Keeping Axolotl Cool

[Althamon]

with helpful starting advice from my lfs I started on the long and interesting road of keeping these interesting axolotl and I have followed their advice, but the biggest problem I am finding is how to keep them cool as I know any temp above 23 stresses them.

I currently have a desk fan blowing at the tank, no lighting and no heater.

any suggestions about how to keep these guy cool? I tried periodic water changes but the temp just climbed back to 23.

 

[Jenste]

repeatedly changing the water with cold water is actually very stressful - multiple shifts in temp are shocking.

Set up a container for them in the refrigerator during cold months if you cannot maintain a low temperature for them with fans and darkness.

www.caudata.org is an axolotl site that may be able to help you figure out a proper way of putting them in the refrigerator.

 

[Baccus]

Rather than doing constant water changes a friend of mine kept a series of fozen bottles of water that she would float in the tank until defrosted and then change to another frozen one if needed.

 

[fishguy2727]

23C/73F is fine for them, it is on the higher end, but okay. They can handle it if the water is well aerated so have a strong air pump on there, sponge filters are a great filter option for them anyways.

What substrate do you have them on?
What are you feeding?
Any pics?

 

[Brandi.]

Have 2 waterdogs!! Amazing creatures, but much more work than we were anticipating. We have our swamp cooler blowing almost constantly now. That is keeping the temp down. Ice is a great idea. It helped us cool down our tank in an emergency. Good luck! Axolotls don't change, do they?? We think our dogs will be in the next couple months... very exciting stuff!

 

[Althamon]

Feeding them 2 frozen bloodworm blocks one morning and one evening, but likely to move to meal worm (maybe live) in the next day. The ice trick is working but need to rotate them every couple of hours.

Will upload pics soon, but the tank has decided to go through a mini cycle so added a little bit more mature media to speed things a little. I haven't got a light unit for them as it heats the tank too much but going to get some underwater LEDs maybe.

 

[fishguy2727]

Get them on a high quality pellet, they will do much better. I feed mine New Life Spectrum exclusively. Many breeders feed trout or salmon pellets.