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

just a brief update,

I've been had at work on the new tank, trying to get it clean(er) without ruining the cycle, and without killing the fish.

It's been difficult removing the gravel in situ, as it was so deep so much **** under it, that ammonia was rocketing as i disturbed it, however by testing and using dilution I've managed too keep it all within acceptable levels, and I think I'm getting there.

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ok quick question (in case anyone is still reading this thread?)...

I've got the new tank empty (yay) but the fish in there are filthy buggers.

My original plan was to get the tank fully setup with the fish, then remove them and insert Fred, but I really don't wanna lay down all that clean expensive sand for the fish to foul it all up.

Now I've removed 99.9% of the gravel (still working the .1% out of the corners) could I remove the fish, then lay the fresh sand and still have a cycled tank from the bacteria on the walls and filter, and logs etc?

Could I leave the empty tank like that without / with sand for a week or two and the bacteria still survive until Fred makes his leap?

Thanks
 
No I havent got the sand yet. I'm still unsure, the black does look soooo nice, and once it's in there's no turning back.

I do like regular sand, and the white caribsea looks nice too (which I thhink you said you had?)

The reason I don't really want fred to go straight in is I wouldn't mind getting the backing cut and fixed, and then the sand laid without there being anything swiming about in there getting stressed out.

Of course the fish are warm water and so there would be a period where it would have to be empty anyway. there are 3 large logs, and i suppose I could put the backing in, with the fish in there, which would allow alot of surface area for bacteria. Then just run with clean sand just before Fred goes in, which would soon become colonised anyway....

I just don't want them crapping everywhere in the new setup. Freds getting angry having to look in there as it is :)
 
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I think you're right tom, I've overlooked how much water i have and how little ammonia sources, I'm just going to get rid of the fish and start setting the tank up.

You were so close to convincing me that black wasn't a good idea, then i read in another thread that you actually wanted black but accidentally ordered white :D

Based on all the factors, and that i want a dark tank, I think black is the way to go, If i don't like it I can always spend 4 weeks siphoning it up.

Tomorrow I'm gonna cut the backing, bore some small holes and silicone the suction pads to the backing, them hopefully if my measurements are correct just slot them into the tank. The sand will be here on wednesday / thursday and then that'll go in too.

I'll need a slat tile and a few new ornaments, plus to move the two tanks around and so Fred should be in by the weekend :)
 
well with all the planning in the world, I'm still gonna have to totally empty the tank.

Just sticking the suckers to the backing didn't work, they came lose. The water pressure and boyancy of the backing just was too much so I'm gonna have to silicone the backing in after all.

I've filled up a large builders bucket with the tank water and have the rocks and logs and the filter all in there, havesting the bacteria. I've just got to totally empy the tank now, dry and clean the back panel and the floor and then I can silicone the backind directly to the back.

The good thing Is I can now hide the aireline tubes behind the backing and also silicone them to the floor to they are fixed nicely in place. He's gonna have a long air wall to the right, a shorter to the left with a disc right outside the front door of his log, so when he fancies a swim he doesn't even need to bother swimming to the surface, he can catch a lift on the air.

I've found that now he's a little lighter, the aeration is the one thing that Fred really loves, he plays in it or just Basques in it for probably 80% of the time it's on. I wonder if he likes the cooling effect of the bubbles.

Anyway the big changeover has begun (the fish are now with a friend) so expect rapid progress over the next week or two.

Exciting times.
 
dazkeirle said:
The good thing Is I can now hide the aireline tubes behind the backing and also silicone them to the floor to they are fixed nicely in place. He's gonna have a long air wall to the right, a shorter to the left with a disc right outside the front door of his log, so when he fancies a swim he doesn't even need to bother swimming to the surface, he can catch a lift on the air.

Exciting times.
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With reflection I think this is a bad idea, should an airline become damaged or unusable or i just want to change the setup I'd have to rip the backing out. Not cool at £15 a sheet.

I think I'll just tidily run the airlines under the sand, suckered to the floor with them neatly running up the side.

Re: the aeration, I wonder if it's the same effect for them as us sitting in front of a fan?
 
No advice from me :confused::happy:... Just cant wait to see it finished, want to see pictures as soon as fred goes in :D... And i want your tank :(:p:p....
 
haha, no problem, I can't wait till Fred gets in it either.

