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Hi! New person here, w/axolotl questions...

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sharon

Guest
First off, I accidently posted this in the wrong forum, sorry guys! I kinda got lost in the maze of boards!!! I'll get it figured out!

Good lord! I've been reading some of the old posts and I'm a little intimidated but here goes anyway!

I've been looking for axos for years. Mostly through the retail petstores. I've bought about 6 "axolotls" and each and every time I've wound up with a barred tiger. Or is it a splotched tiger? Every one of them came through their metamorphosis with flying colors and I gave all of them away. Well, except the one I thought was dead (disappeared) and now he is living happily with my Whites' Tree frogs.

I've also owned marbled salamanders and most of the common petstore stock.

I just found Michale Shrom, and ordered 6 little axos from him.

I've got a HUGE assortment of tanks. I'm a stay at home slave w/3 human children, limited income and a love for herps!

I recently purchased two breeding pairs of paradoera pictus geckos, (Madagascar ground geckos), hopefully they will help me support my menagerie. Don't get me wrong, we aren't poor and living in a hovel w/a collection of pets. But keeping and breeding herps is NOT a cheap thing! I was totally taken with the price this guy put on the geckos, but oh well, live and learn.

Learn. So I'm here. Lets say space is not a problem. I have dozens of 10 gl tanks 1 gorgeous show quality 70 gl, and a 125 gl, and just about every size in between. I've been collecting these over the last five years.

I really want to get into breeding amphibs, hence the tank collection.

I've got gravel that is larger than my 3 yr old 9 - 10 inch long tiger salamanders head for the new axos. Several powerheads, mostly weak ones.

My plan was to put these 6 3 - 4 inch axos in a 20 gl long with two in the tank filters w/powerheads, undergravel filter w/one of the two submersed filter/powerhead sitting in the hole.

I figure that takes care of the cleaning aspect but aesthetics..... I've read that the axos can be rough on "ornaments" in their tanks. I love live plants and have them in all of my vivariums and fish tanks. I'm thinking of chopping up this undergravel filter and putting the pots into the holes, then covering them up with gravel - will that work?

BUT what about lighting? Will the grow lights for the plants annoy or harm the axos?

And something I'm wondering now, and haven't really considered - are axos, nocturnal, diurnal??? Do I need a black light?

Regarding the black lights.... I read ONCE long ago that the common "party/poster" black light used long term has caused cancer in fish. HOWEVER most of my lights are tubes, and the reptile safe lights are incandescents and usually a fairly high heat.

You know I really just oughta ask, HOW DO you folks have your axos set up?

I hope I've covered it all.

TIA!
Sharon
 

TJ

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Hi Sharon, I moved your post to the correct discussion area for you
wink.gif
You should find at least some of your questions answered here and at this site:

http://axolotl.caudata.org/
 
S

sharon

Guest
LOL! Am I still in the wrong forum?

I love the caudata site, as soon as my ebay auctions settle down, I'll see about pay paling a donation!

And uh, um, you moved it? Thank you, but where from and where to? LOL! Originally I posted this same post over in the hellbenders folder - OOPS! Then I copied and pasted it here, in the axo forum. Uh, where to now?? I feel like I'm in a strange office building. LMBO!

Sharon
 

TJ

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Did you? Well then that explains what happened
smile6.gif


After I supposedly moved it, I found to my horror that it had disappeared altogether
errr.gif
It was neither where it was nor where it was meant to be ...and then a few minutes later, there it was!
 
M

mik

Guest
I have 6 axos in a large tank with pebbles for substrate.
Of all the plants I have tried only a Dracenia with very thick stems has survived (so far). It has a small mountain of large pebbles around base to stop the psychos uprooting it.

I also have some floating weed which is growing very well. Sorry can't remember name but it is large clumpy stuff not that pathetic small clover leafy kind.

Note Pebbles give them plenty to grip to but are a bit of beggar to clean up poo with a syphon, just doesn't seem to be able to draw-down from between the stones.

I have a Hong Kong plec in tank to keep algae under control.

I use standard daylight tubes but keep them on a timer.
 
S

sharon

Guest
Hey Mik! Now that is helpful! I'm used to my Oscar regularly rampaging through his tank and destroying things, I finally built "boulder" piles, looks really neat and they are cemented to one another. The same might work with the axos if they prove more destructive than I figured.

Thanks for everyones info. I look forward to reading all the posts!
 
M

mik

Guest
Glad to be of service.

Don't put your Axo's in with an Oscar, though because the only thing you'll be left with is a bigger Oscar.

Regards, Mikki
 
C

clarence

Guest
between my axo and the cleaner snails, plants don't live long in the tank, so, I surrounded my axo tank with plants instead. The greenery frames the tank, and distracts from the fact that is is, in and of itself, pretty barren.
 
S

sharon

Guest
<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>mik flounders (Mikki) wrote on Saturday, May 29, 2004 - 18:18 :</font>

"Don't put your Axo's in with an Oscar, though because the only thing you'll be left with is a bigger Oscar. "<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

I'm sorry I missed this one! THAT IS FUNNY!! LOL!

Maybe I'll really tick these guys off and cement silk (aquarium) plants to the undergravel filter plates!
lol.gif


OMG! Wednesday is NOT going to get here soon enough!!!

um,,,,, a consideration... I really like the way farlowellas look... they do a much better job cleaning fake plants and such with their smaller mouths... Does anyone see a problem with them inhabiting the tank??

Also, I have a "river tank" with a thousand of those ugly little snail, do axolotls eat those? I used to net a bunch and pitch them into the goldfish tank for a crispy snack... Just wondering out loud here.

Sharon
 
C

clarence

Guest
>Also, I have a "river tank" with a thousand of >those ugly little snail, do axolotls eat those?

Mine don't, but I was overrun. Then I started a dwarf african puffer tank. Now, I actually have a small tank dedicated to breeding the little blighters for feeding the puffers.
 
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gayle

Guest
Hi l am lost here , all l need to know is how do you tell the sex of an axoltl please}
 
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