Question: Axolotl tank set up

I have recently enquired about getting my first axolotls not knowing much about them yet i have been reading up on them. I've asked the seller for advice on what to use in the tank in order to keep their enviroment similar to what they are already used to. He is telling me to put soil in and use pond water do you guys recommend this as although i guess that is a similar enviroment they would be in in the wild i haven't come across anyone here using that sort of set up opinions please

That kind of set up is fine, you just want to gently rinse the mud and quarantine it until it's dry to kill any parasites it might be carrying, or just buy new mud. I like play sand from Lowe's or Home Depot just fine, and it can be separated into mud and/or coarse sand.

As for the water, axolotls really aren't that picky - and it depends on the quality of water in the pond. If it's your indoor tropical pond, relatively safe and free of microorganisms, good. If it's an outdoor pond that birds poop in all day and swimming with hatched parasitic cysts all day, you're rolling the dice pretty hard.

Personally, I would vouch for the safety of bought sand and dechlorinated tap water (buffered if necessary) over the wild items. But pet keepers have successfully used items from the wild to keep animals for a very long time, and complications aren't that common if steps are taken to purify said items well.

Id stick with sand and dechlorinated tap water.... Much simpler and healthier in my opinion. Iv been keeping fish for many years and i can vouch for its saftey :happy:!

Mud without a cap (Sand) can cause all sorts of problems with high nitrates and algae due to excess nutrients (Even with a cap its Pretty pointless if your not growing plants)... adding pond water seems a little odd to me... The whole point of water changes is to add clean water, Id never add water from my pond to my tanks.. There is also the risk of contamination.

Id also reccomend getting a sponge filter or you will probably have to do water changes few times a week... also try read into "Fishless/ (Axolotless ) cycling".

sand and dechlorinated is best, you can get 25kg of play sand for a few quid in argos.

also (this may sound cruel but none the less, its what i do with my tanks), you can do a cycle with neon tetra fish, these are hardy fish and will help your filter colonise with bacteria alot more easily, plus if you get an old enough axolotl, they will have some food ready in the tank in the form f the neons (the food would be considered cruel by many but at the end of the day, its pretty much natures life cycle).

if you are gunna use neons to cycle your tank, please be informed that they are tropical fish and axolotls are cold water, however, i know from personal experience that neons will survive in cold water as long as u follow the following instructions:

when u buy neon fish, they will come from a warm water tank,
so leave the bag floating in the cold water for an hr - 2 hrs so that the water in the fish bag will cool down slowly enough as top not stress the fish.
then open the bag and slowly tilt the bag so that half is out of the tank water and half is in.
let the fish swim out on there own as then they will be happy.

good luck.

Honestly i think cycling with neons is unnecessarily cruel...

Combined with the stress from a cycling tank your putting a tropical fish in a coldwater tank.... It makes no sence. And neons.... they are not even all that hardy compared to other fish.

To cycle a tank without fish all you basically need to do is add pure ammonia which you can get in any hardware store, Or i always use prawns as a source of ammonia to cycle my tanks... Here is a useful article that explains everything in more detail... :happy: Articles on the care, up keep and maintenance of tropical fish. Fishless cycling a fish tank (The article refers to fish but its the same thing)

Cycling with fish is possible......however I honestly dont see the upside.

I hate seeing posts about 'cruelty' in cycling. If done properly, cycling isn't cruel to any animal; tetras or axolotls. If you do it appropriately, you can cycle with axolotls in the tank. But it involves religious water testing/changing.

Do NOT add concentrated ammonia to your tank.

I simply meant it was unnecessarily cruel to cycle a tank using neons in a coldwater tank.

I said cycling with fish is possible however i suppose i didnt encourage it which lead to the misuderstanding !!

