An introduction... and a question or 2

Hi all, I'm Auntiejude, I'm new to the forum and axolotls.
I have 3 little axies - Freckles (leucistic, 5 1/4 inches) Pinky (albino, 6 inches) and Red (black, 6 inches).
I have all 3 in a 150l tank, they have plenty of furniture (roots, skull, rocks, plastic plants) and according to this forum they seem happy. They spend their days climbing and swimming around their tank, bubble surfing, rooting under the pebbles and gulping air.

So my first question is about how much they should be fed. I'm hand feeding them dendrobaena worms, mealworms and bloodworms, but they seem to be eating a lot. I feed them every day, but if I feed them until they don't want any more they can take 4 whole dendrobaena worms (8 halves!), 8 mealworms or 4 cubes of bloodworms - EACH! I've taken to limiting them - 2 of them had episodes of thrashing until they farted - so I've cut them down by a third. And they still think my fingers look like big fat yummy worms... .
So - how much do/did your 6 inch axies eat?

Second question is about algae - we seem to be suffering from green water. What's the best way to clear it? I don't use the light in the tank (the axies hide if I turn it on), the tank is in a shaded corner of my living room with no direct sunlight, so I can't cut down the light any more. I vac up waste daily, and do a 40-50L water change once a week.
I tried a 'green water' treatment, it clumped the algae together so the filter picked it up, but the filter got clogged.
Any ideas?

Thanks in advance :happy:

Re: An intoduction... and a question or 2

I'm not sure on your algae but I've read that large moss balls stop it growing as it takes it's nutrients for its self as for food, try to keep their tummies the same width as their head but no bigger, my axis are currently around 6-7 inches and they get one cube of frozen bloodworm each a night.
Then if I find any little earthworms in the garden they get one or two each every few days

Re: An intoduction... and a question or 2

I feed my axie one earthworm each day. As Layna said, their stomach width is a good indication on if they're getting enough food.

Have you got a picture of the tank and the axies? I struggled with white hair algae in my fish tank. I got rid of it by reducing lighting and also got a new filter as the old one wasn't working well. Make sure your filter is clean. Over feeding can also help algae blooms as they thrive from the left over food. Make sure there's no food in the tank and poop is cleaned out as soon as you see it. Axolotls always appear hungry, begging for food. Remember they are cold blooded and don't digest their food as fast as us mammals.
I wouldn't recommend using chemicals to kill the algae. Trying to do it naturally is the best option otherwise you're not getting rid of the cause.

Thanks for the tips - I'll try some moss balls and make sure the tank is clean.
I think Pinky is a little on the plump side, but when I tried bloodworms in a little bowl he used to gobble them all up before the others got a look in. So now I'm hand feeding so I can monitor who gets what. Freckkles and Red seem to be in proportion.
I'll get some pics ASAP!

I would suggest having a separate feeding container, like a tupperware dish or something. That way the food doesn't even have to enter the tank in the first place The only problem with that is that if you have several axies, this could get tedious.

You could try switching them to earthworms. They're very nutritious, and they're much less messy, which might help the algae in your tank. If they aren't used to the worms or they try and spit them out at first, just cut the worm into smaller bites and they'll usually eat it just fine.

Also, definitely clean your filter if your water is being funny, and make sure to check under plants and hidey holes for any extra droppings. In my experience, my axies like to hide it from me as long as possible, making it much more difficult to clean #_#

EmbryH said:

Also, definitely clean your filter if your water is being funny, and make sure to check under plants and hidey holes for any extra droppings. In my experience, my axies like to hide it from me as long as possible, making it much more difficult to clean #_#

Click to expand...

Mine does the same. He did one on the moss ball the other day and I didn't notice it for ages. Always under rocks or difficult places to get to.

We've actually fitten a new filter (running in tandem at the moment) because the one that cam with the tank was a bit rubbish. Dendrobaena are earthworms and I hand feed them bacause if I didn't Pinky would eat all the food before anyone else got a look-in! So very little food waste unless they spit something out.
Photos: Left to right - tank, Freckles rock climbing, Pinky bubble surfing, Red in the weed.