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A little bit concerned

Yubel

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First, hey ... that's about the best introduction I can think of XD

I'm completely new to Axolotls and I wasn't even planning on getting one.
Just last week I saw a really nice, simple aquarium and felt like it would be nice to have some fishes. Low maintenance, quite pretty and so on.
And so a 2-3 days ago I went (with my mom) to an animal shop to look around.
So in the section with all these animals, fish, reptiles, spiders as well surprisingly, I found something that I assume stood out. At first we came across some turtles/tortoises, as well as snakes and some lizards. Something in the middle of that section already kind of took my interest, some water salamanders, quite similar looking to the Axolotls but without the gills.
But I said I was gonna get some fishes so I just kept walking. I even stopped and thought about getting spider as well for whatever reason that thought came across my mind.
Then going to the fish section we saw quite a number of fishes but I couldn't find any fish that I like until I passed by these little, derpy looking guys. And idk what it was but I just really wanted one.
So I asked some information, what they eat, how to care for them and what not. And ended up buying 2 of them. At first I just thought of getting one but I thought that might've been a bit lonely so I got 2.
There was one of them that I definitely wanted. It was a small gold one in between some larger ones (still small tho) but it seemed to have had some ... hungry siblings XD
Part of its tail was bitten of as well as one leg. So that was definitely one that I wanted to have and then I went with a black one as well which was the smallest in the aquarium because I know from a lot of other animals how big and small goes so I was trying to get them as close to the same size as possible.

Now they're at my place, completely installed. Been doing quite some research because I don't want to ruin this and the good thing is that the black one seems to be slowly, very slowly, getting used to everything but I'm a little bit concerned about the golden one.
He seems ... uhm, I think best way to describe it is dead.
He's still alive, I know that because while cleaning out some rests of food as well as some poo, I somehow swept him up and he swam away, tho it took quite some time.
Which is what's concerning me a bit ... I actually turned around as I was typing this and thought it died. It was standing up straight against the glass in a place it has stood before but now upside down. But I "pushed" him away a bit and he kind of swam forward ... he is now back in the same place -_-
Thing is that this place is just behind or should I say next to the filter. In between the left side of the aquarium and the side of the filter. The black one has tried to get behind the filter several times as well and somehow he or she has been able to even get it loose ...

Maybe I should move the filter to the middle of the aquarium instead of the side?!
Do Axolotls like vibrations by any chance? Maybe the filter is giving off some vibrations and that's why they're trying to get behind it?!

Also I've been having some trouble getting food for them. Apparently none of the local pet stores have food for them but as I was doing some research I found (on here) that they eat earthworms and that I could use worms I find in my garden ... is that okay?
It said to rinse them off but worms often have dirt and such inside them as well, so I'm still not sure whether or not that would be okay.
Also not sure how much they eat. Most things I found just said fed once a day or something but how much?!

Sorry for the gigantic wall of text :D
 

Yubel

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Do you want to post a pic of him? That can tell us a lot.

Wasn't sure how to do so.
Here he/she is:

file_original-size-5430.jpg

file_original-size-5429.jpg


It's still alive btw, I checked.
However the small one seems to have no interest in living/moving worms and the bigger black one I have is terrified of them.
She looked at it and as I thought that she was going to go for it the moment it started moving a little bit (you know wriggling, it's still a worm) she swam to the other side of the aquarium.
I think they might be to used to the palettes they got where I bought them.

Also not sure whether or not the black one is a female but her face sure looks feminine :D
 

Amyglistens

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Hi ya. The major thing I'd be concerned about is that your tank isn't cycled. If you've only had the tank a week it won't be cycled yet. Have you tested the water? If not I'd get on that asap cause an uncycled tank will be very dangerous for your little ones. And you may need to do daily water changes to keep the nitrite levels down until it's properly cycled. Also I'd take the sand out of the tank, it's not safe for juveniles and can cause respiratory problems along with them damaging there limbs and tummy on the roughness of it. A bare tank bottom is what most juveni axolotl owners go for as it's easy to clean and safe for axolotls. My tank has large slate tiles in the bottom cut to the exact size of the tank(it gives them a litttle more grip)
I've got juveniles around 4 inches long at the minute and they've just moved onto small earth worms still having a little bloodworm. It's not a good idea to get worms straight out the garden as they could carry diseases into the tank. It's best to get them either online or a local supplier. If pets stores don't have them try fishing/bait shops. I bought mine online which came the next day.
As long as they can't get stuck behind the filter I wouldn't worry. Axolotls love dark places to hide out in.
I've not had to deal with regeneration but from what I've read if you can get the water levels right you little one will regrow fine on it's own but, having said that I'd be tempted to transfer it into a more shallow dish where u can do regular water changes and feed him up by hand until he's on the mend and your tanks cycled. But I'm sure Pepe with more regeneration experience will advise you better
 

Kateleesi

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From what you've described he's probably not doing so hot. Though the funky positions shouldn't weird you out. Axolotl can be really weird and tend to do silly things like chill upside down. I agree with the person above though, if your tank isn't properly cycled that could be why he seems off.
 

