Baby Axolotl Care Advice
Hey all, I wanted to come on here and ask for some advice about caring for a younger axolotl.
As a lot of you can tell from the pictures I have attached, the axolotl that was sold to me is incredibly young, in fact too young to have been safely sold to me, something I was not aware of at the time of purchasing it. This was about 4 days ago and since then I have been trying to look online for as many resources as possible that pertain to such a young axolotl, unfortunately since a lot of guides and blogs pertain to axolotls that are much older I haven't had a whole lot of success finding much. I would also like to add that this is my first time ever owning an axolotl so I've been really stressing about whether or not the way I've been caring for it is correct.
I want to share how I've been keeping it and ask some questions about things I am still unclear about or just some behaviors I've seen from it which I'm not sure are normal based on some of the things I've read and seen online. Any advice, pointers, or questions for clarification are appreciated.
First the axolotl is around 2 inches big. I've currently been tubbing it inside two 5 gallon large tubs while I get try to get a 20 gallon tank cycled. I keep the temperature inside the tubs at around 60-65 F and I am making sure to keep the temperature of it's new tub whenever I switch it pretty much equal to the temperature of it's current tub. I also make sure to treat the water with Seachem Prime and always add some to the new tub's water whenever I switch them out. I'm feeding it frozen brine shrimp once a day and doing it right before tub switches. I also make sure to rinse and dry the pipe I use as a hide and the thermometer I use in the tubs whenever I switch those out. In between switches I also make sure to suck out any poop I see using a turkey baster.
In terms of behavior it is eating and pooping after eating. I haven't noticed any severe signs of stress such as curling it's gills or frantically swimming, the only time it does noticeably get stressed out is of course whenever I have to switch the tubs. Usually it sits at the bottom for a while but I have noticed that it has taken to floating a lot near the top of the tub as seen in the picture which I am unsure about.
Anyways my main questions as of now are this:
- How often should I be feeding it? I've read online that at this age it's better for them to eat twice a day but I haven't been doing that because that would mean changing tubs more frequently and I'm worried about overstressing it with constant tub switches.
- What food should I be feeding it? I've read online that brine shrimp is not recommendable as a primary source of food because it lacks the nutrients needed to support it's growth. I bought it because it was the food I was told I would need by the seller but as I've come to figure out this seller was most definitely less than reputable. I've kept feeding it the shrimp though because I visited a local store that specializes in axolotl care and was told that the shrimp was *fine* for now but I'm still unsure about it
- How much should it be eating? So far I've been feeding it half a pod of Omega One Frozen Brine Shrimp per feed and it doesn't eat everything so I was wondering if this was the correct amount/ if it eats well
- Is floating normal behavior? Like I said I've noticed that it's tending to float near the top of the tub, specifically into corners and staying generally near the edges of the tub although not always. Online I read that it could sometimes be a sign that the water quality is bad which has worried me a lot since while tubbing I know the water gets pretty dirty quickly. I asked about this at the store and was told that it's normal for them to float especially young and that it may just have some gas trapped but still I want to know if this really is normal. The floating looks like the picture attached so it isnt floating on it's side or arched
- How much tail bend is bad? I've seen and read that an axolotl with a bending it's tail means it's stressed and I've seen that occasionally this little guy will sort of bend his tail. Not nearly as much as online pictures I've seen however so it might just be natural but I want to make sure, the tails do sometimes just bend slightly right? I know it's kind of a silly concern but I just really want to make sure that it's alright.
Anyways like I said any replies are greatly appreciated and I'll keep this thing updated in case anyone else has more specific questions. Thank you!