despite having an entire tank at her disposal, Lukara looooves just sitting in tight spots pressed against the glass. We usually find her sleeping like this in the morning🫶 very silly girl with her chicken legs
She also got a new hide recently and sat in it for an hour. Then she pooped in it and so far has not looked at it again. What a diva!
One of the best pictures of them! :)
Had to redecorate a little because they will be in that tank a few days longer and I wanted them to have some more walking space. They have been up exploring for an hour now xD Lukara still has trouble grasping the concept of "I can't go this way"
>> that is an electric candle, not a real one
I love just sitting by their tank when it gets to be late in evening :) They get so active and swim around. They tend to always be in the same corner/area together. Sitting on top of each other, climbing over one another or just looking at me judgy lmao.
Sometimes they make the EXACT movements at the same time.
They also always poop at the same time/ closely together too. Is it normal for two axolotl to become "synchronised" like this?
Obviously they also have their own stuff going on :)
They seem so much more calm every day, and more elegant while swimming! I love these girls so much!! I was always so scared of having pets on my own- but these two just made all the anxiety and research worth it :')
Hi everyone :) hope this is the right sub for this type of question. This is a coat of arms my grandpa made in the 60s out of enamel (I hope thats the right word). We live in Germany with the surname von Gostomski, which I have so far researched to have been/ being part of the Nałęcz coat of arms. My grandpa based this enamel piece on a little piece of paper he received from his uncle, it was lost a long time ago. He guessed the colors (paper was in black and white), he originally made it for his uncle who was blinded in the war so he could touch the enamel to "feel" the picture.
With some luck maybe someone here can help me find resources to find what branch of Gostomski's this is based on- or if I will have to make my own version based off of this one. I am trying to learn more about our family, unfortunately my grandparents knowledge only goes so far :)
EDIT: Any help in interpreting the symbolism is also greatly appreciated!! My grandpa told me the "rings" on the helmet stand for grade of nobility? I am completely new to this topic btw""
I had to leave the room for her to actually eat. I love her <3 She is a silly girl
The girls are a full time job of neverending worry"" I posted yesterday because I was unsure if she was doing zoomies or if something was wrong and someone suggested she may be gravid. I looked it up and it seems to match quite well:
She is eating less, it started when she was put into the big tank- could also be caused by stress still
Her cloaca is swollen. It certainly wasnt this big before and she has recently pooped, so I dont think she has any "ammo" in there atm
The blue-greyish discoloration on her abdomen
the moving around constantly, I do not know this behaviour of her at all. Even now with the new chiller on (its at 18.8°C right now and steadily lowering until 18°C so they can acclimate before I put it lower)
Could the moving around be her looking for a spot to lay eggs?
Her gills flick. like a LOT. every two to six seconds is a flick. I noticed this with her ever since we got her and I read it can also be a symptom of eggnancy
--> the only thing not adding up is that she hasnt gotten noticeably bigger yet. I would say she is chubbier than usual but I can't really tell :/
She is still moving back and forth the longest side of the tank. sometimes she takes a break for an hour or two and then gets right back to it.
We had her for two weeks, she is between 2 and 3 years old and may have had eggs before as she and her sisters were cohabitated with several males at the previous owners (yeah. bad. I know :( )
Online I read the entire gravid process can take 2-4 weeks so this would still be in the window right? The stress from tubbing and then being moved into a tank also are probably not helping.
Water parameters are good, we had to do waterchanges every 2-5 hours the past 36 hours so its been. hard. Now with the chiller the environment is stable. Tank is cycled etc.
I am worried that it may be something else :( Her sister is appearing to be completely fine, although she is also not eating much she is still eating more than Lukara. They both poop at the same time always (even when tubbed seperately), so could they both be gravid and just showing it differently?
I hope someone can help me out 🙏Their gills are also a little pale, doesnt look sick-pale but more pale than usual I would say.
We had her for only two weeks now, and this is day two in their temporary 40g tank. I MAY just be a little overly sensitive atm lmao
she's been going up, down, left, right. I even took the pot away because I was scared she would get stuck. Is this just her feeling comfy enough to zoom?? or is it bad?? She hasnt eaten today (Its not feeding day but I offered bc she didnt eat much yesterday.
