Axolotl Care

[Zawiha]

Just to make this clear i am no ameteur when it comes to fish/reptile/amphibian Keeping ^^

Now i have a recently vacant 30 (US) gal tank.
I've been looking into things to put into it.

After much deliberation on the internet i came across a page with Ambystoma mexicanum (Axolotl)
Reading through the information i decided these would be an interested specimin to keep,
And work'd out i could have 2 quite happily in the system.

Now as these animals seem more of a specialist creature,
I'm looking for as much experienced information and help from any person who has
Kept them in the past.
I "could" go read up information on the internet,
And i will. But i value the information from keeper's here as well.

I'd prefer not to have replies such as "sorry, never kept em mate"
Or replies which are blatant post count increasers.

Another note is i shant be getting them "if i do"
for another 2 weeks as im on holiday 23rd.

Thankyou in advance for all advice given,
And i appreciate any valid input.

 

[connorsbala]

Hey
FIrstly, a great site to go on is axolotl.org....great info
Now, i personally have a pair that have spawned, a leustic male and a melanoid female.
I can offer you some info about their prefered setup etc.
Firstly, substrate. The best substrate to keep them on is sand...no doubt about it. a) it is easy to clean and b) if they do swallow some, it wont harm them as much as a piece of gravel would. Or, go for large pebbles, but IMO these would be hard to get all the uneaten food out of etc.
Good filtration is a must, im sure your aware of with any fish. They poop alot and their foods can be quite messy...plus they like to swing mouthfuls of food everywhere, sending bloodworm flying all over the tank. I have the Juwel Internal filter with another internal filter rated for the next tank size up.
Try and keep the temperature below 22...if it goes above 22 for a short period of time, dont worry. It just speeds their metabolism up, and you'll see them flicking their gills alot to let oxygen pass through their body.
They dont need very deep water...as long as the depth is the length of their body, your ok as they come up to the surface every so often to take some air in.
Decoration wise i have a slate cave which they like to hide under and lots of plants. I have a huge Amazon Sword colony, aswell as Elodea Densa, Anubius and Vallis. If you can keep some parts of the tank in the shade, whether that be using caves to provide shade or have plants such as Lillies or Amazon Frogbit.
Now my favourite part...feeding When they are small, feed them on frozen or live: bloodworms, tubifex (be wary when using live tubifex as when the worms are bunched up in a ball, the axies love to take a bite and thrash the ball all over the tank, then the worms get in the sand and are a pain to syphon out!), chopped earthworm and pellets such as Hikari Carnivore Pellets. As they get larger, feed them meatier foods such as frozen: mussel, cockle, silversides, prawn and whole earthworms, live river shrimp and beefheart. Once every six months or so, i give them liver as a treat.
Im sure you've already discovered this but never keep them with fish! One, they may eat the fish and two the fish may nibble at their gills.

Any thing else you need to know, pm me or post on here
They are a joy to keep, not too fussy or anything. They come up to you for food, like little underwater puppies And whenever your in the tank, they will have a go at biting your fingers.

 

[Zawiha]

FIrstly, a great site to go on is axolotl.org....great info

Thanks i'll go read up. I'm glad there is somewhere i can find more information.

Firstly, substrate. The best substrate to keep them on is sand...no doubt about it. a) it is easy to clean and b) if they do swallow some, it wont harm them as much as a piece of gravel would. Or, go for large pebbles, but IMO these would be hard to get all the uneaten food out of etc.

I've read that somewhere this morning, I can get many bags from work without hastle,
Is there a preferd depth?

Good filtration is a must, im sure your aware of with any fish. They poop alot and their foods can be quite messy...plus they like to swing mouthfuls of food everywhere, sending bloodworm flying all over the tank. I have the Juwel Internal filter with another internal filter rated for the next tank size up

Well i have a TetraTec Ex700 External, Ones use torun my 4ft Turtles with out any hastle, and they're messy as hell.
So on my 30gal it'll work a treat.

Try and keep the temperature below 22...if it goes above 22 for a short period of time, dont worry. It just speeds their metabolism up, and you'll see them flicking their gills alot to let oxygen pass through their body.

Ok i'll just need to take my heater out the tank. I'm in the Uk so is the room temperature here ok for that?
I assume it is. But its best to get a second opinion.

They dont need very deep water...as long as the depth is the length of their body, your ok as they come up to the surface every so often to take some air in.

Do they have a problem with deeper waters though? or is that more of a suggestion than a nessicary?
as my polypterus do similar a similar action of gulping air, and there is no problem with water depth.

