Question: Have to go way for a week, nobody will be home!

[Mewtwo]

I'm not sure what to do. My grandparents just informed me that while in at a medical seminar type thing, they may not be home. This will last for nine days, and I'll be in New York.

Any advice on what I can do to keep my poor 'lotls fed during that Time?

 

[FX1C]

If you make sure that the water is super clean before you are due to leave - big water change & test the parameters to make sure it's all good, that's a good start.

How old are your lotls & what kind of substrate do you use in your tank?

My tanks are all bare bottom glass so this method works really well.
I buy live blackworms & then put them into the tank under a couple of large river stones, the worms stay alive for weeks & the lotls can push the stones around to access the worms hiding underneath them. You'll need to place them in a corner of the tank that is a very low flow area so the worms just hang out there & won't get sucked up into a filter - hopefully you're running a sponge filter do there's not a lot if flow in the tank. Feed a few worms to your lotl before you go & show them where the worms are hiding so they'll know where to look for them under the rocks. I use long tweezers to move the rocks & expose the worms when my lotl goes near them so he can get them easily, but most mornings the stones are in different positions which is a sign he looks there himself for snacks.
I'll try & post a pic of the rocks on top of the live worm pile.
I hope this helps

 

[FX1C]

Here's the pic

 

[Mewtwo]

I'm not sure how old they are. The biggest is about four inches, smallest 3 1/2 inch. There's two of them.

My tank is bare bottom, but by then I'll have had sand put in.i haven't seen them move anything, they try to push the weight that holds down fake plants, but it don't go anywhere.

I've never been able to find a sponge filter in my area, so I have to use what I could find, that being a hang-on 25g filter. The lotls don't seem affected by the flow, nor are they affected by the bubbler, I fact I've seen them play in the latter =)
I'll attach a few pics of the filter, tank and lotls. Hopefully this'll all work out..

 

[Mewtwo]

It's not letting me post more than one pic per post =\

 

[Mewtwo]

And the last one..

 

[AxolotlChris]

What food do you feed?

 

[Mewtwo]

I hand feed thawed bloodworms via a turky baster.

Will be having been hand feeding them make them less likely to search?

 

[Donna001]

I doubt it.
When they are hungry enough, and they smell the food in the tank, they will find it.

 

[AxolotlChris]

It can be dependent on how long you have been feeding them a certain way for. Axolotls can eventually become accustom to a certain way of feeding, but they would most likely eventually find the food unless it is out of reach.

Problem is that leaving bloodworm in your tank would foul the water, as would most types of food. Is there literally 100% no way you could get someone to feed them while your away?

Also, is your tank cycled?

 

[Mewtwo]

My tank is fully cycled, I use API master liquid test kit, showing
0ammonia
0nitrites
20 nitrate

I just tested it.


There is a girl who could come over but my grandparents don't teusg anyone being in the house while im away, and I have a bad feeling that if I tell them to feed them (if they decide to stay home) they'll just drop a stupid vacation block feeder in and ignore the poor things, as that's what they do with my fish when I have to leave for extended periods of time.


I've been doing this since the first week I got them, as they refused to eat anything I offered for the first maybe seven days. They where becoming sluggish and I was panicking so I tried putting the baster near their heads where they could see it and dropping the bloodworm directly Infront of them, and lo and behold, they started eating. I've done it since then.

 

[AxolotlChris]

Without having someone to feed your Axolotls correctly I'm not sure what to suggest

 

[Peyote]

Feeding with no normal water change = bad news. So don't feed! The background metabolic rate - not digesting food - of an axolotl is extremely low, and one week with no food is nothing - the axolotl will not even notice. I regularly go away for two weeks, and PREVENT my house-sitter from feeding, otherwise I would have to teach her to maintain the tank. I just do two 30% water changes in the week before I go away so I know the starting ammonia level is low. The filter and no-further-nutrient-input does the rest. The filter is a drinks bottle with artificial cotton wool in it and a very slow flow through it. I think provides some biological filtration (ie ammonia conversion). When I get home there is always almost no growth of algae compared to when I am home and throwing in axolotl / algae food (ie worms). Algae growth is a sign that the ammonia is being converted to harmless plant food (nitrate), as our tap water here is very nutrient poor.