AxolRose
New member
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2007
- Messages
- 36
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- Location
- Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
- Country
- United States
- Display Name
- Scott
Hi all,
Just got two new Axolotls in from WardSci and after reading many posts on this forum, I have decided to post my current setup, etc and see what the community here thinks can be improved, or what is a possible danger to my new Axies.
Axies: Two Albinos, one is golden in color the other pink, both approximately 3 inches/ 7.6 cm a piece. (Unnamed yet. We are working on that =) )
Tank: Currently 10 Gallon with black background, aquarium light and a mixture of larger river stones and polished pebbles. (Too big for the little guys now, although both size of tank as well as size of rocks will be changing as they grow). Water level is 85% full, although we can't figure out why some setups have lower than others. Do Axolotls eventually like to be on land as well as in the water?
Cycling/ Levels: Started the tank unfortunately at the same time as I got my Axolotls. I used a little Prime de-chlorinator in the tank as well as a little bacterial agent to get the bacteria started. Currently everything sits normally (ph 7.8, Nitrate 0 ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm, Ammonia 0 ppm) tank is 24 hours old). I understand as the little guys start to pollute the tank, it will create ammonia. I am going to monitor it daily and have a backup tank with dechlorinated water in it for them in case it harms them. I plan on using Prime to control the ammonia levels while the bacteria develops.
Filtration: Under gravel intake with an AquaTech 10-20 Power Filter (hangs on back of tank.) I attached a piece of plastic at the outlet to diffuse the output as much as possible, as well as a plastic plant at each end of the plastic tube to help keep the current to a minimum
Decorations: Large multi holed "fake coral" looking thing (actually looks more like volcanic rock) as well as a little hollow tree stump for them to hide in. 2 Large plastic fern plants as well as some other plastic plant coverage on the tree stump decoration. I bought some dried seeds for real plants, (of course I through the bags away without reading the plant species). They are in the tank, not really concerned if they grow or not, although I understand it helps with the nitrate levels.
Diet: Currently using dried brine shrimp "cubes", although they're not all that great. It floats and makes a mess way too easily. I hand fed them on the first day, and today I just let the brine shrimp float in the tank for an hour. They seemed to find it on accident, and proceeded to eat anything in their way. (including the golden Axie's leg, it seems , more on this later). I am going to order the salmon pellets as suggested elsewhere this week, and just deal with the shrimp for now. (thought about making some kind of mixture of the shrimp and a hardening (gelatin?) agent and making brine shrimp pellets, although I barely manage cooking decently for myself, no reason for them to suffer my cooking wrath.
(Speaking of which, at their size, whats a good time span for feeding? Results seem to vary in forums, with size being the relative factor. Can I accidentally over feed them?)
2sCompany-isms.. so yeah. they seem to get along fine, routinely hanging out either next to each other or otherwise, and never notice them fighting or one running from the other. But the gold Axie lost a leg as what I can only guess was a feeding time accident. It doesn't look bad, (although it's kind of sad) and I know it will grow back, just wondering if I should separate them for a short time or put the gold Axie in a covered bucket with some tank water.)
Um thats about all I can muster (verbose much?) for info at the moment. Any input is greatly appreciated!!
Just got two new Axolotls in from WardSci and after reading many posts on this forum, I have decided to post my current setup, etc and see what the community here thinks can be improved, or what is a possible danger to my new Axies.
Axies: Two Albinos, one is golden in color the other pink, both approximately 3 inches/ 7.6 cm a piece. (Unnamed yet. We are working on that =) )
Tank: Currently 10 Gallon with black background, aquarium light and a mixture of larger river stones and polished pebbles. (Too big for the little guys now, although both size of tank as well as size of rocks will be changing as they grow). Water level is 85% full, although we can't figure out why some setups have lower than others. Do Axolotls eventually like to be on land as well as in the water?
Cycling/ Levels: Started the tank unfortunately at the same time as I got my Axolotls. I used a little Prime de-chlorinator in the tank as well as a little bacterial agent to get the bacteria started. Currently everything sits normally (ph 7.8, Nitrate 0 ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm, Ammonia 0 ppm) tank is 24 hours old). I understand as the little guys start to pollute the tank, it will create ammonia. I am going to monitor it daily and have a backup tank with dechlorinated water in it for them in case it harms them. I plan on using Prime to control the ammonia levels while the bacteria develops.
Filtration: Under gravel intake with an AquaTech 10-20 Power Filter (hangs on back of tank.) I attached a piece of plastic at the outlet to diffuse the output as much as possible, as well as a plastic plant at each end of the plastic tube to help keep the current to a minimum
Decorations: Large multi holed "fake coral" looking thing (actually looks more like volcanic rock) as well as a little hollow tree stump for them to hide in. 2 Large plastic fern plants as well as some other plastic plant coverage on the tree stump decoration. I bought some dried seeds for real plants, (of course I through the bags away without reading the plant species). They are in the tank, not really concerned if they grow or not, although I understand it helps with the nitrate levels.
Diet: Currently using dried brine shrimp "cubes", although they're not all that great. It floats and makes a mess way too easily. I hand fed them on the first day, and today I just let the brine shrimp float in the tank for an hour. They seemed to find it on accident, and proceeded to eat anything in their way. (including the golden Axie's leg, it seems , more on this later). I am going to order the salmon pellets as suggested elsewhere this week, and just deal with the shrimp for now. (thought about making some kind of mixture of the shrimp and a hardening (gelatin?) agent and making brine shrimp pellets, although I barely manage cooking decently for myself, no reason for them to suffer my cooking wrath.
(Speaking of which, at their size, whats a good time span for feeding? Results seem to vary in forums, with size being the relative factor. Can I accidentally over feed them?)
2sCompany-isms.. so yeah. they seem to get along fine, routinely hanging out either next to each other or otherwise, and never notice them fighting or one running from the other. But the gold Axie lost a leg as what I can only guess was a feeding time accident. It doesn't look bad, (although it's kind of sad) and I know it will grow back, just wondering if I should separate them for a short time or put the gold Axie in a covered bucket with some tank water.)
Um thats about all I can muster (verbose much?) for info at the moment. Any input is greatly appreciated!!
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