Question: Axolotl Tank Cycling- How To House 2 inch babies

Okay so, I've been a member of this site, and have been sorta idle the last while, since my last 2 axies died due to the store having them on gravel and being impacted, and then my first 2 axies, Axol, and Axie, both died to the tank being shattered when the stand just randomly collapsed. I feel really bad about both of them and although it may sound like a bad turn of events, I'm ready for some more axolotls. I currently have a 40 gallon cycling, for about 3-4 days now, and the test kit is going to be bought next Friday when I get paid, that's when I can test. I know what you're thinking, "How can you cycle and know what you're doing without a test kit?" I agree totally, but it'll have to wait, I'm just cycling from the huge amount of info I read on the net, cycling with fish food in a net, so yeah, fishless cycling, I added some of that Nutrafin Cycling stuff, but I heard it's bad, so I stopped that and just let the tank cycle by itself because I heard you need to keep adding that stuff or the tank will crash, because the bacteria in the bottle, starves the bacteria you WANT to grow, so that's been stopped for about a day now, just letting the fish food decay in a net now, and waiting for the real bacteria to take effect.

I know, that was a lot of rambling. now to get to the question, I have a wild, a albino, and a leucistic , on the way, from a local breeder, they are being sent out on the 2nd of June, and my question is, with the tank cycling, could I have them all in there while it's cycling, I know it's looked down upon and seen as cruel, but with daily water changes they could be fine, no? Or should I just do daily water changes and keep them each in their own small little tupperware? I need to know, before they come, I'll have them June 3rd, next day shipping. Also, how would I go about maintaining their water in the tupperware until the tank is cycled, 100% daily water changes with dechlorinated water? Anyway, pics included to give an idea, but remember by June 3rd, they'll be a bit bigger and limbs almost all there.


One last thing, the tank is 40 gallons, can they be alright in a 40 gallon tank while they're still 2-3 inches and that small, they won't be overwhelmed will they? Thanks, I know how to care for them, no gravel, bloodworms/earthworm diet, so on and so forth, not a newbie, just finally knowing what a cycling tank is, wanna get it right, ya know. NITROGEN CYCLE OP, and I know, I should of waited for the tank to cycle, but I didn't and need to know the best way about going about this. Thanks everyone, and get back to me as fast as possible!

Yeah, daily water changes would be fine. Just use dechlorinated water of course.
I never bought a test kit and I've never seen my axolotls behaving in any way that seems unnatural. I do weekly water changes and have a lot of biological filtration in my 50 gallon tank, which holds two axolotls, one 4" one 5". A couple feeder fish and 2 amano shrimp. I think that as long as you do water changes frequently there won't be any issues. If you want to put some feeder fish in before your axolotls and see if they seem fine.

Haha, thanks man, and alright, I don't feel like torturing fish, as I said, I'm getting a test kit next Friday, so then I'll test and put a couple fish in over the weekend if all goes well with the tests, this is also my first time with tests, and cycling in general.

Anyone else got anything to add?? Would be helpful to know more than one person's point of view.


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AxolotlboyxD said:

I added some of that Nutrafin Cycling stuff, but I heard it's bad, so I stopped that and just let the tank cycle by itself because I heard you need to keep adding that stuff or the tank will crash, because the bacteria in the bottle, starves the bacteria you WANT to grow

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What? Where did you get that from? The 'instant cycle' stuff usually contains the bacteria you need and some ammonia, it's designed to kick start the cycle. You need to add ammonia daily anyway to feed the bacteria.

AxolotlboyxD said:

they won't be overwhelmed will they?

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Axolotls originated in very large lakes in Mexico, why would they be overwhelmed by a 40 gal tank? The will search the tank floor looking for food in any size tank, smaller quantities of water are only recommended for hatchlings when they are feeding on BBS. The only probelm you might have is with flow from the filter, but that can be controlled with a spray bar or baffles.

I would cycle your the tank completely before adding the new axies. Use pure ammonia, or bloodworms rather than fish flakes - flakes are designed not to foul the water too much. Test daily, and your tank is cycled when ammonia goes down from 4ppm when you add it to 0 in 24 hours. Daily water changes in small tubs will be fine in the short term.

100% water changes in the tubs? I can only use fish flakes until I get paid next Friday, can't even get accurate parameter readings till then.


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By the way I currently have a filter that is for 20-30 gallons or so so I'm getting a 2nd filter next Friday as well with a test kit and some decorations like hides and plants and bloodworms and a air pump for extra oxygen


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AxolotlboyxD said:

100% water changes in the tubs? I can only use fish flakes until I get paid next Friday, can't even get accurate parameter readings till then.


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Yeah, those little tubs will need daily water changes because there is no filtration and there is so little volume that all of the waste becomes concentrated in such a small space.
Fish flakes won't do much.
If your axolotls don't ship out til the beginning of next month then your tank will probably be fine by then. It's not torture to the fish if you do water changes often.
This is how it works; Dechlorinated water is fine for any water life to live in, it's best to check the PH and make sure that's okay but axolotls aren't as effected by that as fish are. When you add fish, or a substitute of ammonia, then the waste from the fish (ammonia) will build up in the tank, good bacteria will filter this ammonia out, but if you don't have good bacteria built up yet then your water won't get rid of that ammonia and it will become very deadly for anything in the water. Good bacteria eats ammonia, so when you add fish it will 'start' your cycle by providing ammonia to the water, thus providing food for good bacteria to live off of, the good bacteria takes care of the bad stuff, and this is your 'cycle'. If you add feeder fish and do water changes regularly than your tank will not be 'torture' for these fish, and by the time your axolotls get here your tank will be ready for the typical weekly water changes and whatnot.
What kind of filter do you have for the tank?

