ThatHistoryGuy94
New member
I currently have a 4" juvenile axolotl, who is in her new home: a 29g tank. The bottom is very fine sand, but to help prevent impaction I only feed using tweezers and do so over a small glass bowl that is in the tank.
However, I keep running into a problem feeding her. Since my tank is newly cycled, and since she has been placed inside for about a week, I've been getting very minute ammonia spikes (going up to 0.25-0.5 for a few hours, before a small water change or simply waiting with Prime filters it out). This might be a result of me losing a pellet or two during her first days, and as a result I've become very picky about leaving food in the tank for long periods.
Unfortunately, my axolotl is a few cells short of a complete brain and just can't seem to hunt. She's perfectly capable of locating the tweezers when I bring food down, but hesitates before snapping at the pellet. When she does, she usually misses, causing the pellet to fall, and will continue to attack the tweezers. Thus begins a struggle between me trying to fish the pellet out from under her while she snaps at the empty tweezers. When I leave the food, she rarely hunts it herself.
When she is successful in grabbing the food, she eats ravenously and can eat up to 2-3 pellets in a sitting (cut up into smaller pieces).
Are there easier ways to get food down to my axolotl besides hoping she snaps at the correct time? Or do I just need to trust that she'll locate the food if I leave it in the tank?
However, I keep running into a problem feeding her. Since my tank is newly cycled, and since she has been placed inside for about a week, I've been getting very minute ammonia spikes (going up to 0.25-0.5 for a few hours, before a small water change or simply waiting with Prime filters it out). This might be a result of me losing a pellet or two during her first days, and as a result I've become very picky about leaving food in the tank for long periods.
Unfortunately, my axolotl is a few cells short of a complete brain and just can't seem to hunt. She's perfectly capable of locating the tweezers when I bring food down, but hesitates before snapping at the pellet. When she does, she usually misses, causing the pellet to fall, and will continue to attack the tweezers. Thus begins a struggle between me trying to fish the pellet out from under her while she snaps at the empty tweezers. When I leave the food, she rarely hunts it herself.
When she is successful in grabbing the food, she eats ravenously and can eat up to 2-3 pellets in a sitting (cut up into smaller pieces).
Are there easier ways to get food down to my axolotl besides hoping she snaps at the correct time? Or do I just need to trust that she'll locate the food if I leave it in the tank?