He's a bit emotional at the moment. First he had some buddy fish in a massive tank, took him a while to get over that tank not being his but he got there.

Then they left and it was drained, he's been pining over the pufferfish ever since who he really did used to spend all day waving to.

Now he's upset that I've removed his aeration (while I'm deciding how to set it up in the new tank. And so to sulk he no longer is using his log and insists on sleeping, and spending all day under the moss ball.)

I think he feels he's being punished, little does he know that it's all for him and the big work starts tonight. I have sand in stock, backing, silicone etc.

Plan tonight is:


  • Empty remaining water to builders bucket,
  • put filter and ornaments in there to maintain bacteria.
  • drain tank entirely
  • give the back a really good clean and dry (for silicone) and also go over any build ups of algea or general filth i can see (not gonna scrub it clean though.
  • Lay out and secure using suckers the airlines to the surface
  • silicone backing to back
  • while waiting for that to set I'll get on with cleaning out sand and maybe even adding it to the tank (depends if it gets the silicone wet really).
I'm gonna use my internal filter until I've decided what I'm shooting for in ways of external, considering how I may get a cooler and run that in line as well. Contemplating having the cooler in the attic and running the tubes down through the ceiling.

While I was preparing to raise some eggs for the other tank, I just am not at the right knowledge of raising them yet to be confident to do so and so am gonna give it amiss for now. I just don't think I know enough about eggs and would rather not try at all than pet any through a less than stella upbringing.... so......


I'm looking for Melanoid, Wild and Golden Axolotl Juveniles in the South West of England. If anybody knows anybody with some nice ones (preferably breeder and not shop) I'm there. Otherwise I could wait for stock at exotic-pets but just don't know how good quality theirs will be.
 
Made some really decent progress on the large dirty tank last night, it's now looking really quite good.

As a reminder here's how it looked the beginning of the week, skanky, full of algae and poop and generally poorly maintained.

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I continued to empty out the remainder of the gravel, there was about 50lb all told.

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I removed all the rocks and the filter placed them in a big builder bucket with the tank water to try and maintain some bacteria:

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I then got to work with cleaning, I didn't use any fresh water, just tank water, but that had been cycled a few times due to refills so was actually pretty clean. Once cleaned I dried the back:

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I got to work with the backing, first I measured the tank, then the backing and then cut it to fit.

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A small line of silicone on all sides and some heavy weight on top to help the bond and a few hours later the backing is in, and looking great I think.

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Now tonight I have the sand to wash and then we're almost there :)
 
OK last night's update.

I had bought some nice airline suckers and so now seemed a good time to position and secure the aeration.

My plan was to have a back wall of bubble (not in the middle due to freds log-house or behind the filter though) and so a short air wall was used for the filter side and a longer for the other.

These were secured to the surface with a sucker at the airstone end and one in the corner to keep the cables down.

I also added the air disk to the front middle, this is going to be basically Fred's lift and will sit just outside his frontdoor. The idea being when he want a swim he walks out and off he goes. He really loves this disc and loves to bath in the bubbles, especially his gills so i hope he likes the new position.

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Both air walls are on the same air pump outlet and both can be controlled via variable valve to ensure the output looks the same.

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With the bubbles in place I washed the sand in a bucket and added to the tank. I used about 30 lb of CaribSea Tahitian Moon sand, it's giving a good 1" to 1" 1/2 coverage but I imagine that will go down when the water is added. It leaves me with half a bag for spare, or to replace that lost in cleaning over time (or even to kit out the small tank).

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Right now it look pretty dark in there, which is what I want. The white of Fred's body and the green of the plants are gonna pop.

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Tonight I'll be filling with water (as silicone is now set) and will install the internal filter pump once any dust has settled. This is only temporary as i will be getting an external filter, but right now it's full of lovely back so should get the cycle started.

Fred is waiting patiently with excitement, staring into the tank.

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Hey Daz

Just a quick one.
Exotic pets axolotls are good quality, they keep them well, Toms wild Leeroy was from there.
If they have any imperfections they will be stated on there before you order.


Mel
 
Well the time has come and gone, Fred is now in his new tank!

