Question: New Axolotl owner, read plenty (now: diary of Fred's new owner)

After coming back from the gig last night to find that the flat's temperature was high and the tank at 22 degrees I decided something needed to be done (although i got it back down to 20.5 pretty sharpish).

So today I've just reserved one of these: Buy Challenge Air Conditioner. at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for .

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We're using a couple in work, and £110 for 9000 BTU is pretty decent value.

It'll be handy just to bring the room temp down in bursts when it gets really uncomfortable.

I don't see it as a cooling solution to Fred's tank, but his water temp will be easier to maintain if the ambient temp is lower int he room so I'll keep y'all posted, however if you are looking for a small remote controlled Air con in the uk, this is a steal.

Also regarding my idea to get Fred swimming I've stumbled across these:

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PUMP SHELF (EXTRA LARGE) - CheapPetProducts.Net

I'm still trying to locate them in the uk but I think would be a perfect feeding shelf for Fred. It'd keep his food out of the sand, and would promote a little exercise swimming up to another level, about 4 inches from water surface which is perfect.

thoughts?
 
Yo Daz those little shelves look perfect its so funny trying to teach an axie to swim haha! Gomez diddnt really leave the bottom (except for the occasional giulp of air) untill I got the lighting right and since ive been feeding every other day I have noticed he only swims about on feeding day(he doesnt do much on his day off, just sits in his cave poking his head out!) coz I feed him crickets (Gomez loves them!) and they swim about on the surface for ages before they take a dive moving about alot to stimulate him to head up there, he just mops up he sinkers later! So I think hes just learned to stay near the surface its where the foods at! (the crickets sometimes sit on abit of floating plant so if he wants em hes gotta go up n get em!) but as well as the shelf ive got a thick canopy of leaves near the surface which he likes to sit on and rummage through so keeps him high up in the tank. Or maybe he just loves swimming! Try a live floating food like crickets (you can gut load em with loadsa healthy stuff!) or some guppys they might encourage him to move abit more if he has to catch his food! make him work for his food, maybe try taller plants so he can perch on em near the top to make it abit easier for him!

Was just thinkin, I dont think gomez is as fat as ive been led to belive, its just in the videos ive posted hes always all full of air he swallows loads to keep himself bouyant when he swims about haha when he burps it all out and mooches on the bottom his tummy is definately thinner than his head! Had to get him out of the tank yesterday (had to drain it to put it on a stand) he looks so much bigger without the glass in the way hes a proper little monster and just keeps growing hes 10in now!

Keep toying with the idea of getting him a house mate but im so bloody paranoid just read a thread about agressive axie and the other ones legs grew back backwards ahhhh! I know these axies were only 5in but i just couldnt let that happen to gomez, i dont want him to have backwards legs!

anyways i went on abit

Love what your doing dude and ******* love Fred hes got alot of character, then all axies seem to theyre such funny little things, wish i was an axalotl!

Good luck with the swimming lessons! can just imagine fred practising with a float haha!

Nice one!
 
That's for the long reply matey :)

Crickets is something I'm gonna go for. Earthworms have been tricky to get due to the weather, and that I haven't really had time to go digging. Petsathome even do crickets for their reptiles so may pop down at lunch.

If Axies like em and they float about, brilliant I'm all over it.

Regarding Fred's placidity, I'm starting to think he just acts all bashful around me, or is afraid of me as I'm the one who does the water changes, turns the bubbles and fans on etc. Maybe he thinks I'm the aggressor.

Last night got a txt from the mrs saying he'd been doing back flips, swimming about and generally performing. Needless to say by the time I got home he was back to plodding about.

What does tick me off was that I was late home, as went out to drop £110 on an air con unit to keep the little diva even cooler on these hot days.

All this money I'm spending and he gives her the attention. Fred is definitely a dude.

