Question: Are my Axolotl's gills healthy?

I have two Alolotl's and have had them about 2 weeks. Their gills have grown in size and are very bright but they curl forward alot. I read that this can mean that they are stressed. The tank is a 10 gal. and has a filter but low current. My temp is good and they are eating and growing a ton. I think they are healthy but the gills are concerning me. What is heathy for the gills? I see alot of pictures with the gills curled forward ike mine so I dont know.....Please help with any advise that you have. These are my first Axolotl's and I want to do everything I cant to keep them happy and healty! :happy: I have pics but cannot attach them... Any advise on that? I click on the attachment icon and... nothing.

Hi,

What kind of substrate do you have your axolotls on? How big are they?

10 gallons is far too small for 2 axolotls in my opinion. Do you have enough hides for them?

Axolotls can get stressed for many reasons, some are small things and others big. One of my axies doesn't like bare-bottomed tanks but I have now made it half river stone and half bare-bottom and he's no longer stressed...

The attachment link should open a new window. Take photos of your tank and your axolotls for us so we can help.

We'd need a pic so we can help, my axies gills are all over the place but its not caused by stress he's just a bit wonkey! But theres noway we can help you without a picture (you just click on the little landscape icon just below the font toolbar on the message window). and yes 10gal is way too small for 2 axies try going for a 20-30gal or bigger you'd need at least 10gal per axie minimum!

Can you provide a picture?

a birds eye view or a side view would be sufficient.

and you need to upgrade to a bigger tank, as soon as possible 10gal is only just big enough for one axolotl, you need at least 20Gal for them to be comfortable - which could count to them being stressed, if they are.

This Housing Article
Should help you create a checklist, and make sure you have everything set up fine.

I cannot add a pic to this reply because I am at work. I tried the attachment option rather than the landscape button and I think it worked. There are 2 pics on my profile one is front the first day I got them 09/08/2010 and the other one front view is from yesterday. They are only about 4 inches or less long and yes I am moving them to a bigger tank as soon as its ready its a 20 gal long. The reason why they are still in the 10 in because I am trying to decide on a filter I dont want to much water current because I hear it can stress them but I still want the tank clean and to make sure they have enough oxygen. What do you think of adding an air stone? The tank is half glass bottom and half river rock (bigger stones) but when I move them to the 20 Gal long I will have sand. They do have a hiding spot but I took it out to take pic's

Hi

I don't know if this helps but when i got my 2 golden axies they wore around 4/5cm. there gills wore really long like they wore to long for there tiny heads
But now they have seemed to have grown into them


Your axies is so cute with great gills

Yeah his gills look great to me, theyre probably so long that he has trouble controlling what direction they are pointing haha! Cute axie!

Those gills look amazing! Kudos for whatever it is you are doing! I have experienced the same where the gills jump ahead of the rest of the body for a time and then it all equals out later.

I use an airstone in all of my axolotl tanks and mine don't seem to mind them at all. However, you may want to use a regulator to turn down the amount of air being pushed through and adjust as they get used to it. Some axolotls may be more sensitive to the presence of one than others.

I use airstones for surface agitation to prevent those "oil slicks" from forming on the surface.

Aw! Your axie is so cute with his big ol gills :3