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Question: Substrate with young Axolotl?

SammyTheLotus

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Hey everyone,
I just found someone who's selling Axolotl babies in my neighborhood and I'm interested in buying one from him, however.. They look really young and small. My tank is still cycling so I wouldn't be getting one for at least another week or more, but I have sand as a substrate right now.. I've read that sand isn't safe for really young Axolotl so I was just wondering if I should remove my sand before purchasing the little guy/girl? I'm waiting for a response from him so he can tell me how old it is for sure! :confused:
Thanks in advance! :happy:

Here's a picture he sent me of the Axie, I know it's not the best but it's all I have!
 

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LSuzuki

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The picture won't open for me, but it is more a matter of size than age. 5" is considered a good size before putting them on sand, and even then, some axies are less bright than others, and will eat sand. A feeding jar/dish/platform is recommended so they eat less of it.

If the axie is small, I'd take out the sand for now, before the cycle finishes. That will give the water time to clear and you can be sure the tank is cycled w/o the sand. (Some of the beneficial bacteria are taking up residence on the sand surfaces.)
 

SammyTheLotus

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The picture won't open for me, but it is more a matter of size than age. 5" is considered a good size before putting them on sand, and even then, some axies are less bright than others, and will eat sand. A feeding jar/dish/platform is recommended so they eat less of it.

If the axie is small, I'd take out the sand for now, before the cycle finishes. That will give the water time to clear and you can be sure the tank is cycled w/o the sand. (Some of the beneficial bacteria are taking up residence on the sand surfaces.)

Oh, I'll see if I can fix the picture! :eek: Thanks for the information, I have a small feeding dish in the aquarium already, I'm just super scared to have the poor little thing ingest sand and end up sick or worse! :(
 

AxolotlChris

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SammyTheLotus

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He is a bit small, you could just keep him in a large plastic food container. Then when he's nearer 4-5 inches put him in your main tank with a feeding plate/bowl.

This thread contains information about housing juveniles separately from a main tank: http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...105507-new-owner-cycling-help.html#post461143

That's super helpful, thank you! :happy: I just took all the sand out of my aquarium just to be on the safe side and perhaps when he/she is a little bigger and older I might put the sand back in!
 

AxolotlChris

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When you removed the sand I take it you removed all the water? You may have affected your cycle. Test your water for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates and post them.

It can take weeks to cycle a tank so you may be at the very beginning.
 

SammyTheLotus

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When you removed the sand I take it you removed all the water? You may have affected your cycle. Test your water for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates and post them.

It can take weeks to cycle a tank so you may be at the very beginning.

I actually just scooped out the sand myself, I removed about 25% of the water but not everything! It took me a long time but I figured I'd mess up my cycle if I removed all the water completely.
I have liquid Ammonia that I've been adding, so as of last night my ammonia is 4.0 ppm, and my nitrites are 0.25 ppm. I didn't think there was much of a point in testing my nitrates yet because the ammonia has been 4.0 for the last two days, so it's converting into nitrites pretty slowly :(
 

AxolotlChris

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Ahh okay good you have the anmonia to add. Now that you have reading of nitrite you will be waiting for the beneficial bacteria that feeds on nitrite to colonise your tank and begin to feed on the nitrite to turn it into nitrAtes so best to start testing for nitrAtes soon. Maybe lower you ammonia with a water change since it is usually better to slowly increase your ammonia levels as you notice it dropping when its converting to nitrites. Try starting from 1-2ppm ammonia and working your way up slowly each time you see the ammonia convert to nitrites and the nitrites convert to nitrAtes.
 
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