What does concern me though is Ali (my GF) said he was doing a lot of swimming by the filter, and looked as though he got his gills caught in the inlet. She turned it off immediately and he escaped, and I'm sure was just messing rubbing them on the sponge but still. As I've opened it i know there are no moving parts at the bottom, just sponge, and his gills look fine, but this worries me somewhat so may have have to spend a little of this months bread on a lower power filter (he may also like that there's less current).

Any recommendations on a lower current filter for a 60l tank anyone?

As I'm half done cycling and ammonia is starting to drop, I don't want to start again, so will leave the old in there (off) even with the new filter (on) to allow bacteria to form on the new.

Don't go worrying about Gomez mate, In my opinion he's one of the best looking and liveliest Axies on these boards and I think many people would love a little Gomez, The fact he's melanoid just tops it off really as I'm yet to see any.

Should you decide to use that old tank of your as a breeder, (wink wink) I'll happily raise some fry in my old (wait I mean current) tank.

Back to food, it's clear that cat buscuits to bloodworm have given Fred a new lease of live, he's passed a lot of gravel, his skin is white (or pink after eating), his gills look great (and literally change colour during a meal, but only with live bloodworms, you gotta try it though if you have a luec / albino) and he's now at a size that looks proportioned with good energy levels.

I think it's not time to push some Earthworms, Crickets and other goodies onto him, so he can vary it up (although I bet he's so dopey he wouldn't even notice them unless they swam into his face).

Hopefully new backing will turn up today, and the largest pieces are big enough to add just 1 piece to current tank, so think I'll just slide it in and secure the top with tape, and the bottom with the sand. I'll use silicon and do a permanent job on the bigger tank when I get that. Expect pics :)
 
Just need to say it again. Gut load the crickets on high quality gut load, fish flakes, multi vitamin powder (they will eat it), etc. and make sure that they are hydrated. You have to find some earthworms... they are easily cultured even if you have to buy the first batch. :happy:
 
earthworms are not going to be a problem

As mentioned earlier I've got a Venus Flytrap Nursery, my partner who has the land has just bought a massive wormery, with thousands of worms available so not gonna have a problem with worms :)

As for the crickets I'm gonna pick some up after work. I'll make sure to get some fish flakes too for now, until i can source some protein powder (unless they sell that too).

Do I need to do a lot to look after the crickets to keep them alive long enough for them to be food?

How many can Fred realistically eat a day, and how long will the crickets last in the boxes I buy them in without any additional support (not sure i want them as pets :) ).
 
Yeah man gomez only swims about when im around when ever anyone else is in the room he hides at the back haha! Funny little personalities!

Just got him a nice lifesize skull ornament to hide in, and tonight im gettin some guppys out of my other tank my mate is keeping for me for Gomez to chase down doubt they'll last long! (I have this stubborn one that refuses to get eaten tho!)

As for crickets I just have a medium sized cricket keeper and just buy one tub of crickets at a time and cleaning it out everytime ive used em all for the next batch!

To gutload em, ive used bug grub powder stuff, lettuce, cucumber, celery, carrots, cereal, oats, fish food, berries, seeds (pumpkin seeds, very healthy!) all sprinkled in abit of calcium dust! they eat pretty much any fruit/veg/seeds/berries and commercial food and can get pretty big and hopefully all that healthy stuff you feed the crickets gets into your aixes! Just make sure you go for silent ones! also maybe avoid locusts theyre rubbish swimmers, they just die instantly haha!

(little tip... put the moisture food (fruit veg) on a little dish or something just to stop it touching the dry food as it goes mouldy quick!)

also cricket keepers are good coz they have tubes (can use loo roll tube for same effect) that get full of crickets so you dont have them jumpin round the room trying to catch em with giant tweezers, you just gotta keep it clean as it can get smelly!

Thing is, now he knows I can give him such big juicy crickets he doesnt even go near blood worms just not interested think theyre too small to bother with!) he also likes mealworms (fed only occasionally with there heads crushed) and wax worms (also fed occasionally as they are very fatty (axies love em tho!) mix things up abit, just keep it balanced!