Don't worry, in true Fred's diary fashion I caught it all on camera for you. Here's a Youtube video of the event (unedited - lights go on once he's in):


Everything went without a hitch, he adapted straight away to the new tank, and is more than happy his old hide is there, only now it's extended with more coverage a a cool new driftwood log to play on.

There's even a bubble launchpad right outside for him to use to get air for his night time swims. The back wall has bubbles all the way along it, but they are turned right down and didn't show in the pics.

The only thing I'll say is that internal filter is taking up a fair whack of the tank so am looking forward to getting an external replacement to reclaim that space.

So... here's a few pics of hour and day 1 in the tank.

The tank
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Fred 's first visit to his new home

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Fred Playing

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Fred's New lookout post

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Well after great thought I've decided that I am now in search of a Adolescent golden Axolotl to eventually join Fred in his Tank.

The Juvenile I'm looking for should be mature enough to be sexed (so 6 inch and larger i suppose) and needs to be a female so that when at 10 inches she can join Fred for some sweet sweet love making.

I Also need to see pics of said axolotl before purchase and will be happy to collect (this will be the issue).

So, I think I have my work cut out finding a adolescent female golden axolotl, but you never know :)

If I can't then I may just take a gamble on a juvie golden and hope it turns out to be female.
 
You have a pretty big tank. Have you ever thought about purring a few "feeder fish" in? If you are concerned about them munching on fred's gills white cloud minnows wouldn't pose much of a threat.

Even if Fred wasn't interested in eating them, they would give the tank a little more life. I would just like your thoughts, because I am planning to have a few White clouds and Danios with my Axies.
 
Gaius317 said:
You have a pretty big tank. Have you ever thought about purring a few "feeder fish" in? If you are concerned about them munching on fred's gills white cloud minnows wouldn't pose much of a threat.

Even if Fred wasn't interested in eating them, they would give the tank a little more life. I would just like your thoughts, because I am planning to have a few White clouds and Danios with my Axies.
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Hey, thanks for the suggestion. I googled the fish you mentioned and came across this wicked pic of zebra Danios. They apparently are GM to glow different colours so wouldn't be able to get them but it is nice to see lots of nice colours together which I'm sure you could probably get from natural feeder species..

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They look really nice together, and would really add something to the tank.

What makes you so sure they wont much on my axies gills?

Will they not stress my axie out swimming about?

Edit: just found this article: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/pretty-in-pink-but-dont-splash-out-on-glofish-1774630.html, certainly don't think I'll be messing with illegal fish, still interesting to know such a thing exists.

Edit 2: After reading about the way these fish were created, and what effect they would have on the envirnment if they got out, I have to state that i certainly am not in favour of owner these things. I'm sure there are more ethical alternatives (I do like the colours though).
 
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Wow I didn't know they Gm zebra Danios. I saw some other colorful fish at my local pets store, but not danios.

I had about 4 fish with my axies before I placed them in my bigger tank to push along the cycling process (The fish not the axies). There was a posting somewhere on these forums which stated which fish could live peacefully with axolotls. It was Guppies, Danios and White cloud Minnows. There are probably more, but I don't know of any others.

Anyway, when the fish lived with my axies they stayed at the top of the tank, which is obviously not the axies normal swimming area. They are small, especially, the minnows, so are more inclined to stay away from the thing in the tank which could eat them.

I never observed the fish attacking the axies, nor the axies attacking the fish. I have seen other people use Giant Danios because they are larger and less likely to be eaten.

There are lots of different Danios you can use with different sizes and colors. They are also pretty cheap. You don't want to spend too much on fish they may be eaten.
 
What is the black sand you are using and where did you get it from? It looks amazing!
 
mkw said:
What is the black sand you are using and where did you get it from? It looks amazing!
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Hi, it's called Caribsea Super Natural Tahitian Moon Black Sand (20lb).

Google that and you will find what you need. It's great stuff and a lot cleaner than standard sand. Slightly larger particles but much less dust.

It's also a lot easier to see waste, or anything on the surface for cleaning.
 
I was hoping that was the stuff, i'm just looking into ordering some for my tank. I've heard its the blackest looking black sand about. Most "black" sand looks grey apparently.

I'll have to place my order tonight then!
 
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