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New axie mom, help..

Ellaphant

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Hey guys! I'm new to the site and a new axie mom of two leucistic - one about 4inches and the other just a little over 4.5 inches. I'm very worried about them. They seem to be motionless and not eating as well. I've had them for about 5 days. The first 4 days was with a filter that had a strong flow so I switched it and threw in Colony Freshwater to jumpstart the cycle (since I'm using a new filter).

The first four days was stressful as it was difficult to feed them. I tried feeding them pellets but they didn't eat alot. On the third and fourth day, I tried to feed them a worm but they both only ate a quarter of an earthworm.

Yesterday, I noticed that my second axie (Echo) had a slightly bloated stomach. I thought this was probably because I fed him a quarter of an earthworm on the third and fourth night.

Today, I tried to light feed one of them (Puck) some pellets and it seemed that he wasn't interested in them. He only ate the ones that was on my forceps or "moving". Same with thing happened with Echo although he did eat to pellets from the ground.

I've been doing partial water change (25%-40%) everyday on my 20gallon tank since I got them. Because I didn't cycle my tank before. Temperature ranges from 17-20 degrees Celsius. I've been testing my water and my ammonia level has 0.25pm for the last 3 days, nitrates & nitrites seem to be at zero. Although since I added colony freshwater, I'm expecting my nitrates & nitrites to go up in the next 4 days.

My axies aren't very active and doesn't explore much. I'm worried that they're sick or stressed. The new filter seem to work well and is on the lowest setting however, they're still not as active.

I will insert pictures of my two axies. First picture is Echo today in the morning (you can see her/his belly) and second is Puck yesterday.
 

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Kirzzin

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It could be a number of things why they aren't as active as you'd like them to be. Honestly, its probably better they arent shooting around the tank. In my experience when they are calm and slow usually they are less stressed.
They could be not used to the substrate under their toes, chances are the breeder didn't have them in an tank with substrate on the bottom.
At that size a quarter of an earthworm, depending on the size of it is quite good. I know when I was a new Mum I felt like they needed to be eating way more than they actually should.
They do best when its dark, that is when I noticed all mine do their exploring.
Try hand feeding them instead of with forceps, it kind of gives you more of a bond and you should see them starting to become a little more active when they see you come around the tank. Try feeding bloodworms, they love them usually and at least you know they're eating something. If you have soft pellets I find mine didn't like them because they were so small so I used to squish them together to make a slightly bigger pellet and they would love it!
Also I don't think you need to be doing that many water changes, it will cause you and them a lot more headache then it needs to.
They look healthy and happy to me! You're doing great!
 

Ellaphant

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Update: They are now very active and beginning to eat more earthworms. Although, I think I overfed one of my axies and now he/she is bloated so I'm laying off feeding him/her for awhile. But so far, so good! I guess I was just really worried and over thinking it.The new filter seemed to do the trick too!
 
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