently being feed Fish Fuel Co. Fish Dinner Heart & Prawns. This was what I was given from the aquarium place for them. They get half a cube each.

So I was wondering if people thought there was anything wrong or not. Cause I have no idea, any information people can give me to help me look after them would be greatly appreciated

I will post some photos of the aquarium and Pebbles and Lemon later on once I have found the camera.

Hi there and welcome

Don't fret! It sounds like you're doing fine so far, I assume because you've kept fish you understand the nitrogen cycle and all that stuff so I won't bother to explain that...

Pictures would definitely be the best way for anyone here to identify if the white spot is an issue or not.
It's possible that it is just part of their colouring. Cause they are only around 10cm I'd say they are still pretty young. My juveniles (which are around 5-6cm) are albino (white/golden axies) and because their skin is somewhat transparent I can actually see what I assume to be their brain; kinda a two segmented white part at the top of their head. It seems to become more obvious after they have eaten. I don't know if this is what you're seeing on your axies heads but it's a possibility.
Otherwise, I'd think it was a fungus just on your description but I don't think I've seen many axies with fungus on their heads, let alone two having it at the same time...

As for the moving around, most of the time axolotls don't do anything. They just sit there and chill out. Younger ones do tend to swim around a bit more often but don't be surprised as they get older they just stop moving as much. I have looked at my axies and returned an hour later to find them in the same spot, this is not uncommon so you have nothing to worry about
(If they are dead, I believe they tend to float upside down at the top of the tank...)

In terms of food, is the 'heart' you mention beef heart? The first axolotl I got was given to me with beef heart as well but thanks to this forum I soon learned it is not a good staple diet for axolotls and should only be given as an occasional treat! (its very fatty.)
The best foods you can give them are earthworms. You can get them from your garden as long as there are no pesticides or other chemicals in the soil, otherwise some pet stores sell them. Other commonly available foods are frozen bloodworm cubes and sometimes live blackworms. Both of these can be messy though.
My axolotls completely refuse beef heart now that they've had a taste of these more nutritious foods

Just because you didn't mention it - do you have a substrate in your tank like gravel or sand? Axolotls can become impacted on gravel smaller than the size of their head, so it's important to keep them on either fine sand or a bare bottomed tank, or large river rocks.

And lastly, you might want to explore Axolotls: The Fascinating Mexican Axolotl and the Tiger Salamander for more info

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your tank is miles too small, from punching your tank into google, I got the following size specks: 38x25x46cm which is a very tight squeeze even for one axie. axies grow very fast when young and can reach sizes of upto 30cm long and as such I would consider up sizing to a bigger tank.

you need at least 50L/10 gallons of water per animal as axies being carnivorous animals excrete lots of waste and as such you do need a decent amount of water to dilute the wastes they excrete between water changes.

axoltols (when juveniles) can be cannibalistic towards each other and in a smaller thank like yours they will probably snap at each other. to discourage this, be sure to add lots of hides, 2 per animal is good and visual barriers (plants, live or fake, rocks etc) so they can't see each other most of the time and feed them on separate ends of the tank.

The temperature went up to 23 degrees C yesterday but I managed to get it down to 20 degrees C over night.

I am unsure of what kind of heart it is cause it doesn't say on the packet, but I will look around and see if I can get some earthworms for them.

I currently have small pebbbles, as seen in photo, but I will see if I can get some sand for them to replace it.

And thanks for letting me know about the tank, the place where we got them from said the tank would be enough for 4 of them, but I was unsure about this so only got two. I will look into getting a bigger tank for them.

It's a bit hard to tell from the pictures what is on their heads. Some axolotls get white patches on their bodies due to heat stress - my most recently acquired axie had a white coating over it's gills because it had been much too warm in the pet shop tank.

The problem with most aquariums/pet stores is that they really don't know much about axolotls at all and will basically tell you anything in hopes you'll buy more. Chris is right though, your tank is much too small for even one axolotl.
It looks like you've got a few hiding places which is good, but you will need to upgrade your tank as your axies grow. I believe what most people recommend here is a 3ft tank for two adult axolotls.

iChris said:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your tank is miles too small, from punching your tank into google, I got the following size specks: 38x25x46cm which is a very tight squeeze even for one axie. axies grow very fast when young and can reach sizes of upto 30cm long and as such I would consider up sizing to a bigger tank.

you need at least 50L/10 gallons of water per animal as axies being carnivorous animals excrete lots of waste and as such you do need a decent amount of water to dilute the wastes they excrete between water changes.

axoltols (when juveniles) can be cannibalistic towards each other and in a smaller thank like yours they will probably snap at each other. to discourage this, be sure to add lots of hides, 2 per animal is good and visual barriers (plants, live or fake, rocks etc) so they can't see each other most of the time and feed them on separate ends of the tank.

Click to expand...

Would a tank with dimensions 98x47x60 be big enough for the two of them? It holds 215L which would mean there would be about 105L each.

And Pebbles and Lemon aren't very photo energetic I will see if I can get some better photos at feeding time

that should be fine. I keep 2 large axies in a 2 foot bowfront tank that holds 100L and most would consider this the minimum for 2 animals.

I suggest that you remove that substrate asap, it's far too small and gravel like and will most likely result in floating and constipated axies which can lead to the death of the animal. when feeding axoltols "suck" water in their big mouths and thus the food with it and sometimes gravel and rocks from the substrate too. this gravel accumulates inside the animal's digestive tract and literally blocks them up. this is usually fatal if left untreated. sand, passes right through the animal and also occurs naturally in the animals native habitat and as such axies seem to be adapted to a sand substrate. children's play sand is suitable and cheap. you can also keep your axies without a substrate too if you wish.

I agree with Chris, ditch that gravel ASAP! Use nothing in the meantime if you have to wait on your sand. Your new tank sounds absolutely perfect and should be a palace for your little guys.

I have removed the pebbles, so now they have a bare bottom tank. And the white spot on the top of their heads is gone now and their tank is now sitting around 18 degrees C.

What kind of sand is good for their tank? Is normal sand ok or is their a certain type of sand that I should use?

Are compost worms the same as earthworms?

How many earthworms would they need a day?

compost worms are fine. just wash them well and feed with a pair of tweezers.

most members of the forum use play sand/sandbox sand... myself included. it's cheap too, I paid $4 for a 40KG sack of it.

you just need to wash it well otherwise you will have cloudy water.

I'd keep them on a bare bottom for now, so you can monitor what they pass incase they have ingested some of that gravel.