Yubel

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Hi ya. The major thing I'd be concerned about is that your tank isn't cycled. If you've only had the tank a week it won't be cycled yet. Have you tested the water? If not I'd get on that asap cause an uncycled tank will be very dangerous for your little ones. And you may need to do daily water changes to keep the nitrite levels down until it's properly cycled. Also I'd take the sand out of the tank, it's not safe for juveniles and can cause respiratory problems along with them damaging there limbs and tummy on the roughness of it. A bare tank bottom is what most juveni axolotl owners go for as it's easy to clean and safe for axolotls. My tank has large slate tiles in the bottom cut to the exact size of the tank(it gives them a litttle more grip)
I've got juveniles around 4 inches long at the minute and they've just moved onto small earth worms still having a little bloodworm. It's not a good idea to get worms straight out the garden as they could carry diseases into the tank. It's best to get them either online or a local supplier. If pets stores don't have them try fishing/bait shops. I bought mine online which came the next day.
As long as they can't get stuck behind the filter I wouldn't worry. Axolotls love dark places to hide out in.
I've not had to deal with regeneration but from what I've read if you can get the water levels right you little one will regrow fine on it's own but, having said that I'd be tempted to transfer it into a more shallow dish where u can do regular water changes and feed him up by hand until he's on the mend and your tanks cycled. But I'm sure Pepe with more regeneration experience will advise you better

I guess I should've listened to my little brother. While at the store he actually said that new aquariums should at least filter themselves out for about a week or so.
But I didn't really listen because he makes up a lot of stuff and lies about everything non-stop so after a while you just stop listening to him (also he's 8 or 9).
After I've put them in the tank I went to my mom's place first but after that, I went online to check a lot of things out and came across a section that talked about it.
So I knew about that a bit late, wish I knew it before I bought them because I don't have anything else to put them in :(
I actually bought that specific sand on advise from the store I got them at. The bag itself says: ideal for all bottom-feeding animals, fine rounded quartz sand.
I think that having nothing at the bottom would be a bit sad, no?
I actually saw a lot on here yesterday about watertesting and what not, so I checked some of our "local" pet stores but again, none seem to have testing kits :(
And since I go everywhere with my bicycle, I'll have to wait until my mom has time to go somewhere else to get testing kits.
If it wasn't for stores close by not having stuff, I wouldn't miss my car at all XD

I do have to say that I'm glad that I saw both of them eat. As I said before the bigger one (whom is about 10cm btw) seems really healthy. But the smaller one is one that I'm a bit concerned about. I actually had to move him to the food, he ate quite a bit and then went to sit in a corner.
And of course if the aquarium being new and all would really cause some problems that's a bit worrisome as well.

The only other thing I have are these small plastic "boxes" to store in food ... the black one won't fit but the gold one being as small as he is, will.
Would it be okay if I put him/her in that until it fully healed itself?


PS: a bit off topic, but is it possible to get email notifications whenever someone replies on here?
 

dmoeller

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Seeing as one of your Axolotls doesn't fit in the box it is probably not ideal conditions. You might want to consider a big Tupperware container. You would want to treat the water before you put him in. Forward curled gills are a sure sign that he is stressed. Does he have these? He is really cute though!
 

Yubel

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Seeing as one of your Axolotls doesn't fit in the box it is probably not ideal conditions. You might want to consider a big Tupperware container. You would want to treat the water before you put him in. Forward curled gills are a sure sign that he is stressed. Does he have these? He is really cute though!

The box I use for him is big enough tho ... I think I can fill out the bottom with about 20 of him XD
He has quite some space. He doesn't have those forward curled gills. Body language wise he seems to be improving but aside from that he seems to be getting worse.
He's not eating and at first didn't poo at all ... he then took one poo and that was it.
I was hoping that after that he'd got better but he's still not eating. Every time I feed him he just spits it back out instantly.
He has also lost the small stick-like leg he had (he lost a leg and started regenerating but stopped for some reason and now lost the part that did regenerate), it also looks like part of his tail that was already bitten off got worse instead of better.

I actually just fed them and he always acts rather strange during that time ... he seems to be getting used to me so that's not what I mean, it always looks like he's taking the tiniest bites, as if he can't open his mouth but tries to. Just in case you're curious he can open his mouth I've seen it when he goes up and gets air or when he actually does take food in his mouth but spits it out.
I also noticed that he lost the outside skin on his front legs. I assume that's what I saw in his box a while ago when I cleaned it out. It doesn't look damage tho, it's as if he just lost his color there.
I'm really glad to see how well the black one does. She always goes to the front of the tank whenever she sees me in the morning or evening (especially during feeding time), holding her head up a bit. Quite the improvement from when I got both of them.
Problem is that apparently my fingers look tastier than the food in it and while I know that it doesn't hurt when they bite, if you see something trying to snap at you your first reaction is to pull away not let it happen XD
 
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