Iv even succesfully done it in the past with regular water changes and testing however it's a lot more work and requires more experience than fishless cycling in my opinion. wouldnt you agree most problems from beginners you read about on forums relate to ammonia spikes during a cycle... Its also not easy to keep the ammonia whithin safe levels if you have never done it before. Some people get lucky and their animal hacks thorugh it but it just causes stress for a couple of weeks.

Considering this is andreah's first Axolotl tank wouldnt you agree It would be safer to cycle the tank without an axolotl in there? I mean who hasnt messed up their first time round :happy: I know i did!!

I know many experienced "Water keepers" who use Ammonia from their local hardware store..? whats the problem?

ok thanks guys for your relies.....so the general consensus is to go with play sand which was my original intention so that it the way i will go. As for cycling the tank its already running with tropical fish in which i am going to rehome so my next question would be how much of this water should i replace before i put axies in and how long should it be left empty for. I have a large external filter i know not to rinse the sponges in clean water etc they were cleaned not long ago so i wont be touching the filter unless any of you advise me different. I've asked the guy a few things like what he's feeding etc in order to keep there enviroment & feeding habits as simialar as possible to what they are already used too but i don't always seem to get straight answers. What would you recommend feeding
I have read up on them on so many different pages but i seem to get confilcting information so i guess the way forward is to go with the majority who answer here thanks for taking the time too help me

Oh cool, no worries about cycling so !

You dont need to empty the tank, The bacteria in your filter need a food source and oxygen to survive so i reccomend keeping the filter running after you rehome the fish and add some fish food for a source of ammonia to keep the bacteria alive till you get your Axies. also remeber to remove your heater once you rehome the tropical fish.

50% water change before adding the Axolotl would be a good idea. I find 50% weekly water changes keeps everything running very smoothly, and of course remember to use dechlorinator.

As far as feeding goes worms and high protein tablets seem to be the top two.

Axolotl's are all captive bred so there is no need to mimic what they might eat in the wild or their habitat in the wild. You just need to provide the cleanest environment and healthiest diet. Another thing to point out is they dont like bright lights... If your fishtank has a light suitable for plants i reccomend getting floating plants to block out some of the light.. Frogbit is a nice one

Spudss said:

Oh cool, no worries about cycling so !

You dont need to empty the tank, The bacteria in your filter need a food source and oxygen to survive so i reccomend keeping the filter running after you rehome the fish and add some fish food for a source of ammonia to keep the bacteria alive till you get your Axies. also remeber to remove your heater once you rehome the tropical fish.

50% water change before adding the Axolotl would be a good idea. I find 50% weekly water changes keeps everything running very smoothly, and of course remember to use dechlorinator.

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o.k thanks for that spudss i will that

I've never use any chemicals ie dechorinator on my fish and would prefer not to where possible does standing the claen water not have the same effect as using the chemicals??

i have a castle ornament in at the mo with the air pipe is this o.k to leave in they wont mind it will they?

I intend the keep the tank filled pretty much to the top simply beacause of the way the spray pipe is fitted to keep it under the water (facing the back of course so as not to cause to much flow, i dont care much for the sound of constant trickling water it makes me need to the loo lol) is there any particular reason for it not too be fille to the top of the tank

if you remove all the fish before you get the axolotl make sure to provide an ammonia source for the bb in your filter like fish flakes or something that decomposes

I too am against using chemicals to remove algae, reduce PH ect... However water conditioner is in no way harmful and only benifits the tanks inhabitants by removing harmful chemicals.

I wouldnt reccomend just letting the water stand... Chlorine can evapourate alright if the water is left to stand however chloramine is also used sometimes which doesnt turn into a gas and is harmful.

Spudss said:

I too am against using chemicals to remove algae, reduce PH ect... However water conditioner is in no way harmful and only benifits the tanks inhabitants by removing harmful chemicals.

I wouldnt reccomend just letting the water stand... Chlorine can evapourate alright if the water is left to stand however chloramine is also used sometimes which doesnt turn into a gas and is harmful.

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o.k i shall get some then

What about feeding what do you guys feed your axie's??