Brainiac and Lex
New member
Hello everyone. I got an axolotl, Lex, just a week ago. He is around 6 months old, and for the most part he has been fairly happy. The little guy is very social and likes to stare at anyone in the room lol. I have a bunch of random questions, if you could answer any of them I would be grateful.
1. Feeding - it has been hard to gauge how much Lex should eat a day, for the first few days we fed him 2 live mealworms (about an inch long) a day. He seemed to be still hungry (but he always bites anything in the tank lol) so i tried 3 one day, which seemed like too much. For now we use pieces of frozen blood worms in vitamin enriched 'worm juice' (stabilized vitamin C), but I think we`ll just use this stuff in between buying live bloodworms, since the frozen stuff makes a mess. Should he even be eating them frozen? I unthaw them a little but too much and they just explode in the tank, so I try to keep them in between. I used pieces equivalent to maybe 1/2" cube or slightly less, not sure what size I should be doing, as that seemed to be a bit much for him.
2. Water quality - Now I know its not ideal but I have only tested pH with pool strips up to this point, (which is a bit high), as I have ordered a full drip test with nitrite nitrate chlorine and ammonia tests, as Iv`e heard the dip sticks are less accurate, not to mention stupid expensive. I keep water temp at 61ish degrees. Even still water was mostly clear up until I fed him the frozen blood worm stuff, which seemed to tint the water a little, not sure if its more from remaining worms (which I try to remove) or from the vitamin juice it comes in. If thats the case, would it really be a big problem, since its basically vitamin juice? Im still trying to change water once a week, and just after 3 days this time before we switch back to live food again. A big issue that makes me not change the water is that my tap water has high chlorine, and pH is already high. So, my strategy (maybe stupid?) is to put in Nutrafin aqua plus into the water I`m adding, let it sit, and then put in in the tank. I also add Nutrafin cycle. Not sure if I should add more than said on the bottle? Also should I remove Lex first? I did the first time, the second i diluted a small amount of both in new water just to test, it seemed not to bother him. (I also have a sponge filter - and 2 aeration things (filter included), which the movement he likes more than not). Suggestions? How often should I change the water (which I change about 30% of, perhaps a bit high.)
3. Behaviour - Lex seems to be super excited at times and lazy at others, often lazy in the morning (we relate that way haha), which I think is normal? When I feed this frozen food stuff, he seems a bit extra hyper, and even restless. When he sees me he sometimes shakes a little from side to side, which is super cute but I just hope that means hes happy and not something else? Also, how good of an indicator is a curled tail? Could he be stressed without a curved tail? He pretty much never curls it for long, hopefully a good sign.
4. Substrate and plants - currently I do not have any, Would sand or large flat stones be best? I have a couple large stones which I think he enjoys. My fam says he should have substrate but not sure if Lex even cares really, although he almost ate his poop off the bottom one time so Ive been watching that like a hawk and removing this stuff often. I also have this EZ vac which I`m not even sure works, its just a glorified manual siphon that you just shake supposedly... mostly though Ive just used a turkey baster. Ive also seen that live plants might help buffer ammonia? I also heard he would eat them though, any suggestions? I only have fake ones right now.
Any help is appreciated, thank you.
1. Feeding - it has been hard to gauge how much Lex should eat a day, for the first few days we fed him 2 live mealworms (about an inch long) a day. He seemed to be still hungry (but he always bites anything in the tank lol) so i tried 3 one day, which seemed like too much. For now we use pieces of frozen blood worms in vitamin enriched 'worm juice' (stabilized vitamin C), but I think we`ll just use this stuff in between buying live bloodworms, since the frozen stuff makes a mess. Should he even be eating them frozen? I unthaw them a little but too much and they just explode in the tank, so I try to keep them in between. I used pieces equivalent to maybe 1/2" cube or slightly less, not sure what size I should be doing, as that seemed to be a bit much for him.
2. Water quality - Now I know its not ideal but I have only tested pH with pool strips up to this point, (which is a bit high), as I have ordered a full drip test with nitrite nitrate chlorine and ammonia tests, as Iv`e heard the dip sticks are less accurate, not to mention stupid expensive. I keep water temp at 61ish degrees. Even still water was mostly clear up until I fed him the frozen blood worm stuff, which seemed to tint the water a little, not sure if its more from remaining worms (which I try to remove) or from the vitamin juice it comes in. If thats the case, would it really be a big problem, since its basically vitamin juice? Im still trying to change water once a week, and just after 3 days this time before we switch back to live food again. A big issue that makes me not change the water is that my tap water has high chlorine, and pH is already high. So, my strategy (maybe stupid?) is to put in Nutrafin aqua plus into the water I`m adding, let it sit, and then put in in the tank. I also add Nutrafin cycle. Not sure if I should add more than said on the bottle? Also should I remove Lex first? I did the first time, the second i diluted a small amount of both in new water just to test, it seemed not to bother him. (I also have a sponge filter - and 2 aeration things (filter included), which the movement he likes more than not). Suggestions? How often should I change the water (which I change about 30% of, perhaps a bit high.)
3. Behaviour - Lex seems to be super excited at times and lazy at others, often lazy in the morning (we relate that way haha), which I think is normal? When I feed this frozen food stuff, he seems a bit extra hyper, and even restless. When he sees me he sometimes shakes a little from side to side, which is super cute but I just hope that means hes happy and not something else? Also, how good of an indicator is a curled tail? Could he be stressed without a curved tail? He pretty much never curls it for long, hopefully a good sign.
4. Substrate and plants - currently I do not have any, Would sand or large flat stones be best? I have a couple large stones which I think he enjoys. My fam says he should have substrate but not sure if Lex even cares really, although he almost ate his poop off the bottom one time so Ive been watching that like a hawk and removing this stuff often. I also have this EZ vac which I`m not even sure works, its just a glorified manual siphon that you just shake supposedly... mostly though Ive just used a turkey baster. Ive also seen that live plants might help buffer ammonia? I also heard he would eat them though, any suggestions? I only have fake ones right now.
Any help is appreciated, thank you.
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