Edit: about the filter, the suction on it is soo weak it wont bother Fred certainly not powerful enough to suck his gills in, only thing id say is push the sponge in the V shape bit all the way down so the gills cant get caught in the gaps!
 
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If the intake seems to be a problem, you might try covering it with some pantyhose before giving up and finding another filter altogether.

I will confess that, once in a rare while, I hand-feed my axies a cricket or two, just for kicks. They're not a good staple, but the axolotls will catch on quickly and swim over or up to your hand to get the cricket. This also means that they'll forever be interested in swimming over to your hands and gulping at your fingers (which can be a pain when it's time to clean up the tank).
 
cheers for replies guys.

I actually went to get Crickets before reading either so returned with just some silent 4th's (Whatever they are) and a thing of goldfish / cold water fish flakes as the startings of a gut loading set up (as didn't know the full recipe then).

Looks like I'm going to need a lot more stuff.

Looking at what you're saying Ted I reckon a nice addition would be unsweetened muesli, full of protein and energy for the little dude.

Anyway first experience with Crickets, not as stressful as was anticipated but not a walk in the park either.

Wanted to add 2, did so, although 3 appeared on the surface, the first escapee. Shaking from the plastic take away box they come in is not the idea solution.

After 40 mins of Fred looking mad, randomly digging and basically jumping up and down trying to find the food source on the floor i gave him a pointer and dragged one down with some forceps. He ate it pretty quickly, looking at me very confused. As he sucked it in and out.

No.2, tried the same again but accidentally caught his body, squashing it. This made it sink while the front still worked and although he kind of buzzed past Fred, I think he was full and left it to die.

It wasn't there this morning though.

No.3 managed to crawl in up behind the filter and squish itself. I released it and left it floating on the surface. Fred either went and got it or it sunk, as a water change and clean up didn't show any signs this morning.

So 3 crickets, albeit without any additives, and no decent swimming yet. Patience is a virtue.

Only thing I quickly noticed is even when wet, they cn climb and were quickly sussing out the filter wire, so need to make sure that those wires lead up to the top of the tank pinched by the hood, and not the gaps at the back. Same goes for airlines.

I'll be getting a Kricket Keeper though. And I've got em outside in my bin cupcoard so smell or anything that goes with keeping them doesn't really matter.

The sponge is right down in the v of the filter, I think the gill incident may have been an accident of Ali over reacting. She does have bad eye sight too.

One final thing, on inspection i found some more poop in his long and also some outside but again over 2 days I've found another 7-8 pieces of white gravel. I'm amazed how much these things can eat.

I wish I'd kept each piece to weigh in, see how much of Fred was Fred at the beginning.
 
well it's been done, Fred is a swimmer!

All it takes is a little encouragement of some Crickets across the surface and he can't stand not to check it out.

I got him interested by turning everything off in the tank, so all his senses were being bombarded by the annoying sound of Crickets!

This isn't the first video, in that he managed to push them all behind the filter and then grabbed and ate one, but that doesn't make great TV and is still being processed, however while that was processing I caught him here on my phone, and it's a great little vid.

The first minute or so he still is favouring spiderman like climbing, which he does a lot, but then he has enough!

Check it out!

edit: go to 2 mins in for action, lol soz should have edited.

YouTube - Fred the Axolotl swimming for food
 
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I thought you was lieing for the first 2 mins :p but i saw it you finally got him to swim :D:D:D.. It looked like he was standing up i thought that was really funny... Watch out Gomez, Freds the new star in hollywood :grin:
 
Dude im so glad the live food idea worked, axies just cant resist something twitching! (Ive found that since using larger crickets i have alot more sinkers, theyre okay if they land feet first, little ones seem to be better in the water but its fun watching a big juicy one get swallowed whole!) was thinkin a guppy or two might also get him swimming about but ive had a couple of lairy ones so might freak fred out, mountain minnows would be ideal tho if he can catch em!