Filter is Fluval 2 plus and a barely working Fluval 1 plus. And I know how the cycle works just needed to know how to keep the babies till its done really.


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How would I go about moving the Axolotls while doing the water changes; for the tubs of course, if you could provide exact procedure that would help!


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I currently have my juvies in a seperate 30 x 20 cm tank until they're big enough to go on sand in my big tank. When doing a water change, I drain the water using a tube until there's about 2 cms of water left for them to stand in, and then I put in the fresh water (which I had put in a bucket several hours before, so it could warm up). That way you avoid the stress of moving them.

AxolotlboyxD said:

How would I go about moving the Axolotls while doing the water changes; for the tubs of course, if you could provide exact procedure that would help!


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Real quick I want to note the filters you have, the u1 I hear doesn't have any bio filtration, the u2 I know does have a cartridge but it comes with only half the amount that you can put in it right? Idk I have the U3 and I know that it came with a little pack of ceramic media that only filled up half of the case so I bought another pack to fill it up all the way. I'd suggest making a bio bottle filter, it'll cost like $6 and it's really easy to make, all you need is a bottle, a drill, an airpump and some k1 media. Since you have both of those good mechanical filters than you don't need the sponge that this guy uses;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROkhHGIPwj4

You don't have to have one but it's cheap and that k1 media will hold nothing but good bacteria and will be fantastic for your water. I think Purigen is a really good investment as well, but as I have the Fluval U3 I can tell you that there is no room for purigen in it, so it would require making a mod for it (I took a fine mesh bag, put the packet of purigen in it, and rubber banded it to the outflow on my U3. Works well.) Purigen will balance out a lot of the bad stuff in your tank and it's pretty cheap and it lasts forever just needs to be cleaned every few months.

Okay, back to your original question. I kept an extra container for each axolotl, I took some water from each tub and put it into their secondary tub, then put anything that was in the tub (I kept them with some moss balls and little feeding dishes) and put those over, then used a small net to get them and put them into the secondary tub, then dumped all the water out and rinsed the old tubs out and filled them back up with dechlorinated water, put the moss ball and dish back over, then scooped them back into the old tub. Pretty simple process.

Marineland Penguin Power Filter - 200B This is a filter that I was looking at getting a local LFS, but something I want to ask, is this filter alone with my Fluval 2 Plus going to do the job biologically? I still don't quite understand what having K1 Media does, or any media really.

And I know I'd have to reduce the current, because this filter is quite strong, but aside from that, is it alright by itself, or rather with the Fluval 2 Plus as well together in a 40 gallon?

AxolotlboyxD said:

Marineland Penguin Power Filter - 200B This is a filter that I was looking at getting a local LFS, but something I want to ask, is this filter alone with my Fluval 2 Plus going to do the job biologically? I still don't quite understand what having K1 Media does, or any media really.

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Media just holds good bacteria. Ceramic media sits still and has a lot of pores and tiny holes in it that holds bacteria inside of it. Plastic media like K1 is really interesting because it gets tossed around by the either an air pump like in that video or a water pump if it's in a big sump or something like that, and all the crashing around keeps any bacteria that isn't strong good bacteria from growing on it, so it only houses the best bacteria that will biologically filter your water the best. It doesn't have the surface area that ceramic media does, but it makes up for it by providing the strongest bacteria for your water.
Also, you can't over filter your water. So if you had that HOB filter, the internal Fluval U2, as well as a bio bottle filter, you would really be set up nicely.
To disperse the flow you can simply stuff some filter floss in the HOB waterfall and it will spread it out nicely.

I find it easiest to move babies into a clean tub rather than change the water in the tub they are in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRGxxAH6dG4 Was also thinking about getting this. Lemme know what you think on either one.

Alright, so what I'll do is have 4 tubs, one to move them in when they're getting the water changed, and 1 tub for each, unless I can keep multiple in one, tub, but I don't think I could, what's the best method you guys found of picking them up, netting, by hand? And yeah I think I might just have that HOB filter, and the Fluval 2 internal, by themselves, don't feel like making the other filter you posted. I think I'll be fine with the 2 I intend on keeping. I'm leaving for school, from my lunch break, keep posting and I'll check back after school, thanks for the great info ya'll have been awesome to me! Great old community I used to visit, when I had no idea how to spell, and made myself look like a kid way back when, on this sit!

Could anyone tell me best method to picking them up for moving ?

AxolotlboyxD said:

Could anyone tell me best method to picking them up for moving ?

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I use a small net just like fish. I reckon if you picked them up a lot they'd get used to it.
Just a quick question, that bottle filter is really cheap and will do wonders for your water, why wouldn't you make one? Takes 10 minutes and $6 lol