What's going on? Why is he taking air from the surface?

[rheann]

Hey guys, i am wondering why my axie every once in a great while will go to the surface for a gulp of air. I just noticed that most of the air he just releases with his mouth as he goes back down. He seems pretty happy, he isn't hiding, he ate from my hand, and he likes exploring his new habitat. is he morphing? is he not getting enough air? I put a small airstone in the tank after a while because i thought he wasn't getting enough air, but i haven't really noticed his reaction to it. his tail isn't curled, his gills don't look too upturned. is he ok? Thanks guys

 

[anne-marie]

They do that every now and then. Don't panic.

 

[rheann]

Phew, thanks so much anne! I was worried. I think he is sleeping right now. Kinda funny they don't have eyelids, but being as they are aquatic they don't need them. I wonder how they sleep. I know dolphins sleep. I look forward to feeding him tomorrow

 

[natalie]

Heehee! Mine's been doing that too lately. And he's even gotten right into going on top of the filter and letting the bubbles rub his belly. Funny little guy!

 

[rheann]

Its so funny to watch my Axolotl! He goes up to the surface, takes a bit of air, spits most of it out, and then just sort of sinks back down to the bottom and lands in the sand. sometimes its at an angle to he looks like an air plane coming in for a landing. its so cute and just so funny

Sometimes he just stands on the sand with 3 legs down and one back leg sticking almost straight up. I don't think he knows how cute he is, I think all he thinks about is food

 

[halszka]

Mine does that too. I have a few plants there with him and often he ends up resting on top of the plants, or with his head on the plants and his tail on the bottom and his legs in "mid-air" so to speak.

I also noticed he sometimes floats at the surface of the water... is that normal too?

 

[anne-marie]

It's normal so long as he can back to the ground again easily. Also, I am also in Perth and I was wondering where you got your axie from?? (3 of my my axies also have Mexican names)

 

[halszka]

He floats down just fine *phew*

I got my axie from High Road To Pets, in Willetton, and named him after an Aztec god, meant to be ironic since Tezcatlipoca is the god of Night and his colour is black.

I was just in there today looking for pellets or earthworms (but no luck) and I saw they had a new batch of little ones, some with legs missing, poor things!

It makes me wonder how old mine is, since when I bought him he was already pretty big with big fluffy gills. The new batch have pretty small gills. I remember reading that if you raise them in warmer water (less oxygen) they develop bigger gills, is that right?

 

[anne-marie]

Halszka, I think you got one of my axy babies there! If so, he is around seven months old, and loves fresh beef heart and fresh beef liver?? Black worms also go down a treat. I notice in that shop that there are really miserable skinny looking ones - they are NOT mine! They come from a wholesaler. Yay - I tracked one down!!

 

[halszka]

That's awesome! I don't know about fresh beef or liver.. I've only been feeding him frozen beef heart, but I'll give the fresh stuff a go And earthworms if I can find where to get them from. Any ideas?

I also want to get him a nice looking wild type friend but I need to buy a bigger tank first. Can't wait!

 

[natalie]

Yay! Its so nice to see so many of us Perth people on here!

Halszka, get earthworms from Bunnings, they come in a big yellow box and cost about $20.

My little guys eats them like they are spaghetti. heehee!

 

[anne-marie]

Halszka, Veba's aquariums in Zeta Cres, O'Connor are about the cheapest place around for tanks. Sometimes they have second hand tanks too.

Pet Magic in Cannington are a good place to get axies as well - of course, they could well be siblings to Tezcatlipoca. Out of interest my mexi-names are Quetzal, Tonantzin and Nahuatl.

 

[halszka]

I wasn't sure about getting one of those boxes at first, Natalie, but since they come so highly recommended

I plan to get one tomorrow.. pay day, w00t!

Also, I think I'll be making a trip to O'Connor some time real soon *grin* as it sounds like they have all the goodies I'm after!

Last time I checked at Pet Magic they didn't have any but said they would have a delivery later that week (maybe yours? lol), I couldn't wait and went to another one - the High Road petshop, and found Tezca there. They had live food for axies (shrimp of some kind) but after reading on this forum about buying live stuff from petshops I thought 'mmmm maybe not!'.

First things first though, I need a bigger tank before I go looking for another axolotl

 

[halszka]

I bought one of those worm farms today and Tezca gobbled up those earthworms like they were candy

it was very funny to watch! Also checked out some tanks at the High Road to Pets store, nice one for $40, big enough for two or even three axies but I plan to look around for a second hand one, maybe a longer one for the same price. Fingers crossed!

 

[grant]

My axie will not eat any kind of frozen food. My axies only eat live food that I get from a local petstore (mostly just worms). But I've also been breeding guppies that are an occasional treat (not recommended on this forum).

 

[anne-marie]

Yep, I breed em to be greedy little beggars!

And heres a photo of two of your axies siblings, Halszka. This is Maya, and Nahuatl. (Tail by Gleek)

 

[halszka]

I absolutely love that little bridge one of them is hiding under! Haha! I want one!

I also finally bought a larger tank, and (very excited!) a golden axie female I've named Mokey.

For now the newbie is in a small cycled tank of her own, hiding in her plastic cave, while I set up and cycle the larger tank over the next couple of weeks. She did poke her nose out to gobble up some earthworms tho!

You didn't happen to sell any goldens to Pet Magic in Cannington did you, Anne-Marie? They said that they got theirs from a lady breeder.

 

[joan]

Halszka, to quickstart your cycle in the big tank, add water or filter media from your already-cycled tanks. Then all you need to do is wait for the population of bacteria to grow

 

[halszka]

Thanks! That's what I will do

The part that may take a couple of weeks is me getting the sand for the bottom and a proper filter. I want to keep my axolotls separated for now anyway just in case the new one has something. I think she had her foot nibbled on at one point, instead of four toes she has three stubby ones lol

 

[anne-marie]

I do indeed sell to Pet Magic - last time was about four weeks ago. That was my last lot too. So, when you post a pic, I can let you know if I think you might have another of mine