Tips for New Axolotl Owners
Here’s a quick guide for the basic steps to take and the timeline for getting your axies settled in their new home safely, and what to do if something goes wrong!
Before Adopting Checklist:
• Tank Size – Most enthusiasts agree that the best guideline is 20 gallons for the first adult axlotl and +10 gallons for each one after that. Axies don’t care about depth, but floor space is important! Consider longer tanks when upgrading. 20g Long tanks are notoriously popular among lotl owners.
• Tank Maintenance & Setup – The healthiest way to introduce your lotls to a new tank is to cycle the tank completely before adding them. Don’t forget to dechlorinate! [x] Axolotls prefer minimal water motion in the tank, so be sure to use a big spray bar to disperse filter pressure, make your own cheap filter baffle, or redirect the pressure by arranging your decorations and hides to block the flow.
• Food Supply – Find a local source for bloodworms/blackworms and earthworms. Bait shops, pet shops, and even Walmart will be a great source! Other highly recommended staple foods are Axolotl or Salmon sinking pellets. Personally, I recommend Ed’s Fly Meat’s Axolotl Pellets!
• Baby – Feed daily. Brine shrimp, minced bloodworms, and blackworms are ideal! Put just a pinch into the water per lotl, and be sure to siphon out any uneaten food within an hour of feeding to maintain a clean tank.
• Juvenile – Feed daily. Stick with bloodworms (live or frozen), and blackworms. Now is a great time to introduce them to their adult staple foods as well! Start giving them single pellets one at a time, or cutting earthworms into eighths, increasing the size and amount as they grow.
• Adult – Feed each lotl 1 large earthworm, 2 small earthworms, or a small handful of pellets (cleaning up any uneaten ones after about an hour) every other or every third day pending health and happiness. Feel free to vary their diet with small treats like bloodworms and brine shrimp, but the best nutrition will come from earthworms and pellets.
• Temperature – 60-64 °F is considered the ideal temperature, but axolotls are comfortable up to about 72 °F at which point they start becoming stressed. It is more important to keep temperature stable than it is to meet ideal temperature. If you need to warm or cool your tank, do it gradually.
• Parameters – Use liquid testers to confirm that your tank stays at 00 ppm for Ammonia, 0 ppm for Nitrites, and under 40ppm for Nitrates. Lotls aren’t too picky about PH, but an ideal level would be around 7.5. To reduce high totals, perform water changes!
• Substrate & Decor – Axolotls thrive on any substrate that is either too small/fine or too large for them to eat. Avoid gravel! Best substrates are none (glass-bottom), flat slate, ceramic tile, or extremely fine silica sand. Axolotls LOVE hides and perches. Popular hides include ceramic flowerpots, PVC pipe, stacked slate, driftwood, or store-bought caves. Be sure any hides are large enough for your lotl to comfortably enter and leave. Popular ways to create perches are stacked slate, soap dishes with suction cups, and mesh reptile hammocks. Fake plants and air stones are also a great addition.
• Plants – Marimo Moss Balls are the #1 plant for Axolotl tanks. Not only are they low-maintenance, hardy, and not picky about temperature, but they’re also cute and axies love to push them around and lounge on them. Other low-temperature plants also thrive in axie tanks.
Warning Signs & Responses:
• Illness – If your axolotl goes too long without eating, is thin, or is acting abnormally, it may be ill. Try offering it different foods and checking your tank parameters and temperature before seeking treatment from a vet. In many cases, Fridging an axolotl is the recommended response to slow the axies metabolism and give it optimal stress-free time to focus on getting well that much faster.
• Injury – If your axolotl is bruised, cut, loses a limb, or has its gills chewed or torn, the best way to help it heal is to quarantine it in a smaller tank or tub and keep the parameters and temperature FLAWLESS with daily water changes and strict thermometer checks. If infection begins to set in or healing comes slowly, Fridging is a solid strategy, but always seek a vet if things continue south.
• Fungus – On axolotls, fungus usually looks like white fluffy mold or puffs of wool on the gills, or white-grey patches of skin around the body combined with lethargy. The best treatment is a series of careful and gentle salt baths and quarantining. For lesser skin irritations (dryness, light scrapes, scaliness, etc.) tea baths are the preferred treatment. Adding cooled pure black tea to the quarantine tank at a rate of about 1 bag per 2.5 gallons and rotating it back out with daily water changes will soothe a lotl’s sore skin. Don’t forget to dechlorinate the water you brew with!
• Stress – Axies are the MOST ANXIOUS critters (me too though). Signs of stress include lethargy, aggression, not eating, forward-turned gills, curled tails, and any abnormal behavior. Usually, too much water movement from a powerful filter, uncomfortable tank temperature or parameters, or minor illness are the culprits. Keep your tank cool, dark, clean, and calm to make your lotls stress-free.
If all else fails, ALWAYS seek vet treatment from an Amphibian specialist!
• Shipping – Axolotls of all ages can be safely mailed. Be sure to label them as Fragile, Perishable, Contains Water, Protect from Heat, and basically any other label for “be real careful with this” that your post office has. Do not feed the lotls for at least 24 hours prior to shipping so they don’t make a mess of their transport bag. Put them into a fish bag (you can get them at pet stores) filled up about 3/4ths with clean dechlorinated water and then topped off with air and sealed tightly with rubber bands. Double bag if at all possible. Use a layer of insulation in your box, with an ice pack below that. Be sure to use TONS of padding / bubble wrap to keep your lotl as safe as possible, and only ship on a Monday or Tuesday so you don’t run the risk of the lotl being stuck in post over the weekend. Keep the weather in mind and don’t ship during very hot or cold seasons.
• Driving – Bag your lotls just like the shipping instructions, but place them securely in the car with you. Avoid buckets, as they won’t move with the bumping and jerking of the car like a bag will. The best possible scenario would be to have someone hold the bagged lotls away from any obstacles in the car to keep them safe and cool, but it’s also ok to place then in a plastic storage bin stuffed with packing materials like bubble wrap, blankets, and a nice ice pack to keep temps low. Keep the temperature of the car low and rebag your lotls and replace their water every few hours of driving if possible.
• Swapping Tanks – The safest way to swap tanks is to submerge a container in your tank and coax the lotl to swim into it. Tupperware works great for this. Once your axie wanders into it, pick up the entire container and then slowly submerge it into the new tank. Be sure that the temperature between the 2 tanks is the same and both are similarly clean and safe! Many people move their lotls between tanks simply by picking them up with both hands or a net, but these run a much higher risk of dropping your lotl :(
Thanks for reading and good luck! <3
