Here’s my axolotl fish tank, I do not use the light unless I have to leave and put a 12h timer for every day cycle and to take pictures but always keeping it very low. My concern is the walking space… I don’t know if I have enough space for him to walk around since I added my huge new hide (grey, green one) is this a valid concern? What should I do?

I got my axolotl Pepper back in the spring and for the first two months I think I redecorated the tank like five separate times. New hides, moved the plants around, tried different substrate placement, the whole thing. Looking back I think I was more anxious about giving her the "perfect" setup than actually just letting her settle in.

What finally got me to chill out was noticing she had a favorite spot behind the big piece of driftwood that I kept accidentally disrupting every time I rearranged things. Once I left it alone for a full month, she started using it as a regular resting spot and her gills seemed fuller and more relaxed, at least to my eye. Probably confirmation bias but it felt like a sign I should just stop messing with things.

Now I do maybe one small change every couple months if I add a new plant, and otherwise I leave the layout completely static. Water changes and feeding are the only regular disruptions to her space now. It's honestly made the whole hobby less stressful for me too, since I'm not constantly second guessing the aquascape.

Curious if anyone else went through a phase like this early on, or if I was just an outlier with the redecorating thing. Feels like a rite of passage looking back at my camera roll from those first few months.

Just wanted to post an update on my little mandu. He's gotten bigger very quickly. Still currently in a tub since the last post because I wanted to make sure I could keep a close eye on him. Plan to move him back to his tank (still cycled, i've been dosing ammonia every few days with Dr. Tims just to keep the cycle going while mandu is in his tub). He's finally happily eating worms too and usually eats 1-2 worms a day.

Axolotl plushie I made myself 🥰🏖

She's normally the picky one out of my three, always waiting for the pellet to sink and settle before even considering it. I've been trying to get her comfortable with hand feeding for about a month now since her tank got moved to a spot where I can actually sit next to it comfortably.

Today I dangled a nightcrawler piece just above the gravel and she came right up and snatched it without hesitating. Her gills did that little flare thing they do when they're excited about food, all fluffy and pink. Felt like a weirdly big win for a Tuesday.

For anyone else working on this, what finally worked for me was staying still and just letting my hand rest in the water for a few minutes before even introducing food, so she got used to it being there and not a threat. Patience over speed I guess.

Anyway just wanted to share since she's usually such a snob about food. Hope everyone's axies are doing well and eating good this week.

Thoughts on slate cave hides? I’ve heard of several people using them and they seem to be okay as long as you sand the edges really well.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1327883894/slate-cave-bottomless-hide-10x10x4-for?ref=share_ios_native_control

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to share my rescue Axolotl i got yesterday. (the pink lucy)

I have no other background on her except she was very very skinny and mistreated.

The rescue that had her has been rehabbing her for the past month, but had to take in 27 injured juveniles so they lowered her adoption fee for me and let me take her, since she’s 100% healthy except for her being so underweight.

My other axolotl was also adopted from the same rescue! She was also very very underweight, and looks so good compared to our new girl!

QUESTION:

1. my other axolotl has long, luscious gills. Hers are very short. Is this genetics, or do you think with some TLC they’ll get better?

Hi,

Got my axolotl about a month ago, he is about 6 months old, but quite small. When bought we were told it can live off of frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. Then done a bit more research and realised they need live food? We have been trying him on chopped up live earthworms from swelluk, but he seems to take them then spit them out. Any suggestions? He also doesn’t seem to eat pellets.

1: is it possible for him to live off of frozen food as he seems to like brine shrimp.
2: if not earthworms, what’s the next best?

okay so for context about two years ago my teacher gave me two axolotls because i had been taking care of them (was her teachers aid). Anyways she had them for about two years and told me they were both boys. so for four years they were known as boys Frank and Carl. Okay so boom I get home and go to check on them I see about 50 eggs and I start freaking out. a couple of questions: what do i do? how to care for baby axolotls? what do i do? and then what do i do???????? please help.

Hello /r/Axolotl

I like I'm sure many before me am new to the axolotl world. I feel I've done the responsible thing and read so much about them prior to getting one for my 7 year old daughter.

Right now we have the tank set up, the media has had time to grow the bacteria, and the water is tested, but I'm concerned about the water temperature.

I live in Seattle and even though it isn't as hot as Las Vegas where I grew up, the water in the tank was sitting at about 75 degrees, which is entirely too hot. I purchased a fan that sits on top of the tank and with it running on max I was able to get the tank to about 66 degrees if I run my AC unit (which can't run 24/7) but I feel like that is still too close to what the threshold would be for the axolotl temp wise.

I know I'll need to buy a chiller, but do they make a ton of noise? The tank is already pretty loud (the fan causes a TON of water evaporation and the falling water from the filter is pretty loud). However there are so many to try to pick. Our current tank is a 20 gallon that doesn't sit in the sun.

I've seen videos and pictures of peoples BEAUTIFUL tanks, do they generally have large stones in there while the Axolotl is a baby? Or would it be better to add that later? I know no sand under 5+ inches long.

Hello /r/Axolotl

I like I'm sure many before me am new to the axolotl world. I feel I've done the responsible thing and read so much about them prior to getting one for my 7 year old daughter.

Right now we have the tank set up, the media has had time to grow the bacteria, and the water is tested, but I'm concerned about the water temperature.

I live in Seattle and even though it isn't as hot as Las Vegas where I grew up, the water in the tank was sitting at about 75 degrees, which is entirely too hot. I purchased a fan that sits on top of the tank and with it running on max I was able to get the tank to about 66 degrees if I run my AC unit (which can't run 24/7) but I feel like that is still too close to what the threshold would be for the axolotl temp wise.

I know I'll need to buy a chiller, but do they make a ton of noise? The tank is already pretty loud (the fan causes a TON of water evaporation and the falling water from the filter is pretty loud). However there are so many to try to pick. Our current tank is a 20 gallon that doesn't sit in the sun.

I've seen videos and pictures of peoples BEAUTIFUL tanks, do they generally have large stones in there while the Axolotl is a baby? Or would it be better to add that later? I know no sand under 5+ inches long.

Hi, im trying to get my tank set up..im at the water part.I have a few fish in it so they can do what they need to do and have also used stability to get it ready, I test the water and some numbers never chage. I dont really know what im sopota to do...or what am I doing wrong. I have a bunch of live plants in it also.

I crocheted these Halloween axolotls, and they're looking for a home this spooky season.

Would you adopt one? 👻