I want to own my 1st axolotl this summer

KaeGji · Mar 18, 2013

I've been prepping a lot since my post last yr lol. I now have 2 tanks, 1 10 gal to hatch the eggs and a 20 gal to keep 2 axolotls. I also have a vermicompost that has thousands of red wrigglers to serve as live food. The goal is to order a daphnia culture online the week i find some eggs, then hatch and raise them in the 10 gal. Once i find 2 that are healthy and appealing to me I will give the rest away. I plan to keep them in a 20 gal together for life.

Because axolotls prefer slow moving water I will not use filtration, instead I will stock low light plants and duckweed to help filter out impurities. I will also stock the tank with scuds to help keep the bottom clean. For substrate I plan on using river rocks due to the fact that they are too large to swallow but will still allow for my axies to gain a grip, they'll also crate hiding spaces for the scuds.

I'm not sure if an air stone is necessary or not...What do you guys think?? This will be my 1st time owning an axie so any and all advice is welcome...THANX!!!

Morrison · Mar 18, 2013

An airstone isn't really necessary. I don't use them often. Only when I think there can be more oxygen in the tank. On hot summer days for example, or even if you don't have plants for oxygen.

KaeGji · Mar 19, 2013

cool, but won't the lack of an airstone make the water stagnant?? Also I'm thinking of starting a colony of blackworms in the 20 gal to keep a constant supply of live food and help with maintenance...would that work??

Kerry M · Mar 19, 2013

From what I hear blackworms take a long time to breed. I considered it too but decided not to pursue it. Others may feel differently. Your axie plans sound good, enjoy ?

FX1C · Mar 19, 2013

Just curious if you want to breed the axolotls you keep in the future - some issues arise (apart from the fact that lotls are like Pringles - you can't stop at 1 or 2

lol )

• if you want to keep / breed a male & a female then it's best to not keep 2 from the same batch of eggs - ewww to breeding brothers & sisters

• If you want to wait to see what sex the babies are they will have outgrown the 10G tank by then lol so it'll be pot luck with the axolotls gender for a whole.

What have you got in your tanks while they're cycling? Do you understand about the nitogen cycle & cycling a new tank?

It's great you've done your research & you sound like you're going to make a great axolotl guardian

Don't forget to post pics when they arrive

<3 >o_o< <3

KaeGji · Mar 19, 2013

I have experience with keeping aquatic pets. I current;y have 2 eastern painted turtles and a goldfish that ddin't get eaten lol. I know about the nitrogen cycle and have a water test kit. The 20 gal i have is currently occupied by shrimp and guppies, they'll either be evicted or sacrificed...not sure yet lol. I will have the 10 gal cycled by the time I order my eggs.

I don't plan on breeding my axies, and I'm aware that inbreeding would cause genetic issues down the line. So how long wold a pound of black worms last in a tank with 2 adult axies??

clawdate · Mar 20, 2013

In breeding is not gonna result in a million Frankenstein axolotls, after all the entire captive population is inbred, and that is how they get mutations like albino, leucistic, etc.

When I tried to hatch axolotls, it turned into a much larger ordeal than I expected. Mostly due to food and feeding. I had huge problems trying to get the damn daphnia to hatch, you definitely want to read up well on that one in particular. I spent something like $60 just on daphnia because they kept dying before they reproduced. Also I did not know what ephipia were until AFTERWARDS, so that did not help. If you really want to use the daphnia I would say get them at least a month ahead of time so you can figure out how to grow them with your setup, the last thing you want are a bunch of hatching axolotls when your daphnia population crashes

I did not have much success until I was able to get ahold of a decent quantity of blackworms to feed them.

And even then, out of 2 or 3 batches of eggs (about 300-500 eggs) I was only able to get ~6 to survive to juvie stage and beyond. Most died as little tadpoles.

So, IME, it would be better to way overshoot your goals, especially if its your first time trying to hatch & raise babies.

Kerry M · Mar 20, 2013

I had 130 eggs and didn't loose any. However... When they were 1 month I ran into difficulties as they each needed their own container. So that took 4 hours each night to clean. If you house your babies in one tank you'll probably get worried when gills and limbs go missing each day. Next time around I will raise 20 instead. I went through a pound of blackworms each week when I had around 100. They were stored in the fridge. If I left them in the tank I suppose the axies wouldn't stop eating them. Apparently they are scrumptious ?The worms need daily rinsing but once you get into a habit caring for them it is relatively easy.

