Getting very frustrated!

NathanF

NathanF

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I've been getting very frustrated with the water quality in my Axie tank. There are 3 in a 20 Gallon long tank. One is about 6" and the other two are about 4". Every two or three days my water begins to smell and I can see that it is fairly mirky. I bought an expensive submersible filter the Fluval U2 and I even got a size up for what was recomended for a 20Gallon tank.

I fed them blood worms using a jar and left the food in the tank overnight...could leaving un-eaten bloodworms in the tank just overnight muck up the water that bad??? I also have dropped in very small "Newt Bites" about a dozen of which went un-eaten could that few of such a small food source be the problem?

Please help! I don't want to keep doing water changes this often!
 
Well water changes are kinda the way of life in the aquatic world.

Umm the best thing i can recommend is to get a second filter on the tank to help with the filtration duties.

Most of my tanks are 3-5 times over filtrated just for the cleanliness factor.
 
I suspect leaving the blood worms in over night will make the tank smell. I find defrosted blood worms hum pretty quickly .
 
I would say it's definitely the food left over night, in combination with 3 Axolotls in a somewhat small volume of water. Axolotls create a ton of waste/ammonia, and will foul water quickly. Do you plan on upgrading their tank size as they grow?
 
I'd guess its the food.

I did a lot of research before buying my axies, and the overwhelming majority of opinion re left over food was to remove any left overs after 15 minutes.

Bren
 
Hmm ok thanks for the help. I think I'm just going to go ahead and up my size to a 30Gallon tank that I had been keeping in mind all along. I'm really starting to appreciate my other much more low maintence caudata that I keep.
 
Another quick question along the same lines...I have seen videos online of people who seem to have put their Axies into a smaller container in which to feed them. I think this was for demonstration purposes, but I was wondering if anyone had any insight into whether or not removing the animals from their tank in order to feed them in a seperate body of water was a possibility? I'm guessing this would just be way to stressful on the animals?
 
I would guess it would be stressfull for them, but I've read about people feeding them like that too. keeping aquatic animals is pretty low maintanance as long as your bio load isn't too high, and you have a decent cycle. I had a dwarf puffer in a ten gallon loaded with plants, and I only did weekly water changes to clean up the substrate, and because I just always do water changes. It wasn't necessary because the bioload was low, and the plants sucked up all the nitrates before they could even be registered on the test kit. If you haven't purchased the 30 gallon yet, I'd suggest a 40 breeder. It's only ten more gallons, but the surface area is so much better. I bought one off craigslist for 50, and I cannot wait until my axolotl's are big enough to go in it.
 
Yeah the tank I want to get is a breeder tank, but its a 30G not a 40G...I just don't think I have the room for any bigger then that. Will a 30G breeder not be large enough for 3 adult Axies?
 
30G breeder will be fine for 3 Axolotls, you may also want to consider a canister filter.
 
Have you tried hand feeding them small pieces of chopped worm.
That way you can see exactly whats bein eaten and there will be no waste (unless they spit it out :()

Mel
 
Yeah I have tried to feed them worm more then anything...I bought Belgium Trout worms that are a nice size for them and have cut them into all different sizes, but no matter what all three Axies spit up every worm they eat!

I opted out of buying a canister filter thinking I would be just fine with an expensive submersible...it's in a 20G tank now and I bought the Fluval U2 filter that is suppose to be able to handle tanks from 30G-50G...apparently not.
 
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  • Shane douglas:
    with axolotls would I basically have to keep buying and buying new axolotls to prevent inbred breeding which costs a lot of money??
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  • Thorninmyside:
    Not necessarily but if you’re wanting to continue to grow your breeding capacity then yes. Breeding axolotls isn’t a cheap hobby nor is it a get rich quick scheme. It costs a lot of money and time and deditcation
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    @Thorninmyside, I Lauren chen
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