Tank & Filter Question

[jon]

Hello. I'm new to this place, and the world of Axolotls, and have a couple of question's i was wanting some help with. Firstly, i only own a small tank, about 45cm/30cm/50cm, and was wandering if it would be a good size to house just one Axy? It's a plastic tank that i got from my sister, the style with a light under the plastic top cover and the tank being higher than it is long. Know what i mean? It has a undergravel filter with it,though i was wandering if it would be better to put sand in rather than the gravel. Would the sand hold the filter in place as well as the gravel? My sister used to use the tank to keep Neon's in, so im just a little unsure if it would be good for just one smaller sized Axy, bout 10cm in size.


Sorry for all the question's, i just have this tank and am wanting to house it with a lovely Axolotl instead of some boring old Neon's.

Jon

 

[jinny]

The tank would be okay for an axie, but you would probably want to look into getting a bigger one as it will outgrow it (bigger tanks are easier to maintain anyway).

Sand can't be used with an UGF; it will clog. That's why it's a under<u>gravel</u> filter. You would definitely want to look into a different form of filtration (sponge is probably easiest, without strong currents that axies dislike) since you won't want your axolotl to eat gravel. If you haven't checked out www.axolotl.org yet, do so.

Definitely look into cycling the tank before you get the axie. Get a test kit for ammonia, nitrItes, nitrAtes, and ph (we have a master freshwater test kit in the US, don't know if you guys do, too). There are a number of bacteria starter products out there to make the wait shorter. Eco-complete Sand (there's also gravel) comes with that if you can get a hold of it, but I think the minimum size is about 9 kgs, maybe too much for that tank? You might want to get some cheap fish to help you cycle, but I've heard that a dead fish can work just as well. Once your tank shows 0 ammonia, 0 nitrItes, and some nitrAtes, it's ready for an axie.

Since it's the hot season for you guys, be sure you can cool the water.

To maintain the water quality, and kept your axie safe, get a complete water conditioner that gets rid of heavy metals in addition to the usual chlorine, chloramine, etc. You should change 10% of the tank water once a week or more frequently.

 

[jon]

Thank's for all the info. I will give it a go, and post some pic's when i'm done.

All the best!

Jon