Putting gills into airstone bubbles?

[faebugz]

I upgraded Lavender to a 10g tank the other day (she's only 6 inches), and sized up her filter. I had to switch brands, and the new one, a HOB, was difficult to mod to baffle the flow compared to the last one. In the end, it reduced the surface turbulence TOO much, and today I stuck an airstone in to help aerate.

When I turned it on, Lavender was right beside it, so I thought this was unintentional, but she put her gills right in the bubble stream! I watched for a minute, and a couple times it appeared as though she was being blown up like a balloon until POP out comes this air bubble out of her neck??? Is this a normal exhaust route for air or was that weird?

Luckily she moved away from it, so I thought maybe she didn't do it intentionally. But then, I came back over to check on her, and she was sitting back there again. No air bubbles filling her up though this time, but clearly sticking her gills straight in the bubbles.

Is this a sign her water was severely lacking oxygen? I did hear her coming up for air every so often

 

[Murk]

I think it would be a sign of curiosity over anything to do with oxygen, honestly. The bubbles rise very fast - way too fast for them to make any difference in direct gill aeration.

They do move, though, and movement=food. They also feel interesting, so sticking your head in it makes sense as well.

I know that whenever I move my air stone, the axolotls harass the bubbles the whole day. Then, after a day, the novelty wears off and they ignore it again.

 

[faebugz]

I think it would be a sign of curiosity over anything to do with oxygen, honestly. The bubbles rise very fast - way too fast for them to make any difference in direct gill aeration.

They do move, though, and movement=food. They also feel interesting, so sticking your head in it makes sense as well.

I know that whenever I move my air stone, the axolotls harass the bubbles the whole day. Then, after a day, the novelty wears off and they ignore it again.

Okay that's good to know, thank you. Have you ever seen anything like the air coming out their neck though? That seemed extra strange to me

 

[Murk]

That does sound peculiar. Do you mean from below the gills?
Not sure if you know, but the part below the gills, between the gills and the jaw, is actually completely open. It's a "back door" to their mouth, so to say. There are plenty of clips on youtube of axolotls eating worms, with the worm actually crawling out of the mouth at the back, below the gills.

If you say a bubble "coming out of the neck", I would assume some air from the bubbles got stuck in the opening there, until it was big enough to plop out.
For all of it goes that I wouldn't worry unless it happens a lot. If the axolotl spends the next few days with his head in the bubbler, something weird is going on - if not, he was just curious, and that's only good.