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My First Axolotls!

STCxB

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Hello, everyone! My girlfriend and I got our first two axolotls about a week ago now, and we love them! We got them from gaeamonster on here, and she was very easy to work with and very prompt in her responses! Many thanks to her for getting us our new little friends so quickly and safely. They are both 4-5" long, and they are very fun to watch. One is a GFP albino and we named it Dutchie (as in the Flying Dutchman), and the other is a regular albino named Pearl ( as in the Black Pearl). We have a pirate theme going on with our animal names.

We currently have them in a 29 gallon bow front with a white sand bottom and some live plants. They have a pair of plastic tubes to hide in, but they seem to prefer to sit on plants. Eventually they'll get a 3D background but we couldn't get it secured in time (it kept floating away despite being silicones down). They have a few young mollies and some ghost shrimp in their tank, and no disputes have broken out yet. Everyone seems to keep to themselves and no gills have been nipped!

We have been feeding them earthworms and started with red wrigglers which they seemed to be ok with until a couple days ago when they started to spit them up. So we switched them to night crawlers and we're seeing how that goes. They seem more interested in the night crawlers generally, but they spit them up and then chase them back down. We'll see how it plays out, otherwise we may need another solution.

All in all, they're delightful little axies with very distinct personalities. We're very excited about them and can't wait to watch them grow!
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axys

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I would like to congratulate you on your first 2 axolotls!!! :D its a great feeling isnt it? further more it seems like you have done your research and have gotten an appropriate size tank, used the right kind of substrate etc so thts even better! Not everyone does the proper research before acquiring a pet and thts when you see tragic things happen.

Im not aware of how shrimps behave with axolotls and visa versa but i would definitely keep keeping an eye on those gills. I would be a little worried because its hard to tell what happens at night when we are a sleep. Perhaps someone with more experience on shrimp+axolotl relations could comment on this.

One quick tip tht hopefully will help. When i got my first axie 1.5 months ago she did the same thing. Loves the red wigglers but a week later starts to spit them out. Got very frustrating. tip#1 wigglers have this greenish juice in them tht some axies dont like so maybe slosh the piece you are feeding to ur axies in a cup of water before giving it to them, this should dilute the taste. tip#2 my girl was about the same size as yours when i got her, she likes the pieces fairly small. I used to cut them in 1/4ths, then it turned into 1/6ths. Smaller seems better to start out. Recently now tht she is used to the routine and also eats out of her food bowl she takes 1/4 or 1/3 pieces again. Also idk if you feed them with a tong or just drop it down but it seems like if you get a nice shallow food bowl and leave the pieces in there, the food disappears in less than an hour, usually doesnt matter as much how big or small the pieces are.

Welcome to the community and the ownership of these amazing creatures, post if you have questions or want to share a cool experience regarding your new pets :D
 

STCxB

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Thanks for noticing the research! I was scrambling and feeling like an awful new axolotl parent when I didn't have worms in time, but had everything else near perfect. Haha.

I've heard the ghost shrimp are usually fine as they keep mostly to themselves and are quick enough to run away if the axies he nippy. But, like every other animal someone has a horror story so I'll be keeping an eye on everyone.

I am currently hand feeding them the worms and I've tried different sizes with the red wrigglers (everything from whole to 1/4s ) with little luck. I had decent luck last night with about a ⅛ piece of night crawler, so that might be what I continue with for a while.

Thanks for the tips!
 

axys

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np, and yeah i had couple ghost shrimps in my turtle tank... damn those things are fast, it doesnt even look like they move, it looks like they teleport. they are at point A then suddenly at point B so im sure they will be fine for a long time. Mine eventually disappeared one by one but it took quite an effort from my turtles.
 

auntiejude

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I would get rid of the mollies for 2 reasons: they are tropical and won't be happy in a cold axie tank, and sooner or later they WILL try and nip at your axies' gills. Shrimp are fine, your axies may eat them though.

Worms can take a bit of getting used to for axies, especially if they have been used to frozen bloodworms or pellets, but starting with small pieces is good.
 

allied123

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Sorry to hijack this post but it seems like you're having a somewhat similar problem with the worms? I've recently (about 2.5 weeks ago) tried to switch my axies to worms (the only kind they had was red wigglers unfortunately :( ) and they really haven't taken to them.. In the past 2.5 weeks I have solely been feeding them the worms and they have each eaten one tiny worm (my white albino ate one about a week in and my golden melanoid ate one a few days ago) but that's all they've eaten in this time and I'm starting to get worried..

I have tried blanching them and cutting them up several times with no luck, and both of my axies are about 8 inches (I'm not sure about this number but I know they're well over 7 inches) So does anyone have any suggestions?/ should I just feed them their axolotl pellets from Ed's fly meat again? ( I thought the worms would be more nutritious but now I'm thinking they're gonna starve/hate me)
 

keiko

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Sorry to hijack this post but it seems like you're having a somewhat similar problem with the worms? I've recently (about 2.5 weeks ago) tried to switch my axies to worms (the only kind they had was red wigglers unfortunately :( ) and they really haven't taken to them.. In the past 2.5 weeks I have solely been feeding them the worms and they have each eaten one tiny worm (my white albino ate one about a week in and my golden melanoid ate one a few days ago) but that's all they've eaten in this time and I'm starting to get worried..

I have tried blanching them and cutting them up several times with no luck, and both of my axies are about 8 inches (I'm not sure about this number but I know they're well over 7 inches) So does anyone have any suggestions?/ should I just feed them their axolotl pellets from Ed's fly meat again? ( I thought the worms would be more nutritious but now I'm thinking they're gonna starve/hate me)

You could try feeding them pellets for a day or two and then try blanched worms again. My big guy is very of picky with his food and often refuses worms if they're too big or small, if they move too much or too little etc. And once he refuses to eat them he will rather starve for days than take the worms. So I just give him pellets for a few days and after that he happily takes the worms again (as long as they're up to his standards...)
 

STCxB

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I've been trying raw night crawlers for the last two days with decent success. I had to cut them pretty small last night before they would take them and actually keep them down, but unlike the red wrigglers they come back to these if they spit them up. I'll try blanching them and see if that gives me better luck!
 

STCxB

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The blanched worms did the trick! Thanks for that suggestion. They ate about ½ a blanched night crawler before they got kinda disinterested with them and possibly annoyed with having a giant hand in their faces. It turns out my blue tongue skink will eat the red wrigglers so they won't go to waste!
 
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