KaeGji · Mar 20, 2013

Thanks for the input, I have a little experience with culturing daphnia. I'm no expert but I did quite a bit of research, as I tend to do with my obsessive behavior lol. Having a culture going a month in advance sounds like a better idea tho, thanks for the tip.

clawdate said:
In breeding is not gonna result in a million Frankenstein axolotls, after all the entire captive population is inbred, and that is how they get mutations like albino, leucistic, etc.

When I tried to hatch axolotls, it turned into a much larger ordeal than I expected. Mostly due to food and feeding. I had huge problems trying to get the damn daphnia to hatch, you definitely want to read up well on that one in particular. I spent something like $60 just on daphnia because they kept dying before they reproduced. Also I did not know what ephipia were until AFTERWARDS, so that did not help. If you really want to use the daphnia I would say get them at least a month ahead of time so you can figure out how to grow them with your setup, the last thing you want are a bunch of hatching axolotls when your daphnia population crashes

I did not have much success until I was able to get ahold of a decent quantity of blackworms to feed them.

And even then, out of 2 or 3 batches of eggs (about 300-500 eggs) I was only able to get ~6 to survive to juvie stage and beyond. Most died as little tadpoles.

So, IME, it would be better to way overshoot your goals, especially if its your first time trying to hatch & raise babies.

KaeGji · Mar 20, 2013

I'm thinkin of trying 30 eggs for my 1st go round, because I'm expecting a lot of casualties...I have a friend ready to take some on if more survive than anticipated...I keep reading tht it's not worth the time to culture blackworms

Kerry M said:
I had 130 eggs and didn't loose any. However... When they were 1 month I ran into difficulties as they each needed their own container. So that took 4 hours each night to clean. If you house your babies in one tank you'll probably get worried when gills and limbs go missing each day. Next time around I will raise 20 instead. I went through a pound of blackworms each week when I had around 100. They were stored in the fridge. If I left them in the tank I suppose the axies wouldn't stop eating them. Apparently they are scrumptious ?The worms need daily rinsing but once you get into a habit caring for them it is relatively easy.

Kaysie · Mar 20, 2013

You don't need to cycle a tank for eggs. And when they're tiny, you'll be doing so much siphoning of poop and uneaten food that it's pointless to cycle a tank then too. I keep all mine in tupperware until they're big enough for the adult tank. A 20 gal probably won't be big enough for 2 adults.

Don't expect a lot of casualties. They're a lot hardier than people give them credit for.

I got 10 eggs before Christmas. I did everything I could think of to these eggs. They were refrigerated, warmed up, refrigerated, drove across the country, etc. I now have 10 hardy, fat larvae.

Culture your daphnia. Set up 2 or 3 cultures. Daphnia are notorious for crashing for no apparent reason (I'm trying to bring mine back right now). Don't overharvest! You'll need a LOT more than you think you do.

You mentioned using river-rock substrate. In addition to hiding scuds, this will hide so much crud it will blow your mind. Axolotl poop disintegrates quickly into poo dust, and will settle in there, along with uneaten food. And they're pretty much impossible to clean under without removing them all, and then you'll have a cloud of poo-dust in the tank.

Air stones are fine for adults. You may want to think about running a sponge filter instead though. Benefits of an air stone, plus added filtration!

KaeGji · Mar 20, 2013

Wow..thanks for the detailed info...I'm going to work on my daphnia culture really soon...I'll be back with any questions

Kaysie said:
You don't need to cycle a tank for eggs. And when they're tiny, you'll be doing so much siphoning of poop and uneaten food that it's pointless to cycle a tank then too. I keep all mine in tupperware until they're big enough for the adult tank. A 20 gal probably won't be big enough for 2 adults.

Don't expect a lot of casualties. They're a lot hardier than people give them credit for.

I got 10 eggs before Christmas. I did everything I could think of to these eggs. They were refrigerated, warmed up, refrigerated, drove across the country, etc. I now have 10 hardy, fat larvae.

Culture your daphnia. Set up 2 or 3 cultures. Daphnia are notorious for crashing for no apparent reason (I'm trying to bring mine back right now). Don't overharvest! You'll need a LOT more than you think you do.

You mentioned using river-rock substrate. In addition to hiding scuds, this will hide so much crud it will blow your mind. Axolotl poop disintegrates quickly into poo dust, and will settle in there, along with uneaten food. And they're pretty much impossible to clean under without removing them all, and then you'll have a cloud of poo-dust in the tank.

Air stones are fine for adults. You may want to think about running a sponge filter instead though. Benefits of an air stone, plus added filtration!

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