Coincidence or some weird behavior?

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bitenomnom

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A month or so ago, when getting into my tank to do some cleaning, I opened the lid to find one of my axolotls, Saffron, sitting inside the filter. (It's a filter that goes inside the tank and has suction cups that stick it to the side. The top is open and the water flows out over a lip -- and it is usually slightly submerged -- so Saffron, while on top of the filter, was still almost entirely in the water. There are these large cylindrical "pellets" that go in the filter for bacteria to grow on, that's what she was sitting on.) She seemed just fine after I gently removed her out with a net. I thought maybe something weird just happened, like something surprised her and she jumped, and happened to land there...

But today, I found the same thing when I returned to my room after having been gone since the previous afternoon (have no idea how long Saffron was there). I decided to tilt the filter so it is completely underwater (so she can easily get out), in case it happens again. Is it just a coincidence and the same thing happened to occur again? This has never happened with her tank mate. After I tilted her back into the water (and very gently nudged her with a net), she swam into one of their sideways flower pots and stayed there. (I didn't want to disturb her and prod her out to try to check on her, but from what I saw she was still OK. No floating or anything weird like that.)

I didn't have a chance to test the water conditions, but I had just done my weekly PWC the day before, and Velvet (Saffron's tankmate) didn't seem the least bit bothered. There are plenty of hides and while I have to leave my window blinds open to let in some light for the java fern, I throw a towel over the other half of the tank to further decrease the light. (It wasn't sunny out at all though since I left the previous day.) The water temperature was at 16-17 C (my room gets cold when I leave the blinds up...). I had just fed them on Thursday night. I can do water tests tomorrow if that turns out to be the most likely cause. But, like I said, I just did a water change yesterday...

Sorry for the huge amount of text. This just confused me and I was wondering if there was a reason for it. Since I have tilted and fully submerged the filter, it shouldn't happen again...but if there's a bigger cause of this I want to fix it straight away! Thanks in advance for any input you guys have!
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If there are no other unusual signs in terms of health, stress of behaviour, i would think it to be quite a normal axie behaviour. Axies like to get themselves into awkward tight spots.
 
Darkmaverick said:
If there are no other unusual signs in terms of health, stress of behaviour, i would think it to be quite a normal axie behaviour. Axies like to get themselves into awkward tight spots.
Click to expand...
Ah, good, that's a relief! Saffron has otherwise been acting normally and seems to be a very healthy growing axie. I'll keep an eye out for anything odd just in case, though.
I have definitely noticed axies' love of squeezing into tight spots, hahaha.
 
Additionally, the water coming out of the filter would be the 'freshest', the best oxygenated. Weren't oxygen-bars all the rage a couple years ago? Think of this as the axolotl equivalent.
 
Kaysie said:
Additionally, the water coming out of the filter would be the 'freshest', the best oxygenated. Weren't oxygen-bars all the rage a couple years ago? Think of this as the axolotl equivalent.
Click to expand...
Haha, I suppose so. That was actually what my boyfriend was thinking. Although I think it would be a lot easier to just sit on/by/over the air stone instead of going to all that trouble of jumping into the filter! Maybe the water leaving the filter is just that much better, heh.
I remember when the mall we always went to had an oxygen bar, for a few months...
 
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