Decoration wise i have a slate cave which they like to hide under and lots of plants. I have a huge Amazon Sword colony, aswell as Elodea Densa, Anubius and Vallis. If you can keep some parts of the tank in the shade, whether that be using caves to provide shade or have plants such as Lillies or Amazon Frogbit

I have plenty of left over slate from my old African cichlid tank, so i can build something for them no problem.
I can get hold of a great plant which grows great (unfortunately ive forgotten its name)
which should reach the surface as cover a portion of it,
As ive read young axolotls prefer some seclusion at water surface. Thankyou for other plant sugestions.


Thanks for the advise for feeding, ive had to feed Axolotls before as they had some at my old College,
I just havent learnt too much about them yet

Thankyou for your advice i really appreciate it

 

[connorsbala]

Firstly, substrate. The best substrate to keep them on is sand...no doubt about it. a) it is easy to clean and b) if they do swallow some, it wont harm them as much as a piece of gravel would. Or, go for large pebbles, but IMO these would be hard to get all the uneaten food out of etc.

I've read that somewhere this morning, I can get many bags from work without hastle,
Is there a preferd depth?

Not really, when you do a water change, you'll be syphoning off some of the crap on the surface of the sand so add about 2"...you can always add more when the level goes down. Stir the sand every few days to get rid of air pockets..IMO i have never had a problem with air pockets....

Try and keep the temperature below 22...if it goes above 22 for a short period of time, dont worry. It just speeds their metabolism up, and you'll see them flicking their gills alot to let oxygen pass through their body.

Ok i'll just need to take my heater out the tank. I'm in the Uk so is the room temperature here ok for that?
I assume it is. But its best to get a second opinion.

Mine are in my bedroom and they do fine with room temperature

They dont need very deep water...as long as the depth is the length of their body, your ok as they come up to the surface every so often to take some air in.

Do they have a problem with deeper waters though? or is that more of a suggestion than a nessicary?
as my polypterus do similar a similar action of gulping air, and there is no problem with water depth.

From what ive heard they dont have too much of a problem with deep water. THey take in a breath then sometimes float for a minute or two..then quickly swim to the bottom...strange things!

Anything else, feel free to ask! I love it lol!

 

[Zawiha]

Thank you!!

Another question
Im looking to have similar types as you have.
One melanoid and one leutistic.

Not that im after to breed them,
But how about enlightening me on courtship, the ease of it and just general breeding info

After all, better to learn now than later

 

[connorsbala]

Its very easy to do and they do interbreed...my two bred!
The best way of doing it is to drop the temperature to about 60 degrees fahrenheit (off the top of my head, i think that was it) and increase the photo period to 14 hours. IMO the firt time mine bred, i didnt even do anything! THey did it naturally. I have had my lights on for 5 hours a day for the past two years and they did it. Maybe the cold water form a water change triggered it...? But the second time, i dropped the temp a lil (not as cold as 60) and increased the photo period by a couple of hours.
I think this acts like the rainfall at a certain time of year in the wild that triggers their breeding season.
Raising wise, i never have the time! I have Seahorse babies and Dwarf Puffer babies to help raise....Axie babies aswell would be a lil too much work, so i give them away. I give them away a week or two after they have hatched. The eggs look similar to snail eggs and they are real sticky...sticking to plants, rocks...everything!
Best foods to start them on are microworms, daphnia and baby brine shrimp. THen start to give them bloodworm etc.

Im afraid thats all i have to offer lol

EDIT: the reason why i have the lights on for 5 hours a day is as the lights produce heat, making the temp rise and they arent overly keen on the light

 

[Zawiha]

ah, thanks for your insight

it's really helpful ^^

I shall continue my research right away

 

[Wolfenrook]

I have an axlotl, and they are nice hardy animals. They are really easy to keep. A few snippets of advice I would give though are

1) They don't like mysis shrimp, even if your LFS tells you they do. Mine prefers bloodworm, brine shrimp and daphnia. Some folks feed theirs earth worms but I live in a 1st floor flat. lol

2) Don't house them with fish, any too big to be eaten will most likely pester your axlotl.

3) If keeping more than 1 buy them at the same time and make sure they are all the same size! We had 3 at one time, now we just have 1 very well fed one! The other 2 were only a tiny bit smaller than the one we have now, but he still managed to eat one and tear the gills and legs of the other!

4) Be prepared to put a large external filter with plenty of biological media in it on there! They are dirty feeders!

5) Go for a sand substrate, they tend to swallow substrate when eating and gravel often leads to problems with constipation etc.

6) Thoroughly examine the head shape before buying! Many of the reports on axlotls morphing are caused by stores selling wrongly identified salamander nymphs as axlotls.

7) If you have kids be prepared for it/them to be given really silly names (like blobl), and younger kids might even refer to it as a "draggy"! lol

Mine has been pretty bomb proof to be honest.

Ade

 

[Zawiha]

thanks for the extra info Wolfenrook.
last time i checked the list at work,
We can get Axolotl's orderd in.

But i'll be sure to thoughrly look at them,
As ive had false frogfish come through before