Photo: Our First Axolotl: Europa

Here is my wife and my first Axolotl.

We got it from a fairly local breeder. It lives in a 10 gallon tank with a small sponge filter and some hiding spots. Tonight was the first night we had it, and it did quite a bit of exploring, ate a bit, and seems to be fairly content.

Tomorrow I'll be doing a partial water change, testing the water, and just making sure everything is going well.

We have named him Europa, because his colors kind of reminded me of Jupiter's moon. We figure if we end up enjoying keeping it, we will get more and can continue naming them after bodies in the Solar System.



I won't be leaving the light on in the aquarium very often, but I turned it on just to see how he would glow. That's a pretty nifty mutation, for sure.



I found myself just kind of staring at Europa for a good long time tonight, even though it was just resting on different things in the tank. It's a funny looking creature...it looks so happy.

A new picture...lurking the fake plant.

Europa is a lovely name I like it!
I also think wild types are beautiful; such variant in their speckles and colors.

Are you going to upgrade Europa's tank as she grows? If you really get into the hobby you should look for someone in your area who makes custom aquariums. A broad, shallow one would be great; commercial aquariums are narrow and tall which isn't ideal for a bottom dwelling, four legged creature. I purchased a 50 gallon custom tank for $60.00 CDN. Commercial 50 gallons are typically $150 - $300.00!

You can save money and improve Europa's habitat some day Live plants are nice too - they look lovely, and help clean the water. Low light plants, such as anubias are exceedingly easy to care for and don't even require fluorescent lights. Mine grow well on regular day light from the room, or indoor home lighting.