• We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

Axie updates

Go_redfish

Go_redfish

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Emma has had her axolotls for a little while now. I think we aquired them around September or so. They were both about 5.5 inches when they first came. The golden albino is at 7 inches right now and the white is at 6.5. Not sure why one is growing better than the other. They get the same amount of food. 1 worm per day for each axie and they have live ghost shrimp in the tank to hunt. It takes them about 2weeks to go thru a dozen. (we might be feeding too much. I have a bad habit of loving things with food lol). Insight is welcome.

They were doing ok before we added the pothos rack to the tank but there has been noticable improvement after the addition. We were having to do heavy water changes every day to other day to keep the quality in check. The ends of their gill fronds were begining to curl and the filaments were not as abundant. The golden albino is/was having an issue where the gills on the left side of his head weren't growing symmetrically with the right side. Adding the pothos has really helped tho. The water quality has been much more stable and has required fewer large changes. The gill fronds are straightening and there are more filaments now. We'll see if the a-symmetrical gills fix themselves. They weren't acting sick or anything but I didn't like that we seemed to be missing the mark with the quality of their care. Hopefully we've got our act together here. We want to see them thrive, not just survive.20190122_150622.jpg 20190122_150753.jpg 20190122_150840.jpg
 
my wild type is out growing my gfp at almost a 2 to 1 rate. I think its just genetic variation. I too have pothos and have noticed a better environment. the gills are growing back on the gfp along with his feet at a much more pronounced rate. I feed earthworms and occasionally some bloodworms as a treat, they have cloud mountain minnows to chase.
 
tlindsey said:
They look great and the Pothos are helping. The Axolotl must be sensitive to high nitrates.
Click to expand...
Incredibly sensitive. We weren't letting the reading creep above 10. I know the tank was struggling with a slow cycle because we keep it pretty cold. Average temp stays between 60 and 62 so between Emma and myself we were testing parameters 5x a day and getting swinging readings. We were using BB supplements with every water change too. I've never had so much trouble cycling a tank.
 
Again, I just wanted to say that you guys are doing a fantastic job of keeping those axolotls. I see too many beginners who keep them with goldfish and plecos in a 10 gallon tank. And yes, axolotls and aquatic amphibians in general are incredibly sensitive to nitrates. Don't let it go above 10. If you do, their lives will be in serious danger. What do you feed yours?
 
BichirKing said:
my wild type is out growing my gfp at almost a 2 to 1 rate. I think its just genetic variation. I too have pothos and have noticed a better environment. the gills are growing back on the gfp along with his feet at a much more pronounced rate. I feed earthworms and occasionally some bloodworms as a treat, they have cloud mountain minnows to chase.
Click to expand...


BichirKing! Is that a skull avatar I see?
 
NoobAquarist said:
Again, I just wanted to say that you guys are doing a fantastic job of keeping those axolotls. I see too many beginners who keep them with goldfish and plecos in a 10 gallon tank. And yes, axolotls and aquatic amphibians in general are incredibly sensitive to nitrates. Don't let it go above 10. If you do, their lives will be in serious danger. What do you feed yours?
Click to expand...
Thank you! ^_^
We did alot of research before we ever started looking for a breeder. Having the extensive back ground with fish helped us dodge some of the noob mistakes tho I think. If I had it to do over again tho I think I would have spent 6 months cycling the tank before getting the axies. Having just the 2 in 40gallons helps i think. If we had stocked more i think we'd never get the tank cylced without a death or 2.

These guys each get 1 earth worm per day and there are also live ghost shrimp in the tank. It usually takes about 2 weeks for them to catch and eat a dozen or so. Every now and then I will give them a little cut of catfish or tilapia as a treat. We don't do live fish with them. They probably also eat the little pond snails that hitched a ride in on the moss balls.

We try really hard to provide a great home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top