Apis
New member
Hi all,
I made the leap and added sand (silica-based black sand, non-toxic to axolotls and pH neutral) to my tank, and I'm beginning to wonder if that was a wise idea.
My kiddos are roughly five inches from nose to the tip of their tail—probably about six or seven months old (they were itty bitty when I got them in December last year, so I'm leaning more towards six months) and so far, they seem to be unsure about this new development in their tank. It seems like they're having to relearn how to walk (as I had them in a bare bottom tank for all of their lives until now) and I occasionally catch Chorizo flapping his gills as if either trying to clear them, or possibly attempting to ingest the sand.
Basically, I'm anxious. Horchata has been hiding a lot, Chorizo mostly stays in one place, and I'm worried I've caused them undue duress by changing their environment like this. Is this adjustment period normal? Should I remove the sand and return to having their tank be substrate-less? Are they still too small for them to have a substrate? I was led to believe that they'd be fine with it at their current size, but I don't want to risk it if my info was wrong. Their health and happiness is my priority.
Their color is good, their gills and filibrae look fine, they ate eagerly last night after I put them back in with the new sand, and the temp. is low... I just don't know what to do. Any advice would be appreciated <3
I made the leap and added sand (silica-based black sand, non-toxic to axolotls and pH neutral) to my tank, and I'm beginning to wonder if that was a wise idea.
My kiddos are roughly five inches from nose to the tip of their tail—probably about six or seven months old (they were itty bitty when I got them in December last year, so I'm leaning more towards six months) and so far, they seem to be unsure about this new development in their tank. It seems like they're having to relearn how to walk (as I had them in a bare bottom tank for all of their lives until now) and I occasionally catch Chorizo flapping his gills as if either trying to clear them, or possibly attempting to ingest the sand.
Basically, I'm anxious. Horchata has been hiding a lot, Chorizo mostly stays in one place, and I'm worried I've caused them undue duress by changing their environment like this. Is this adjustment period normal? Should I remove the sand and return to having their tank be substrate-less? Are they still too small for them to have a substrate? I was led to believe that they'd be fine with it at their current size, but I don't want to risk it if my info was wrong. Their health and happiness is my priority.
Their color is good, their gills and filibrae look fine, they ate eagerly last night after I put them back in with the new sand, and the temp. is low... I just don't know what to do. Any advice would be appreciated <3