I’ve never been good with posting these introduction things - but I’m very excited to be a part of this forum, so I’m going to make a go of this (apologies in advance for maybe too much rambling lol).
Before registering, I used the information provided mostly on this site when I welcomed home my gorgeous albino noodle, Vanille.
For that, I’m very grateful to this place and the members here, so I’d like to thank you all. Thank you!
So a bit about me first - I’ll introduce my girl (I’m guessing so far) second:
I’ve been interested in axolotls ever since I was a teenager (I am now 25), since my best friend had a delightful leucistic she named Poe (who was an amusing little tyke full of personality).
My parents were never interested in having pets though - so as much as I loved axolotls, I didn’t spend time reading more into them back then.
After years passed and I have my own place, I am now a pet-mom to 3 tanks of fish (which are mainly my partner’s),
a bratty winter white dwarf hamster called Taro and finally a goofball of an axolotl whose name is Vanille.
I’ve been torn trying to work out what her phenotype actually is - between a white albino or very, very light golden albino.
I know nothing about her actual genetics or parents though.
Anyway, my partner had also been wanting an axolotl as well and found a second-hand tank (which I worked out to be about 97.5 liters, or 25.75 US gallons), and picked up a sponge filter that would create fairly low water flow.
We couldn’t nail down a chiller straight away (but that’s since been sorted) - since neither of us knew much about them or what model of chiller would be best, opting for manual maintenance until then.
After we let the tank cycle, we decided to check out the pet store we frequent for available axolotls, since we knew they took serious care of the birds there and vetted people at least.
When we looked at the axolotls though, they seemed kind of skinny from above with not much fimbriae on their gills and I couldn’t help pitying them.
We were also told they were only fed on blood worms and occasionally pellets, so I decided to pick up Vanille then and there to take her home.
I gradually transitioned her onto earthworms (dendrobaena veneta) as her main diet, with blood worms as an occasional treat because of how much she seems to LOVE them.
I never found out how old Vanille was when I got her and can only guess her gender so far (I’ll just call her Neil if ‘she’ turns out to be a ‘he’). She’s not exactly round yet, but definitely no bulge around the cloaca.
Aside from that, she was about 5 1/4 inches when I got her and without dark toe-tips (if that’s of any relevance).
Since I’ve had her approximately 3 months or so, she has gained a bit of weight, is now roughly 6 1/2 inches, she developed dark toe tips but faded again, and her fimbriae have grown a lot which I’m very happy about.
I’m also planning on moving Vanille into a larger set up once it’s ready (Evolution Aqua Aquascaper 900, if anyone’s curious – 202.5L / 53.5 US gallons).
Further down the line, I’d really like to get her a friend and maybe get into occasional small-scale breeding when ready.
I’d love to have a leucistic or melanoid, if not one of the ‘special’ axolotl morphs, but Vanille will probably always be my favourite baby
(how can anyone resist an axy giving themselves nose boops or ‘cuddling’ in your hand? You’d think they’d be more interested in food).
Also I've tried attaching a little before and after photo - just ignore the heater (was never turned on, just forgot to remove it).
Honestly, if anyone read all this, you deserve bonus points or something, haha. But hello!
Before registering, I used the information provided mostly on this site when I welcomed home my gorgeous albino noodle, Vanille.
For that, I’m very grateful to this place and the members here, so I’d like to thank you all. Thank you!
So a bit about me first - I’ll introduce my girl (I’m guessing so far) second:
I’ve been interested in axolotls ever since I was a teenager (I am now 25), since my best friend had a delightful leucistic she named Poe (who was an amusing little tyke full of personality).
My parents were never interested in having pets though - so as much as I loved axolotls, I didn’t spend time reading more into them back then.
After years passed and I have my own place, I am now a pet-mom to 3 tanks of fish (which are mainly my partner’s),
a bratty winter white dwarf hamster called Taro and finally a goofball of an axolotl whose name is Vanille.
I’ve been torn trying to work out what her phenotype actually is - between a white albino or very, very light golden albino.
I know nothing about her actual genetics or parents though.
Anyway, my partner had also been wanting an axolotl as well and found a second-hand tank (which I worked out to be about 97.5 liters, or 25.75 US gallons), and picked up a sponge filter that would create fairly low water flow.
We couldn’t nail down a chiller straight away (but that’s since been sorted) - since neither of us knew much about them or what model of chiller would be best, opting for manual maintenance until then.
After we let the tank cycle, we decided to check out the pet store we frequent for available axolotls, since we knew they took serious care of the birds there and vetted people at least.
When we looked at the axolotls though, they seemed kind of skinny from above with not much fimbriae on their gills and I couldn’t help pitying them.
We were also told they were only fed on blood worms and occasionally pellets, so I decided to pick up Vanille then and there to take her home.
I gradually transitioned her onto earthworms (dendrobaena veneta) as her main diet, with blood worms as an occasional treat because of how much she seems to LOVE them.
I never found out how old Vanille was when I got her and can only guess her gender so far (I’ll just call her Neil if ‘she’ turns out to be a ‘he’). She’s not exactly round yet, but definitely no bulge around the cloaca.
Aside from that, she was about 5 1/4 inches when I got her and without dark toe-tips (if that’s of any relevance).
Since I’ve had her approximately 3 months or so, she has gained a bit of weight, is now roughly 6 1/2 inches, she developed dark toe tips but faded again, and her fimbriae have grown a lot which I’m very happy about.
I’m also planning on moving Vanille into a larger set up once it’s ready (Evolution Aqua Aquascaper 900, if anyone’s curious – 202.5L / 53.5 US gallons).
Further down the line, I’d really like to get her a friend and maybe get into occasional small-scale breeding when ready.
I’d love to have a leucistic or melanoid, if not one of the ‘special’ axolotl morphs, but Vanille will probably always be my favourite baby
(how can anyone resist an axy giving themselves nose boops or ‘cuddling’ in your hand? You’d think they’d be more interested in food).
Also I've tried attaching a little before and after photo - just ignore the heater (was never turned on, just forgot to remove it).
Honestly, if anyone read all this, you deserve bonus points or something, haha. But hello!
