axolotl question... need help quick.

I am about to get 8 of these for trade and I was wondering do I need to know anything special. From what I read they are cold water and all that but anything else?

Congrats on getting 8 of them! How big of a tank are you going to keep them in? I currently have 5 in my 40 gallon breeder... I might end up rehoming one of them, once they've reached adult sized.

When they're babies/juveniles, they tend to snap at eachother, sometimes eating off eachothers limbs, if not fed properly, and they just do that by nature... any lost limbs will grow back (that's how awesome they are).

I feed my axolotls sinking carnivore pellets, and sometimes live black worms, when I remember to buy some.

You will want a filter that's good enough to hold lots of filter media, they are messy animals, that poop tons, but you also want a filter that won't cause too much water current/flow, as that stresses them out. I'd stick with something simple like sponge filters, or a canister filter that has some sort of sponge that you can put on the intake AND outflow... even spray bars can cause too much water current for these fellows.

Temperature-wise, I keep mine around 70*F . . . they can go up to about 75*F although I'd rather not keep it that warm. Other hobbyists say that they've kept their axolotls in slightly warmer conditions, or even temps below freezing....... Again, I would try to avoid those conditions if possible.

Substrate......... you can either go bare glass bottom, or really fine sand. Gravel tends to get sucked up whenever axolotls eat, which can get trapped in their digestive systems, which can make it difficult for them to poop out, or worse, they can die from it. So choose wisely with what kind of substrate (or lack of). I, personally have really fine black sand.

Lighting isn't necessary unless you have live plants... if you're going with live plants, I'd go with low light plants such as Anubias, or Crypts... as axolotls don't like being under bright lights. If you want to have brighter lights, you'll most likely want to keep some hidey spots/caves for them to seek shelter while the lights are on, etc.

Smaller axolotls tend to need to be fed more often than adults... I'd say, once a day for smaller axolotls, and then once every other day or once every three days, for adults.

Sexing is pretty easy... when they're about 5" in length, males will have a "bump" near where their tails join their bodies, while females won't have as much of a bump in that area.

Definitely do NOT keep any fish of any kind, in with axolotls... one of two things will most likely happen:
1. Fish will nip at axolotl's gills because they look like worms.
2. Axolotl eats the fish nom nom nom.

I've had a friend who had an adult axolotl try to eat a smaller pleco, and ended up choking to death, so. Yeah.


That's all I can think of...

Congrats!!

Wow perfect thank you so much, they will be housed in two 30 g tanks for a few weeks and then my 125g should be cycled, I am doing sponge filters and I always do bare bottom tanks, only things in there will be java moss and I was hoping some of my drift wood, will the tannins be ok?

Yep tannins are okay :-)
I would stay away from manzanita or madrona driftwood though as the jagged badges would snag their delicate skin.

Driftwoods such as Malaysian driftwood, big wood, and mopani driftwood are the best ones to use.