Building a "Dream" Community Tank?

Hey folks,

I'm thinking I want to end up with a good number of axies in a tank (5-7?). I currently have two adults, and will probably keep 1-3 of their kids. I want to get some "others" as well to add to the family. So all in all 5 to 7 sounds about right.

Now to the dream build side:

When can Juvies enter community tanks? Size? Age? Etc.

What size should I be shooting for? if going 10 gallon / axie, then I'll need a 55+ gallon tank.

But then...I want something wide/long and not as deep proportionally speaking? Is that custom tank range? Does anyone have any resources?

Then the cabinet/furniture for it. A 55gal is probably in the 700lb range. Don't think that will work with stuff I have now.

I was really envisioning something along the lines of 2ft wide x 3-4ft long x ?? high.

I know, lots of questions, but it would be interesting to build something like this. I've never done a "homebuild", but may be interested as well. Got the facility to test it out, at the least, before trusting 50+ gallons of water in my house to hold up by magic. Lol.

I really like my 33gal Long tank. It's not big enough for what you're wanting, but the dimensions might be similar to what you have in mind. The 33gal L has the same footprint as a 55gal but is only 13.4" high. I had three 10-11" axies in there until two of them mated.....now I'm down to two in that tank.

Since it's over 4 feet long and has a canister filter, I'm thinking that it could probably house another one.

A "breeder tank is not near as tall as a regular size aquarium. With a good biological filter you can easily do 1 axolotl per 10 gallons and squeeze in an extra one or two if you watch water parameters. I got a lot of my "breeder" tanks from glasscages.com I was fortunate enough to live in an area where they were delivering tanks to shows. I didn't have to pay shipping charges.

For a large tank you need a real aquarium stand. For several large tanks you need to be sure your floor will support them. My biggest stand has a 40 gallon breeder on top and an 80 gallon tank on the bottom. With water weighing about 8 lbs per gallon the weight adds up real quick.

michael said:

A "breeder tank is not near as tall as a regular size aquarium. With a good biological filter you can easily do 1 axolotl per 10 gallons and squeeze in an extra one or two if you watch water parameters. I got a lot of my "breeder" tanks from glasscages.com I was fortunate enough to live in an area where they were delivering tanks to shows. I didn't have to pay shipping charges.

For a large tank you need a real aquarium stand. For several large tanks you need to be sure your floor will support them. My biggest stand has a 40 gallon breeder on top and an 80 gallon tank on the bottom. With water weighing about 8 lbs per gallon the weight adds up real quick.

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Looks like something like this:

70 Wide
48 x 24 x 13 Tall
$282 base price

Price before shipping: $557 (with stand).
$90 delivery to chicago...could be worse, no?

layna said:

Well the general rule if 1 foot per axie then an extra foot for filters and decorations ect so if you want 5 axies youd need a 6 foot tank, that could either be 2ft x 3ft x 1 foot.

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I woud disagree with your calculation there. I have always taken '1 foot per axie' to mean length of tank - so 6 axies would require a 6 foot tank, not 6 cubic feet. That 3x2x1 tank is less than 40 gal, only big enough for 3 axies.

As to the original questions:
If I was designing a 'dream tank' I would get a 6x2x2ft for 6 axies, but I'd have to lose my sofa to fit it in. The tank you describe would only be big enough for 3, maybe 4 axies. Any tank over about 60L should have a proper stand/cabinet, and you may need to reinforce the floor for anything much bigger.

Any axies that live together should be about the same size. You can't add 3" axies to a tank with 10"+ adults.

Cubog feet don't change a 3x2...that's 6sq ft. A 4x2 is 8sq ft.