Gills aren't curled, tail and gills are red (from the activity I assume). She came up like 5 times in 10 minutes to get air. Water parameters are 0 0 0 of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate since we gotta do alot of waterchanges bc of the heat :/ chiller arrives tomorrow and then obv only normal amounts of waterchanges as needed by NO3. chemically there shouldnt be anything wrong??
filters are ony as well as two bubblers. Temp is a little too high 21°C as I am about to do a waterchange but wanted to let her swim around a little more so she can power herself out if needed?
UPDATE Its now the next morning, tank temps did no go above 22 and they are noch chilling exactly like always lol. I hope the chiller gets here soon, but in the meanwhile its also supposed to rain so that will mean the temperature will finally drop too!! They still are not showing signs of severe stress, but yea obviously they are at least a little stressed- I think?? it was heat stress + nighttime zoomies, at some point at 3am they were both zooming. I watched them in the dark this time and it looked much much more peaceful. Maybe I spooked them with the light as well-
UPDATE 2 Shes probably gravid. Miss girls cloaca is enlarged, shes been eating less and exploring all around the tank. I think her focus with the terracotta pot and the filter is because she wants to lay her eggs there? Also theres some discoloration along the abdomen and she is getting a little chubbier (constipation unlikely as she pooped two days ago. a lot. lol) Also I got her to eat a piece of worm and two pellets!!
[pic attached idk why it isnt showing on the preview] Hi everyone :) I posted about this yesterday but I think I either worded my question weird or it wasn't exactly obvious from the pic what I meant. Ever since moving into the new tank we have been able to see our girls from sideview for the first (!) time and I immediately noticed this line she has underneat her mouth. it goes through like this to the other side. It's white, uneven, and there is no real sign of injury. It looks like its lower than her normal skin.
At first we thought we may have nibbed her with the feeding tongs accidentally, but that wouldn't explain why its on both sides? And also wouldn't it be red-ish if it was an active new wound?
She doesnt seem very stressed, but she def is a little since we have to do a lot of water changes because our damn chiller comes on monday and its 28°C in the room :/ it sucks, theres no other way atm. This is still better than being tubbed and not able to move around or hide.
She also has some scars on her tail, with those I am sure they are scars because I have seen cases like that on some articles about faulty tissue regenration after injury! The line at her mouth just confuses me and I am scared there may be an underlying infection or something that we completely missed :( She was certainly bullied at her old owners (at least 6 axolotl in 60 gallons, full adults, male and female). She had strong vision issues (this is the best her eyes have ever looked probably), so it's likely she bumped into lots of stuff with her head. They had very coarse and sharp substrate, she pooped lots of it out when we got her.
As for current behaviour: They both ate not very much yesterday (well. it is a new environment so who can blame them) but they do poop like usual. All in all I would say she looks and acts like nothing is really wrong.
I hope someone can help me identify what this is and if it is cause of worry!
She almost landed on her sister while swimming down again and got jumpscared lol. They seem to like their temporary housing and are getting along well :) They even shared a cave!!
I love our stupid daughters so much <3
Hi so we just got our daughters into our temporary and finally cycled tank. This is the first (!) time we have been able to adequately see them from the side. I do not think its new? But I also don't know.
She has some scar tissue on her tail (aka. faulty regenerated tissue ig) because she was bullied in her former tank (at least 6 axolotl in 60g :'))
Does anyone know if this is also scar tissue? or a cause of concern?
pic of other scar tissue in comments!
It is FINALLY cycled!!! They are getting a bigger 60 g tank in a week, this one is 40 g but its better than another week of tubbing and stress. Water is 18-19°C, can't get it colder bc of the heatwave but its still in the safe area luckily.
So far they are confused about the concept of a foam floor, and not moving around too much. Went from one bedroom apartment to their own house lol I would also be overwhelmed.
Genuinely cant wait for their forever tank to be here!!
Today is also feeding day so you can look forward to worm video in the new tank :)
Thank you all so so much for all the advice on cycling and helping us with this journey! 🌈
I love them so much!! they are now a pfp for me and my boyfriend hehehe
Hey everyone :]
It's been a little more than a week that we got our babies, and their current tank (40 gallons) is almost done cycling. We got entirely the wrong advice from when we were just starting out our preperations for the two axolotl we got, that is why its a 40 gallon corner tank. We now want to have a tank custom built for them. They will only be in that tank for maybe a month? if even. We are trying to get this done quickly but we also gotta wait until july because, well, money lol.
