Sand and Feeding

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firebugjen

Guest
Hey, i am new to this wonderful and most helpful forum/site, i came across it unexpectantly. Thank you all so far for the advice that is on here.

I have recently just got a new friend, he's is yellowish with orangy gills, i called him Sunshine, well Sunny for short, he very fascinating! Before I got him, I set up my tank with a little platy to maintain the water until Sunny came, I called him Ded, all because I knew he was gonna be dead when Sunny comes in, however he did last for a couple of days.

But here we go..stupid question time...
Sand? where can i get sand from?, I have gravel at the moment and that is what my pet store dude said to me, i got the normal river gravel and got the larger coloured gravel (about 1cm) is this even worse for my new friend? Would sand make the water very cloudy, especially if he moves around a lot? I have hiding places for him.

At the moment I just feed him, cubes of beef heart? I have read a couple of times that it should be cut into strip like worms, is this correct?

Also most importantly, I am very keen to train him to eat the food out of my hand and to come to the surface, I’ve heard i can train him to come to the top of the water to get it, is this true? at the moment i am feeding him with chopstix and just giving it to him cos he doesn't seem to be interested in looking for the food.
 
Congratulations on your new little friend
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I got my sand from a garden/aquarium centre.

It's called 'Silver Sand' and is treated especially for use in aquariums. Comes in all different colours.

When you first get it you will have to wash it a few times, just to remove any dust etc.

After putting it in my tank it took about 8 days for it to settle and clear.
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I then added my axies to the tank - when they swim around sometimes it does unsettle the sand but it just floats right back down, does not leave the water cloudy at all.
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Gravel isn't great as when the axies feed they tend to swallow it which leads to digestion probs and constipation.

Sand is also a lot easier than gravel to clean, as the poo etc just sits on top of it so you can see it clearly. I use a turkey baster to suck up any poo/uneaten food and it works great.
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Not so sure about the training, I'm sure it can be done, but I've never tried. Elsa is quite scary when she eats - I'd be too concerned for my fingers....lol
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From what I can gather on this forum beef heart is to be given as a treat only, not as a staple diet. There's a thread floating around which contains what people feed their axies. Mine eat mainly bloodworm, daphnia, brine shrimp and cilihda chow (spl?!). I do give them beef heart and crickets as very occasional treats though.

Hope that helps
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to train your axie to hand feed just put a worm infront of his/her face.once they smell it they will move towards it.pull the worm further up towards the surface of the water allowing the axie to follow. every feeding time you should wiggle the worm further and further from him so he/she knows to come to the surface for it. hope this helps.it might take a while.good luck
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Welcome to the forum firebugjen ^_^ if you can get earthworms, these are best for Axolotls as they are a very good stable diet. Treats though should be given occasionally, and a variety of other healthy foods should be offered. Avoid Tubifex worms as they can lead to liver problems and other complications later and also tend to be a bit high on the fat chart. Sand is very easy to wash. Wash it several times in small amounts in either a beach towel or a cloth bag if you can get it. When I washed my sand, I used a cloth asian rice bag. Worked great for me. Hand feeding encourages your axies to not want to hunt on their own, and eventually they get sort of dependent on you hand feeding them. I suggest doing it sparingly and letting them hunt on their own as well. They make great little pets. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask! ^_^
 
Thanks guys, gee what a great response, i gues living all around the world gets ppl to reply when im sleeping, haha. But yeah thanks again, i mite more to earth worms now, i guess i just get them from a pet store?

Just one question, i feel im asking too much here but, my axie has just start going up to the surface and gulping air is this a bad thing? he also tends to float a bit, like his butt's up in the air, this isnt caused by the gravel is it?
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This is sunny? whaddya reckon, i have only had him for bout nearly 2 weeks!

Thanks
 
All axolotl gulp air. Besides those attractive gills on their funny heads they have enternal lungs so they breath both from the water and from the surface. Your gravel looks a bit small, red though really looks great with your axie I must say! try and provide a feeding dish for your Axolotl if you can so he won't eat the gravel, though this isn't a garantee though that he still wont manage to eat some gravel. I think floating is normal for most Axies, my white one does headstands from time to time and props part of his body up in the air from time to time also. My black one likes to sleep at the surface. It could also be your axie just might have a bit of gass, which usually passes I believe, but it should just be that he likes to float on his own rather than a problem. You can get earthworms from a bate shop, fishing shop. Don't know if petstores there sell them there. Axolotls also really like blood worms and brine shrimp. you can feed crickets as occasional treats. I try to feed my Axies crickets once a week, but they love their earthworms. Avoid feeder fish, they carry parasites unless you breed them your self then they will be safe. Hope to see more pictures of yoru new little friend, he's really cute ^_~ make sure when you get the earthworms from the shop that you don't get somethign labeled bloodworms and look sort of like earthworms but have spikes on them. These will hurt your Axies as these worms pack a terrible bite and those spikes wouldn't feel too great on the stomach for axies. Hope this helps. I think any question is a good question on this forum. You're going to make a really great axie parent
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Hi Firebug, your axie could be floating because he's gulping all that air at the surface. Although axies do gulp air, they shouldn't be doing it too often and certainly not frequent times a day.

