Rschoch
New member
Bare with me on this one, I'm going to give as much info as possible to try to get some feedback.
I went to a local pet store a few weeks ago to buy a rat for my snake and while I was there I saw a baby axolotl in a tank (maybe 2 inches long) and got to talking to the store owner about it. She assured me it is the most low maintenance pet out there; no filter, no tempurature restrictions, it could even have an empty tank. So she sent me home with this little guy in essentially a fish bowl and assured me it was all he'd ever need.
On arriving home I started reading about them and what I could put in his tank to make it more esthetically pleasing. In my reading I come to find out that tempurature is hugely important but I live in a cool enough environment (Seattle) that it shouldn't be an issue, atleast not for awhile. So I end up buying a bigger tank (I think it's about 5 gallons. I know he'll need a bigger one eventually but he's still tiny), he has a log, some fake plants, rocks and black sand as a substrate. I feed him axo food pellets and krill and he eats them no problem.
He seems totally happy with it but I was unhappy about the clarity of the water so I bought a filter. I've propped up some rocks under it to try to divert the flow but it still scares him and he won't come out of his hide as long as it's on. So I've only been turning it on for an hour or so a day.
A couple days ago he started coming up to the top of the water and it looked like he was taking breaths. That's when I found this forum and learned about cycling the tank and ammonia. This came as a real shock to me. I immediately went out and bought a test kit and the ph was fine but the ammonia was at 8ppm!! I was terrors and immediately took him out and changed 75% of the water. It's a miracle he's still alive. I've been doing 50% water changes every day since then and we are keeping it at about .25ppm. I also took some gravel from our fully cycled goldfish tank and put it in the filter as I read that can help the bacteria form quicker. I treat for chlorine with amquel plus- says it detoxifies ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, chlorine and chloramines.
So basically I'm completely new to the hobby and am having to cycle the tank with my little guy in it. I am already so attached to him and willing to do anything to make this the best home I can.
My questions are: how am I supposed to properly cycle the tank when he can't stand the filter? Will he just get used to it? I don't want to stress him.
I also am wanting feedback as to whether you guys think he looks healthy. I read about Gil flare but I think he looks pretty similar to a lot of baby axo pictures I see.
I am also just feeding him until he stops as I was given no instruction on how much to feed him.
Thank you for any info you might have!! Me and my little one appreciate it!!
I went to a local pet store a few weeks ago to buy a rat for my snake and while I was there I saw a baby axolotl in a tank (maybe 2 inches long) and got to talking to the store owner about it. She assured me it is the most low maintenance pet out there; no filter, no tempurature restrictions, it could even have an empty tank. So she sent me home with this little guy in essentially a fish bowl and assured me it was all he'd ever need.
On arriving home I started reading about them and what I could put in his tank to make it more esthetically pleasing. In my reading I come to find out that tempurature is hugely important but I live in a cool enough environment (Seattle) that it shouldn't be an issue, atleast not for awhile. So I end up buying a bigger tank (I think it's about 5 gallons. I know he'll need a bigger one eventually but he's still tiny), he has a log, some fake plants, rocks and black sand as a substrate. I feed him axo food pellets and krill and he eats them no problem.
He seems totally happy with it but I was unhappy about the clarity of the water so I bought a filter. I've propped up some rocks under it to try to divert the flow but it still scares him and he won't come out of his hide as long as it's on. So I've only been turning it on for an hour or so a day.
A couple days ago he started coming up to the top of the water and it looked like he was taking breaths. That's when I found this forum and learned about cycling the tank and ammonia. This came as a real shock to me. I immediately went out and bought a test kit and the ph was fine but the ammonia was at 8ppm!! I was terrors and immediately took him out and changed 75% of the water. It's a miracle he's still alive. I've been doing 50% water changes every day since then and we are keeping it at about .25ppm. I also took some gravel from our fully cycled goldfish tank and put it in the filter as I read that can help the bacteria form quicker. I treat for chlorine with amquel plus- says it detoxifies ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, chlorine and chloramines.
So basically I'm completely new to the hobby and am having to cycle the tank with my little guy in it. I am already so attached to him and willing to do anything to make this the best home I can.
My questions are: how am I supposed to properly cycle the tank when he can't stand the filter? Will he just get used to it? I don't want to stress him.
I also am wanting feedback as to whether you guys think he looks healthy. I read about Gil flare but I think he looks pretty similar to a lot of baby axo pictures I see.
I am also just feeding him until he stops as I was given no instruction on how much to feed him.
Thank you for any info you might have!! Me and my little one appreciate it!!