When watchin fred swim he seems to be alot heavier than gomez but gomez takes huge gulps of air from the surface to keep him bouyant n burps it out to sink, maybe fred hasnt figured that one out yet (or might just still be full of stones! you seen any more?) im glad its all coming together for you and fred, hes a real character!

I havnt seen gomez for ages, I got him a nice lifesize skull to hide in and apart from poking his head out to have a munch i havnt seen him for 3days he's just hiding in his new skull haha! and the last post was right gomez better watch his back! gotta try and have the camera in hand to catch some guppy hunting!

Take it easy dude your doin a crackin job, more pics n vids please! haha!
 
In this video he did seem heavier you're right, but I think its due to lack of practice, he's only just got enough of the gravel out to float :)

Glad Gomez likes his new tank and hide, he sure is lucky, that's a lot of space. Which I had a flat the same size (scaled).

I'm unsure about guppies, like you I don't want to introduce anything that can harm my Axie, he's had a hard enough time up until now :)

Over the last 2 days he's barely been on the sand. Yesterday I almost had to tell him to shut it as he was swimming around the surface like a shark slapping the roof of his mouth on the water surface making clicking noises.

He's got the idea of the taking in air to remain buoyant, and now he's a swimmer i may just turn the aeration back on to see how he reacts to that.

One funny incident, that i caught on camera was yesterday when he was swimming about and climbing.

He seems to enjoy using his hands to climb up the aeration tubing and the thermometer probe and sit there in the corner sniffing out the crickets, or trying to catch a glimpse of them.

He got the idea one was in there and went swimming for it and forgot about the filter outlet. It look like he swam past the spray and got spooked by the flow of water, which resulted in some very unexpected behaviour. Watch the video to see, he definitely doesn't look heavy here.:

(I edited it this time too :) no need to wait 2 mins. )

YouTube - Fred the Axolotl properly swimming
 
I dont think the guppys can really hurt a large axie they'll just get eaten if they get to close I just had one that was abit boisterous he never touched gomez tho (he wouldnt dare!) it was the lucky guppy in the videos i think he just got abit bored and lonely by himself and was trying to get gomez to play with him (hes in with a bunch of girls now and loving it!),

Decided not to put all the gups in the main tank as they make alot of waste and will ruin my perfectly vacuumed sand! mountain minnows are pretty much perfect theyre very small (smaller than guppys) so cant harm your axie and as far as i can tell just dont seem to poop (alot less than guppys anywayz!)! they just hang around waiting to get eaten (i put 6 in 3days ago and have 4 left which is alot better survival rate than what ive had with my guppys, put 6 in had one left next day!)

I dont really know how fish rate in an axie diet and I only feed them occasionally or if he can catch them, (they cetainly liven up the tank when gomez is hiding in the shadows!) I just think it must be quiet good stimulation being able to hunt down and catch some moving prey every now and then. It might not be necessary though axies might just be content with the easy option of stumbling across abit of munch, not really sure bout it. I think with freds timid nature they may spook him a bit being in the same tank, you never know tho he might go nuts for them!
 
Some very distressing news.

I was questioning whether I'd write this on here in fear that I would be judged about my Axolotl keeping abilities but here goes anyway.

Got a call last night from the GF letting me know Fred's bum looked sore, sore enough for me to come home and take a look.

I returned home to find, from his right hand side his cloaca (i think that's the correct term) looking very red and swollen, and from his left a clear view at what looks like a Red sore bum hole with what looks like a bubble of pile (or I suppose a small prolapse).

We're talking about a bubble 2-3mm across, not anything the size I've seen while searching "axolotl prolapse) but it's worrying all the same.

His behaviour last night was overly active, and he seemed very cheery, but this morning he's looking sorry for himself, staying pretty still staring at me through the tank wall standing still.