If he is floating and can't touch the ground and stays like that for a long time, you can put him into a container of shallow water overnight and he should be better the next day.

Do you have test kits? Have you checked your water parameters - test for pH, ammonia, nitrite.

I have sand in my tank, it's really hard to find special aquarium sand in Perth - I have absolutely no idea why! I ended up using 20kg of play sand, washed countless number of times and baked in the oven and washed out again. It's a bit of a pain to do but its' worth it.
 
Thanks for your help rheann n anne-marie, I went looking for sand today at pet shops, they still say (even the petstores that i didnt get my axie from) that the gravel is good enough, i was like 'yeah i know it mite be good enough cos u sell them freqently but ppl that i have talked to say silver sand is better' n the chic goes 'have you gone on the net to have a look at what forum etc say?', i said thats were im getting my info from, duh! She thought i was stupid! Thanks again guys.
But what about crushed marbel? they were selling that, hmm, it seemed pretty small. but not as fine as sand?
Rheann, when you said the gravel look small, is that good enough or will it still be trouble for Sunny?

Does sunny look abit skinny, everyone else's seem a bit beefier, haha? is he?

thankyou
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The bigger the gravel the better. Small gravel can lead to problems. If the Axolotl can't fit the gravel in his mouth, then you are good to go. I have no idea about crushed marble. I would just go with Play sand if you can as it is a very nice substrate. It usually comes pre-washed and pre-screened so it normally doesn't need to be baked, or you can go with bigger gravel. I would try and get another substrate if you can, or use a feeding dish to avoid Sunny eating the small gravel. He is a bit skinny looking. If you can get earthworms, those will fatten him up really nicely.
 
Looks like you have a platy in there, better watch out or Sunny will make a snack out of it
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I must agree though, he looks great against red gravel. Maybe try to find some red sand? They sell garnet sand here at the pet shops but I've no idea how red it looks under water.
 
He does look a little skinny, but thats not your fault as you've only just brought him.

I wouldn't recommend crushed marble - I saw some the other day, it just looks too spikey. If the axie swallowed some I think it could do real damage to his insides - sand is definitely best
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hello firebugjen, which petstore in cairns did you buy your axie from and if you need to know where to get some great pellets i can also tell you were i got mine, i have only found 2 pet stores in cairns that really know anything about axies.
 
hey denise, i got mine from ken's aquarium in edmonton near iga there, when i first talked to him about axies n looking after them he seemed to know what he was talking about, but he only told me to feed him beef heart or even barra pellets. And he said any gravel will do, however coming on here, its a whole different story so yeah i dunno bout him anymore, but he was good about helping me setup my tank, how big is you tank setup? what pellets are u talking about? and where are the pet stores that know there stuff? definatley not the smithfield pet superstore,

Since your in cains also, do you know where i can find some of this aquarium sand and earth worms?

this could be really good, to help eachother out being both in cairns, where did u get your axie from? and how long have you had it for?

cheers
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hello firebugjen
i got my axie from ultermite aquariums but he knows nothing about axies, he told me to put her in my goldfish tank, well she nearly died, i got her in january and she is in a 2ft tank, i have small pebbles on the bottom but i got some river bed stones in black at the ware house to put over the top. i also have a blue glazed pot for her to hide in and i keep my tank as dark as possible.i get my pellets from the smithfield pet shop cause they have a large selection but they can be expensive. i did enquire about sand with them not long ago and they said that they could get aquarium sand and what colour did i want. i know a guy in cairns that breeds all kinds of worms so i will see if i can get his contact details to get some worms, he lives in manunda and since im in clifton beach i never really have time but ill see what i can do for you.
 
hello denise, where is ultermite aquariums? i have never heard of them before? do you just feed her pellets? i like the joy of hand feeding them or with chopstix. I bought a little hiding place for him, a umm, whats it called, a wooden thing that beer goes in, a keg thingy, uno, but yeah i paid more for that than my axie haha, well i would like that sand but there was an old guy and a b*tch lady trying to tell me that i dont know what im talking about pretty much, but ill go back there soon, actualy which one did u go to, the campus one in the same carpark as smithfield centre or the one across the hiway? cos i went to the high way one. I would really appreciate it if u could let me know, maybe i can get them of u, the worms, no chemicals prefereabbly, so thats cool, im on my way to getting worms, cool! Well i live out at mt,sheridan so on the opposite end of town, but i cruz to uni nearly everyday, maybe i should move closer to town, maybe next yr! well have a good day, hope tohear from u soon! if u want to email me, jenjennajen@hotmail.com
 
Hey guys, i bought that crushed marble stuff the other day, i havent put it in the tank yet (havent had time to give it a clean) and its crushed up really really fine, the pet shop i bought it from had it in one of there fish tanks and it looks the exact same as sand, i dont think it would do any damage if you hand feed you axies though
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Marble will also raise your carbonate hardness, but this isn't usually a problem for axolotls.
 
just wondering how much axolotls should be eating a day....a just put feeder fish and guppies in the tank and they can eat whenever they want...is that alright or would they be overeating?
 
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