Baby Axie thankful to these forums :) new tank set up ??? Hope it's OK :)

Just a little thank you from me & my baby axie (6-7wks) he/she came home as an egg on a plant bought for another tank - I couldn't put the plant into the aquarium, so I put it into a nursery tank & only 1 egg hatched =D

I never thought I'd be an axie mum - but now I'm so in love with this cute little alien - I just want him to grow big & strong >o_o< he's definitely tough because he has so far survived my inexperienced "love" lol & me learning on the run :-/ so far he's survived 2 types of the wrong substrate gravel / quartz sand!! All kinds of wrong food & me knowing nothing about keeping a healthy axie environment - my only other aquarium is an unkillable Betta

So I have read many topics in here & have updated the little ones tiny tank today to hopefully be a safer environment I have hopefully learned enough to keep him alive until I get a new proper tank for him/her. I've given live black worms today & they have been a total hit & been gobbled up happily much better than dry pellets!

I'll attach photos of the new set up & would appreciate any input / advice that you can offer me

Also can you tell what colour this little one could turn out to be? Would you be able to post a pic of an adult with similar colouring, I'm not up on all the terminology for axies yet - but love learning about theses sweetie pies <3

Thank you again I look forward to many years of axie love ahead <3

Nikki >0_0<
Sydney - Australia

Also the little one is currently just under 30mm - is that about right for a 6-7week old baby axie?

Pics are from a couple of days ago with the black quartz galaxy sand (apparently a very sharp no no!)

Your sand is much too deep. You really only need enough to cover the glass, not a thick layer.

Yeah, you'd think that the depth of the sand doesn't matter, but it actually does in some cases.

If enough organic waste builds up near the bottom, bacteria could form (anaerobic bacteria; bacteria that can only live in areas with no oxygen, like deep sand beds) that will produce hydrogen sulfide as a metabolic byproduct. Hydrogen sulfide is highly toxic to probably every eukaryotic organism on Earth (and then some).

And besides, you don't need that much sand. I'd just stick with ~1.5 inches so that you get some decent aerobic bacteria growth.

Yes I agree there's more sand than I had intended 0.0 but it's such a tiny tank a couple of good handfuls was all that took! The sand is never left long enough to get dirty as I've done total tank clean outs & changes & so far the little one has tolerated my levels of "love" lol

I've just been given an AquaOne AR850 & I will be setting it up for a long term set up with filter (current tank has only a low flow air stone!)

Now I'm reading about the deep sand base articles with great interest - it makes more sense to me, to create a balanced Eco system rather than a bare floored sterile unnatural environment - but that is my preference visually to see a natural planted tank.

Deep sand beds are definetly a cool setup, and a neat way to do a truely balanced ecosystem. There are alot of myths and superstitions surrounding them.

That's a pleasant surprise : )

What a great story! He looks like a melanoid to me. So could be anything from grey to black.

Nikki71 said:

Also the little one is currently just under 30mm - is that about right for a 6-7week old baby axie?

Pics are from a couple of days ago with the black quartz galaxy sand (apparently a very sharp no no!)

Click to expand...

Hey our babies are almost the same age - mine are coming up 7 weeks

My very small ones (the slow developers) are 3cms - some are 8-9cms - they seem much like kids - some to just constantly grow while some seem to have " growth spurts" and they vary greatly.

Chugga I'm just so grateful the little one has survived my "loving" we've learned as we've gone & thanks to him/her bring a toughy we are still kicking along
I'm just in the process of setting up the little dears next tank
Couldn't help but fiddle with his current tank today to reduce the ute load of sand & give him more space
The little one seems to like the changes.

He is sooooo cute and I like your set up a lot

I know what you mean - I cant believe this many of mine have survived my efforts LOL. Lord only knows how I must have transferred the eggs a good half a dozen times because I kept second guessing myself! Gosh it seems like a lifetime ago now. I would do so much so differently now. The eggs would go in my aquaone 20ltr and be left there - my new 75ltr would house my new babies and my 50ltr for the fast growers. I would switch them around less when smaller. A lot of the money I have spent has been spent unwisely - but live and learn.

But some things I wouldnt change - like being a wee bit ocd about cleaning But then again - I only had a syringe or a syphon - and didnt trust myself with the syphon. Ive spent weeks looking for a turkey baster finally found one today.

Some things I am not so convinced of yet .... having been involved in dog breeding for many years I have seen a lot actually do " downhill" in terms of longevity, health and general hardiness when the breeders get really pedantic about "ideal conditions" (my breed is naturally occurring as far as we know - remains dating back 5000+ years).

In the human population there is growing evidence that children are becoming more vulnerable to sickness/weak immune systems due to lack of exposure to bacteria etc.

Nature just isnt "ideal" in the sense that humans tend to be - if you know what I mean.

I hear what you're saying regarding longevity in some dog breeds - I'm a very proud owner of 2 Dobermann (a very young hybrid breed barely around for 100yrs) & I see many problems with many breeds / breeders - although a clean pedantic breeder is better than a filthy backyard set up in my opinion - but it really comes down to line breeding & genetics - a problem I've read has affected axies in Australia because of the limited original population & the fact that home aquarists wouldn't think twice about genetics & putting siblings together to breed.... Thus leading to catastrophic inbreeding & the consequences of such.

I'm in love with axies (always have been from afar - hadn't planned on owning one ever... Ha!) & yes I've made plenty of mistakes & thankfully he's survived

So far apart from the totally wrong substrate in tank we've had the following "accidents"

• glass lid managed to slip into the actual tank & squashed everything in its way... plants & bridge were flattened & somewhere in amongst the squishing was the little one >o_o<

• I used to use satay sticks to tidy the tank until one day he swam into it & I was shocked I'd never even thought not to use the spikes end - nearly had axolotl kebab

• fed him live brine shrimp from pet shop when he was only tiny & they weren't babies - when they went in (thankfully only about 15) they attacked the axie! 0.0 or at least swarmed on him... So I had to stage an axie rescue & suck out the brine shrimp :-/

Yup we live & learn roflmao