A bundle of (probably stupid) questions.

I bought a beautiful axolotl. Her name is Dutchess. She is about 15 or so centimetres. Could anyone guess how old she might be at that size?
She is a very odd colouring, almost a golden albino, but she has white spots, and most of her tail is white. Is this normal? The white, I mean. She looks gorgeous, but I just hope the white isn't a sign of disease or stress!! There is a photo of her in the axolotl photo area.
She lives in a tank(duh), which is about 45-60cm accross(I lost my ruler, and suck at estimating), about 25-35cm tall, and about the same in width as it is in height. It holds about 25-30 litres. I have a few plastic plants, an a driftwood cave. The bottom is covered in fairly large(about2-3cm diameter) stones.
Now, I know how soft and fragile her skin is(she pushes her head up against my hand when I feed her), will the driftwood and plastic plant cut or irritate her? if they do, I can get her smooth plastic pipes to hide/play in, and silk plants.

She is currently on a diet of bloodworms. I'm going to get her some earthworms tomorrow from a bait and tackle shop, because not only are they waaay neater to feed her(bloodworms have a horrible tendency to float away and get under the gravel) but I read everywhere that they are really good for them.
I'm not sure how much to feed her. Currently, I feed her once a day(at night, I also read that axolotl's are more active at night), on about... two thingy's of bloodworms. By thingy's, I mean the little blister pellet things that come in large frozen packs. I break them apart, and give them to her by hand. She scarfs them down so fast(often taking my finger with them), but I'm worried I'm over feeding her. If I am, how often should I feed her/how much? I ask this because she seems quite large(fat wise). She was pretty big when I got her, though. Maybe she's pregnant? How could I tell if she is?
The filter I have on the tank is a small one, that was originally on my ten litre guppy tank. The first one I had on her tank was way too stressful, it filtered 500 litres an hour, and created a really strong current. I don't think the small filter picks up enough stuff, though. Should I get a different less powerful filter, or is there a way to sort of.... Lessen the outflow from the powerful filter?
I didn't cycle the tank before adding Dutchess, so the tank is going through it with her in there. Ammonia is building up rediculously fast. To counteract this, I'm changing about 25% of her water every two days. Is this enough, or should I do daily changes till ammonia stops building up?
Also, I'm getting some Prime for my guppy tank(it has a nitrite problem). Would this be suitable for when the nitrites start to build up in Dutchess' tank, or is Prime bad for axolotl's?
Finally,(I think), I heard that axolotl's sometimes flip out of their tanks. Is this true? I have Dutchess in an unlidded glass tank, on a shelf. She is also near two fighter bowls, so if she flipped into one of them.... Something would end up nice and dead. If it is, should I invest in a lid, or just lower her water level?(it's about 5cm from the top at the moment.).

Thankyou in advance for reading my epic. I just want to take as much care of Dutchess as is possible, and want her to live a very long life, and hopefully eventually make baby Dutchess's!!

I didn't read all of what you said because it is too early for heavy reading
But I saw the photo of Dutchess and she looks fine Very pretty.
You say your stones are 2-3cm, does that mean the stones in the photo have been removed and replaced? Because the ones in the photo are too small
Good luck with everything.

Hi Urgh (a bit weird typing that :lol

Welcome to the forum. You sure do have a lot of questions and none of them are stupid. I don't know whether you have looked at this link: http://www.axolotl.org/ but it does have a lot of the answers to your questions.

I'm going to try and cover as many questions as possible:

- It is difficult to determine the age of your axolotl if you didn't breed it yourself. However, judging by the size of Dutchess, I'd say she is less than a year old.

- The colouring of Dutchess is perfectly normal.

- Those rocks can still be ingested by Dutchess, thus resulting in impaction and possibly death. Most axolotl keepers use sand- in particular play sand but never marine sand.

- The filter output is ok- just turn the power right down and direct the flow towards the glass or even disperse the flow by using a spraybar. The best way to determine whether the current is too strong is when the axolotl's gills are curved. This is mentioned is the provided link (above).

- I didn't "cycle" the tank neither. So here is yet another link to help you:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml Have you tested your ammonia level? What is it at? You should perform partial (20%) water changes everyday until the ammonia decreases.

- I don't really know what Prime is but when I goggled it, it said that Prime is a water conditioner. You should treat tap water with a water conditioner before pouring it into the tank. This removes chlorine and chloramine which are very harmful to the beneficial bacteria that are trying to complete the "cycle".

- Invest in a lid. The more water your tank holds, the more stable the parameters (e.g. ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/pH). Also, I have heard of cases where axolotls have jumped out of the tank- not pretty.

Yeah...I think that's the best that I can do for now. Good luck with Dutchess!

Jay.

Thankyou for all your help XD

It's comforting to know Dutchess doesn't have some weird amphibian disease. I was just worried because I'm used to owning fish, and I know white spots on a fish usually mean Ich, so I had to make sure.

I will invest in some play sand for her ASAP. Hopefully she has steered clear of the gravel, and prefers her brand new diet of earthworms.

I got a much less powerful filter, it barely moves the water, and the outflow faces the tank wall.

I couldn't get any Prime, anyway. I always use a dechlorinator on any water I put in her tank. I did get some Toxivec, to use with my guppies. It apparently reduces ammonia and nitrite levels, so I'll see how well it works for the Guppy tank before I use it in Dutchess' water.

I will take a look at the website, and hope I can take the best possible care of my little Dutchess, who I have become rediculously attatched to XD

Urgh said:

Thankyou for all your help XD
I couldn't get any Prime, anyway. I always use a dechlorinator on any water I put in her tank. I did get some Toxivec, to use with my guppies. It apparently reduces ammonia and nitrite levels, so I'll see how well it works for the Guppy tank before I use it in Dutchess' water.

Click to expand...

Please do not use this Toxivec chemical. It does not remove ammonia; instead, it converts it into the less toxic form, ammonium. But the ammonium will still be present in your tank. This chemical will also hinder the nitrification "cycle". Toxivec can be likened to another product called "Ammo-lock", which I made the mistake of introducing into my tank as well.

The best way to remove ammonia from your tank is to let the nitrifying bacteria do their job.

Jay.