My immediate assumption is that he's got a blockage. After the 8-10 pieces of gravel removed from the tank perhaps he's trying to now pass a large piece?

I can't help but feel I've done this to him though. I know it's probably not the case but I've given him a few Crickets this week and I'm worries that perhaps I've got the wrong sort and he can't digest them, or they were too big.

Needless to say today I'm a very sad and broken man with one thing on my mind. I've made the water as still as possible to keep him relaxed and turned off anything that could cause him stress. I hope that he passes the stone or whatever blockage he has and that the early signs of prolapse are just that, and he returns to normal.

Fingers crossed, It's a good job they're pretty good healers by nature.
 
9 months, 8-9 inches.

This is more than a swelling, it's asymmetric and there is clearly signs of trauma in the area, I'll try and get a photo.

Regarding crickets not being recommended, they are well recommended by lots of people here. Maybe not as a staple but lots of people feed their Axolotls Crickets.

I was not aware though that they couldn't digest the exoskeleton? Surely there's no way that a huge cricket skeleton would ever pass through the digestive tract of an Axolotl?
 
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Sorry if all that soundes rude but right now I have an issue, which I'm fairly sure is not down to Crickets, as I've read fairly thoroughly the posts here and been involved with lots of discussion and Crickets appear to be a favourite of many people's Axolotls.

What I need is for people who are familiar with Cloacal prolapses, or haemorrhoids to give me their input. That way I can get him back to health. What I don't need is theorising and guesswork.

I've been very transparent that I'm a new owner, and the issues that Fred has come with. The only way I'm going to get him to full health is to follow the guidance and advice set by those with experience of the individual problems he faces (and we face).

I'm capable of guessing what may or may not work, but I am no Caudate expert and so am guided by only real life experiences.

I obviously won't be feeding him anything larger than a bloodworm until the issue goes away. That goes without saying.


If I could turn back time I would, and would have maybe left him on his bloodworm diet for a little while longer, but I cannot. I just am worried and praying that whatever is wrong with him will sort itself.
 
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Hi Daz,

Sorry to hear your axie is feeling poorly. A photo of course would be very helpful. I have only read the last few posts so I apologize if I have missed some information...

You say his "bum" is swollen, is it also reddish? If it looks like a bubble, it could very well be a prolapse even if it doesn't look exactly like the pic. It could also be an impaction.

Crickets are not a recommended staple. Their exoskeletons are extremely difficult for axolotls to digest. Unfortunately, despite several people doing the same thing, this does not make it any safer or advisable. Crickets are fine to use as an occasional treat. Earthworms/nightcrawlers are much easier for them to digest as well as being very nutritious. Frozen bloodworms and sinking axolotl pellets are other suggestions to use on occasion.

Here is an article about food if you haven't read it already. FOOD

I would suggest possibly fridging your little friend for now until we can have a pic. Take care.
 
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Dragonlady, I feel very foolish, he's eaten about 3 of them so far, and it's too much of a coincidence for it not to have some impact.

I had read that guide, which is why I decided it was a good option as well as earthworms and bloodworms, to create a more varied diet.

As Tom has rightly posted the recommendation is "Good" with no mention about the exoskeletons.

What it does mention though which i can only assume i chose to ignore was the bit about "Not for most aquatic caudates". I should have taken more notice.

Perhaps a new Axolotl specific food faq would be useful for newbies?

I also am surprised that it could have gone through his system that quickly (2 days) as he seems to take longer than that to process bloodworms even and I swear there's still plenty of them in his belly to be excreted.

It's hard to get a photo as he isn't darting around much or swimming today (and I'm now at work), but from the photos I've seen it looks at the moment like a very early prolapse, not anywhere near as bad as everything hanging out, just a bubble of Cloacal developing.

I have my fingers crossed that he will pass whatever is causing the blockage and heal up. Right now though I feel sick to my stomach with worry.
 
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