My first axolotl setup advices and remarks

Hello everybody,


I am new to the forum as well new to the axolotl care, having my axie for about three moths now, however can't tell his/her age, since it was a present. Glad to be part of the community.


So I am posting some pictures of my setup, not great quality, however it will be easier to see what I am asking/talking about.


The tank is 30 liters volume, 50/30/20 (length/height/width), in the beginning I had some coral sand on the bottom of the tank, but my axie was digging into it, maybe looking for food, so I decided to change it with some bigger river stones which were carefully cleaned. That's where my mistake was, because he did eat some of them, even though they were quite big. Immediately I removed all of them, and fortunately he (or she, cannot tell if male or female) did poo them .
Now the setup contains only few very large river rocks, a dragon stone on which I have attached anubias, a driftwood (mopani), which also has attached anubias and some java moss, a ball of moss, his/her feeding cup, something like a cave (the brown thing), small filter in order not to make big water flow and aeration stone which is working daytime.


Here is the time to ask if all these things are acceptable for the axie (he/she looks to be fine, swimming over and hiding), should I remove any of these?
As the tank is bare bottom, excluding the rocks, should I add some sand or gravel?
Should I add anything else in the tank, which may be good for my axie?


I feed him with frozen bloodworm cubes, live earthworms and salmon pellets, feeding him/her once a day around 7 p.m. Is this a good food variety and should I include anything else in his/her menu?


Any other suggestions and remarks will be very much appreciated in order to build a better place as much as possible :happy:



Thanks ,
Kris

Your tank looks pretty good to me! Barebottom is great for axolotls and so is sand, but definetly not gravel since they can eat it and become impacted. Two caves would be ideal but one is fine. You could even add some pvc pipes as extra hiding spaces. I would check to see if any of your river rocks have sharp or rough edges. If they do then you should take them out. Her menu sounds great to me! All of those are good food choices, and a great variety of them. Hopefully this helped a bit! If I think of anything else I will let you know

Thank you for the comments . I will get one more "cave" or some pipes as you suggested.
Another question, should I add some lights on top to be enabled daily for some amount of time?
I do have a led strip and was thinking that if needed I can attach it to the tank top.

No, lights actually can irritate and stress your axolotl, so I would not reccomend puting any on top. If you have any more questions, let me know

If those are live plants they will need light. The LED is fine to use (I use an LED as well) as long as there are multiple places your axie can hide away in the dark. My light is on for a few hours a day for my plants (and to spot clean, and feed).

LED lights will be fine, I've used various types of lights, some were quite bright, none of my lotls were bothered by it, they all still came out and about.

My lights are on for 10 hours per day at the lowest level, because I have a lot of plants. My Astrid floats at the surface, she follows me while I'm near her tank, swims around and NEVER uses her hide... she is weird?. Axies usually prefer it dark but as long as he/she has the option to hide, lights are fine.

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For some reason my axies can't stand LED lights... I've tried it but it just stresses them out and makes them hide in their caves all day. Does anyone have any idea why? I'd like to put lights on if I could without stressing them.

I will give it a try and will update over here for the reactions .

Another question, how can I tell if the axie is male or female and determine their approximate age?


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Female axolotls generally have rounder, plumper bodies, due to them holding eggs, while males tend to have a longer body and tail then females.The most reliable way to tell whether your axolotl is male or female, is to look at their cloaca. The male's cloaca is swollen, while the female's has only a tiny bump, if one at all. If your axolotl is under a year old, then this may not be accurate. How many inches long is your axie? It will help determine it's age.

Dolphinlover55 said:

For some reason my axies can't stand LED lights... I've tried it but it just stresses them out and makes them hide in their caves all day. Does anyone have any idea why? I'd like to put lights on if I could without stressing them.

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Do you have leucys? I think they are more sensitive to light, my old leucy didn't like lights so they were always off (I didn't have live plants then so it was fine). Maybe having floating plants will help as it will reduce the light exposure. Or if you can find a LED which itself can be dimmed? My LED has a white light option and a blue light option, Bucky doesn't really mind the blue light but hides away with the white light.

I have roughly measured their body from top of head to the end of the tail it comes around 6,5 inches. I will try to get more clear photo later in order for you to see if the gender can be determined yet.

Your axolotl is most likely around a year old and still in the growing stage. 6-8" I would say is considered 'teen years' for axolotls. Check and see if the tips of its toes are darker (or lighter, for dark colored axolotls) then the rest of its body. They usually darken when they reach 1-2 years of age. My axies are approximately the same size as your axolotl and are just over a year old, though their gender is not yet decipherable.

Hayleyy said:

Do you have leucys? I think they are more sensitive to light, my old leucy didn't like lights so they were always off (I didn't have live plants then so it was fine). Maybe having floating plants will help as it will reduce the light exposure. Or if you can find a LED which itself can be dimmed? My LED has a white light option and a blue light option, Bucky doesn't really mind the blue light but hides away with the white light.

Click to expand...

Ok, thank you! Yes, I do have lucies so that probably explains why they are always trying to hide. I'll try out some dimmable LEDs or one with the blue light option. Thanks so much!

Hello,
Yet again it’s me, thanks for all the comments, everything seems to be quite all right with my Axie, seems to be very satisfied with the conditions.
May I ask you if we could determine their gender via photo? In case there is such possibility, let me know what should I share.
I took a look at the differences between males and females, but still cannot differentiate.

Thanks,
Kris



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so i saw your thermometer looks like the 77 degrees is the temp. axolotles like it in the 60's i keep mine at 66-68 degrees with a computer desk fan on top if needed, it helps drop it 10 degrees. i recommend getting a fan and if you dont have already, a mesh or screen top to help cool it down.

Thanks for that, I have already set up a PC power supply fan on top of the tank which helps me to keep the temperature at around 20-22 degree centigrade.


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