Now I originally considered going with 150 x 50 x 40 cm, and fill it up to the 30 cm mark- which would be 225 l or roughly 60 gallons. HOWEVER the tank stand we decided to get can only bear 280 kg. So this big tank is not exactly an option. We also have a weight limit of 300-350 kg because we live in an apartment.
The second option would be doing 120 x 40 x 40 cm. This would hold ~200 l or roughly 52 gallons. Technically everything under 150x50 seems to be an option-
I would really like to hear a second opinion before I decide for either. on one hand I want the bigger tank, but I would not be able to fill it to the 30 cm mark so it would also end up at the 200 l like the other one either way. Then again it would have more area for them to scuttle and do their silly things :/
I really need some advice on this. Thanks in advance. Attached is a pic of the tank stand we want to get
Its SO hot atm-- hot enough we burned through all our cooling things (6 0.5 l water bottles, frozen + 5 of those cold-battery-thingies) yesterday :')
At least we finally found a method that lets us and them rest longer with very little temperature flux. Their boxes are in those frozen food bags, bubbler goes in at the opening and then its further insulated with the big towel that covers all.
Needless to say I am so happy when this is finally over and they can be in the big cool tank :') proper water cooler will come in < 2 weeks unfortunately the climate here had other plans lol
PS: so far they do not seem stressed at all by this, luckily. I think the dark helps a lot in making them feel safer. I hate having them like this but its better than the alternative which is.. well.. 24-25°C. I am able to hold them at a steady 17-18°C in the bags since the coolants also last longer!
she is getting so much better at noticing movement and food <3 I love her so much and oh my god she still poops gravel 😭 I hope this is over when the tank is cycled- would be a shame if she had to wait to move in
update of the girls:
her sister tried to nibble her today when we briefly tubbed them together for a water change :( its feeding day btw so I guess thats related. I know they were never on a proper every-other-day feeding schedule. Maybe they both need some pellets before we put them together for water change :') its just a 5 to 10 minute window but a lot can happen in that time.
We still want to see how it goes when they are in an actual non-tub environment, with lots of hides and possibilities to have their own space. But we are already looking into just buying another 40 gallon instead of a 60 gallon they can share- we have to save up either way lol
I love her little face so much <33
quick update for those who are interested:
since their tank apparently will need a little more time cycling I seperated the two sisters from their communal bigger tub. For some context: their previous owners held at least 6 axolotl in a 60 gallon tank. They are used to being together in a smaller space but that doesnt mean they should have to endure that for so long here- they never seemed stressed in the tub together but... why take that risk for another ~two weeks?
She has her little hide in the tub and she is happy :) hiding is her favourite activity. Her sisters favourite activity so far is "corner time" she just smushes her face into a corner and sits there. They are such silly little creatures <3
Just did what I thought would be the last "test" before actually having my daughters move into their temporary tank (its the wrong size, its still better than the tub, yes we are getting a new one soon thats proper 60 gallons).
I added 2,5 ppm ammonia and left it for 24 hours.
24 hours later I am at 2 ppm ammonia and 1.5 ppm nitrite. I guess I now get why people don't recommend ghostfeeding! while adding axo pellets DID help feed the filter bacteria it was certainly not enough to handle such a bioload...
Kinda exhausted and sad at this point :( How long do yall think I have to wait now? All the bacteria I need technically is there since there is also measurable increasing nitrate- but how long until its at the point it needs to be to handle 2.5 ppm?
For reference we have two sponge filters working simultaneously, and all the decor is also already in the tank for biofilm surface etc.
Any help and words of hope highly appreciated :')
They have been with us for 5 days now, and I guess I'm just still hypervigilant when it comes to any small changes lol. Still I wanted to ask if y'all think they look healthy.
They are both around 23 cm long. The one on the left weighs 104 g and fhe one on the right weighs 127 g (right is also the one who poops gravel still :( )
This pic was right after a pretty big feeding so I guess they look a little rounder haha
