New axolotl not settling in

Hi all,

I'm new here (and new to keeping axolotls, it must be said - coming at this from the persepctive of tropical fish keeping).

I bought an adult wild type axolotl about 10 days ago, and she's not really settling in. She hasn't eaten since I got her, and her top two gills in particular are pointed forward, which I understand is a sign of stress. I've been browsing around here and reading axolotl.org, but I'm at a bit of a loss

I'm really not sure what it is, so I'm just going to list everything here.

• I've been trying to hand-feed her frozen axolotl food. I called the aquarium store I bought her from, and they assure me that they were feeding her the same stuff and she was quite happy to eat it. I have tried two different brands.
• Water chemistry seems good - there was a bit of ammonia initially, but it never rose above 0.5ppm. In the end, I introduced some filter material from an established tank, which dealt with it fairly swiftly - a Seachem Ammonia Sensor and an Ammonia API Liquid test kit both read clear. There is also no nitrite, and the pH is almost exactly 7.0.
• Tank is 45L (12 US Gal, 10 UK Gal). There are two filters - a 300L/hr hanging unit and a 350L/hr internal power filter. The hanging filter has a 'manual' flow control switch, which I have reduced to the point of being a small trickle of water only. For the power filter, I have attached a spray bar, packed the spray bar full of foam to slow it down, and angled it out of the water and at the tank wall, so it's also just running a trickle. So far as I can tell, there is little to no water movement anywhere within 10 - 15cm (4 - 6") of the bottom of the tank, and not much at the surface either.
• Temperature is a bit high - rising to a peak of about 25° C (77° F), although I've been able to keep it closer to 23 - 24°C most of the time (73 - 75°F). I also called the store and asked about the temperature she'd been kept in before I bought her. They told me that they had no cooling at all in her tank, and that their store is frequently very warm (due to all the tropical tanks), but that she'd always been fine, and they had kept her there for a while (and to be fair she looked fine when I got her).
• Substrate is a coarse sandy type gravel - nowhere near as fine as actual sand (because I understand that can irritate the gills), but much, much more fine than regular aquarium gravel (as in, each grain is 1mm or less).

If anyone has any tips or suggestions, I'd be really grateful - I'm getting quite worried about her!

The temperature is a big red flag for me - - Their temperature should be kept at all times under 70*F. Even your 73*F is a bad sign....getting up to 77*F is alarming.

Gravel, or gravel-ly type sand, is also a no-no. Very fine sand or very large rocks are you only options if you don't want bare bottomed or slate tiles on the bottom. Some axolotls are substrate eaters - they will literally sit there and eat the sand/gravel until they fill their stomach and become ill.

The "frozen axolotl" food - - what exactly is this and is it complelety thawed before you attempt feeding?

yeah to reiterate that -

1. try feedind earthworms
2. swap the gravel for bare bottom or sand
2. get the temperature lower - you want to look after her better than the pet shop

how big/long is she? any ideas how old?

can you post a picture of her? You do get axies with one or two gills naturally pointing forward

I imagine having such big filters on the tank is heating your water significantly, especially since you're restricting the flow so much. That makes the motors work twice as hard, and you run the risk of burning them out.

Thankyou all very much for such swift replies!

I was also a bit suspicious that the temperature was too high - I think maybe the petstore was overstating how warm their tank gets. I've been using frozen water bottles to chill it, but I will step this up in the interim (i.e., more water bottles and more frequently). This is the hottest time of year for New Zealand, so it should start to cool down soon.

In terms of the filters, I have removed the internal power filter altogether - it does get a bit warm to the touch - the other filter is external, so hopefully that would be Ok on its own without generating too much heat. I've increased the flow rate slightly to compensate.

Regarding the gravel, I think I may have described it poorly - it is basically sand (albeit coarse sand). I just called it gravel to distinguish it from products like actual super-fine silica sand.

She's about 20cm (8"), and the pet store reckoned she was 2-3 years old. I have attempted to attach a picture too (apologies for the low image quality)

I'm a bit disappointed by them (the store) - they're a specialist fish/aquatic store, and usually very good with advice :-/

Edit: Sorry, re: the food - one product is frozen fish, I think - the other is a mixture of meat and cereal products (but is mostly meat). Both are marketed as axolotl specific foods, although of course I have no idea how valid that is given the other advice I got from the store

I would drop both of those foods and switch to primarily earthworms. Frozen fish can cause thiamine deficiencies, and I've never caught an axolotl grazing in a wheat field.

Your sand looks fine. I also use coarse sand.

I live in the middle of the city centre, so there's a shortage of ground I could dig up without getting into trouble

Having said that, I could try a few more things - there are some other frozen foods at the stores I generally use, including frozen bloodworms - would that be at all suitable?

It is best not to use dug up worms because you can't source what they may have come into contact with (chemicals, car oil from pavement etc).

Are there any bait stores nearby? Or if you have room for a rubbermaid/plastic storage container you can set up your own worm farm

I'm not aware of any bait stores, but I'll look into it - I hadn't even considered looking there! I will also keep in mind not to use worms dug up.

I don't think my landlord would appreciate me keeping my own worm farm, unfortunately She tolerates the axolotl (and the fish), but worms might be a different affair.

the gills look fine to me btw

Hi all,

Minor update - we've been using ice water bottles, and we've been reasonably successful in keeping the temperature in an 18 - 21 °C range (64 - 70 °F), which I hope is a bit better.

I checked and we're not allowed live earthworms (and I haven't found a nearby bait store yet) - would it be possible to buy/feed her dead ones, or do they have to be live?

She's still actively refusing the other types of food we have