My New Baby

[Spudcula]

Hello, New here and i just recently got a new juvenile axolotl! his/her name is Spud and shes spoiled rotten already, she gets a cube of freeze dried blood worms every other day. I'm currently in college with a marine biologist as my reference for all my husbandry questions. my herd of goldfish in my ten gallon are wonderful but with my loti I had to do my research shes in a 5 gallon cause shes only a few inches long. The plan is the graduate her to the 10 gallon and my goldfish to a 20.

so i do have a few questions for all of you professionals,
1. what is her color morph or her predicted color? i know shes young and could change but I've noticed small flecks of color on her and I'm not sure if its her color variation or something serious (photos attached for reference).
2. I have thanksgiving break coming up, and i was wondering if should take her back home with me and disturb the tank or should i keep her here? her tank will still be regulated but the only issue is the feedings since it would only be a total of 4 days.with the goldfish its easy cause of the vacation feeders... but you can't exactly do that with blood worms. so opinions?
3. how should i go about cleaning? shes currently in a planted sand tank and i get the poo out and water changes and make should to do constant water tests.
4. Also any general advice for a newbie?

Also i forgot to mention my university has a herpitarium that breeds axies (not where i bought her) but just another place of reference for my axie questions.

Thanks for all the help

 

[Otterwoman]

What a lovely creature! I think four days alone is fine. The rest I'll leave for the axie owners. Good luck!!

 

[Asevernnnn]

For cleaning I would do weekly water changes(20-30%) while you're there, possibly getting a friend or neighbor to help out while you're gone. In addition to spot cleaning, removing any uneaten food and waste daily, you can use a turkey baster to do this.
For food I would switch off bloodworms as a staple and feed a staple of chopped worm(nightcrawlers or earthworm, preferably not red wigglers), and offer bloodworms as an occasional treat, as frozen bloodworms are nutritionally incomplete, and freezedried stuff in a can being pretty much awful. Looking at the pictures, you're feeding frozen ones.
You could also attempt to feed a high quality pellet as a staple if it will take them, if it does, you might possibly be able to use an automatic fish feeder, but I have no idea how good that would work or how it does work, someone that has used one for fish or caudates might be able to give advice on it.
Im assuming the color flecks you're talking about is just the specs of gold that a golden albino usually has. If you're planning on upgrading, I would move the axolotl to the 20 gallon. 10 gallons of water is considered the bare-minimum, being able to house one if that's the only option, but a larger tank being more ideal.