General questions

[thomas]

hey guys,
ive had an axolotl for about a month and a bit now and just thought u could help me out with a few things. Is having a gravel bottom a big deal? i have gravel and pebbles atm as the guy at the pet shop said i should have gravel because they r big rock eaters. My axolotl also has a mole or some sort of birthmark on its face, this is one of the reasons i bought it as i thought it would be very rare to find, have any of you seen this before? also how often do u suggest i clean out my tank? it is around 18inch x 11 - 12 inch (45litres)? another thing with the undergravel filters, are they meant to cover the entire surface of the tank? is it vital that they do? sorry about the huge ammount of questions, just trying to make sure my little girl (prancing peanut is her name! wat a classic!) lives a long life! cheers!

 

[nathan]

Welcome to the forum Tomas, well the best substrate to have is sand but if you hand feed your axie then the risk of them eating it is reduced. With the birthmark I would have to see a pic (hint hint). Cleaning the tank I would use a gravel vac on it once a week. Hmm under grave filter well it doesn’t have to be perfect but you can’t have it too small

 

[thomas]

cheers mate, i feed it one square of beef heart once a day but it still seems to eat the gravel, the undr gravel filter takes up about a third of the tank floor.the gravel is very small so i hope they are not a problem.is it rare for axies to die from gravel? if i dont have a gravel vac how often should i clean out the tank? i will get a picture of prancing peanut soon as my digital camera has gone walking!haha!

 

[thomas]

oops i forhot to add that the air pump with the undergravel filter is fairly powerfull so that may help the size. i think next time i clean it out i will buy pebbles and a large piece of slate for her

 

[cynthia]

Hi Thomas - I would suggest you read the info at caudata's sister site: http://www.axolotl.org

Since you have had your axolotl just a month and your tank has probably been set up for one month you really need to read this article on tank cycling: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml


That will give you lots of information you need to start with.

If you are seeing it eat gravel that is not a good sign. Their gut can become blocked with gravel, hopefully your gravel is small enough for the axolotl to pass.

You should never clean the entire tank out (as in remove rocks and water and wash it out). You will need to get a test kit that will allow you to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph and a gravel vacuum so you can clean the gravel (substrate). Once your tank has cycled you do weekly maintenance by removing 20% of the water, cleaning the inside of the glass and vacuuming the gravel.

Your tank could be at a dangerous point in the cycle for your axolotl right now. I would get a test kit ASAP so you know what your ammonia and nitrite levels are.

Beef heart is probably not the best thing to be feeding on a daily basis. Axolotls have a hard time digesting mammal meat. A better staple food would be night crawlers or axolotl/salmon/trout pellets. If you look around this site you will see lots of suggestions on different foods to add variety your axolotls diet.

I just saw your new post about larger pebbles and thought I would mention that axolotls are capable of swallowing pretty large rocks. If it fits in their mouth they try to eat it. Make sure your rocks are bigger than the axolotls head. You might want to give sand a try (you would remove the undergravel filter if you do they are not made to work with sand).

Welcome to the forum. We would enjoy seeing a picture of your axololt

(Message edited by cynorita on July 13, 2005)

 

[thomas]

thankyou cynthia
i will make sure i do this asap, is ammonia a major killer of axies? wat are some signs of sickness also? would u recomend large pebbles or sand as a alternative? are there any signs of build up of gravel in the axie? once again thanks for your help so far!

 

[nathan]

well most obvious sing of axolotl that has eaten grave is they will most likely become bloated and before that the axolotl may stop eating

 

[cynthia]

Thomas - Usually eating small gravel causes no symptoms at all they will pass it or regurgitate it.

But if they are having problems they usually stop eating, sometimes they float at the top of the tank more than usual. Depending on what color your axolotl is and what color your gravel is you can sometimes see the gravel inside the axolotls belly just by looking at the axolotl from the side.

All substrates have their pros and cons. Large river type rocks can be hard to keep clean between the cracks, sand takes more time to keep the surface cleaned up, large gravel and small gravel are easy to clean with a gravel vacuum but can be swallowed and cause problems (I would imagine very fine grain sand could cause problems too if it became impacted). You can also use no substrate at all and keep them on the bare glass floor. It is up to you. I use sand even though it takes more time to clean.

High concentrations of ammonia or nitrite could kill your axolotl, lower concentrations can cause stress,illness and gill damage. It is important to know how the biological cycle works in an aquarium so you can maintain it and help keep your axolotl healthy.