Everything You Need to Know to Prepare for an Axolotl
- carlsonsmarthome09
- Sep 9
- 13 min read
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I want to start this off by saying this is totally out of the norm for one of my posts, but I've had quite a few people from my personal life asking me to put this all out there...so here we are. While there is a ton of information out there about axolotls, especially as of lately, not all of it is accurate. I've read articles and watched YouTube videos with harmful "facts" about taking care of their lotls, so it's very important to get your information from a trusted, factual source. While I have done ALOT of research, I'm by no means an axolotl expert. With all that being said, here's my Axolotls for Dummies guide.
Here's what I'm hoping you'll take away from this:
Meet Lucy and Lemon
Lucy and Lemon are our Albino axolotl sisters. We purchased them from a local breeder who was "getting out" of the lotl breeding world. They're two years old, and we believe they've each had a couple batches of babies. Lucy is very active, loves to walk in circles around the tank, swim up and down in the bubbler, she loves her worms, and she'll come to the front of the tank when she sees us come say hello! Lemon is much less active, tends to hide most of the day, but still enjoys her nightly bubble swims and stays pretty close to Lucy when they're sleeping.
Our axolotl journey started when my 10 year old nephew became obsessed with them. He loved talking about them, purchased all the axolotl stuffies and apparel he could find, and even took online classes to learn about them. I found an axolotl on marketplace, and thought I'd be the cool aunt and buy it for him. Tank, lotl, sand, filter, chiller fan, food, everything for $100. I bought it, took it to him for his birthday, and fell in love. My daughter then became obsessed, and I fed into her new obsession because I secretly became obsessed at the same time. They're amazing creatures! They were quickly added to our "want" list in our house, and then we purchased our first axolotl.
She was a baby, and we did very little research. We bought a tank, sand, a filter, and that was it. She lasted a day, and our daughter was crushed. After doing more research, we learned that babies are very hard to take care of, and given the lack of proper preperation, it was bound to end in a fatality. We knew we wanted to try again, but I did so much more research this time.
Axolotl MUST HAVES:
Tank; your lotl needs atleast 20 gallons, even if you start with a little guy. If you get multiple, make sure it's atelast 20 gallons per lotl! We have a 40 gallon tank for our two.
Tank lid; this lid works nice because you can cut sections in the back to fit your air lines and filters! Lids help with evaporation, expecially if you use a fan chiller.
Tank stand; I got this stand because of the attached outlet (there's alot of stuff that needs plugged in!) and becuase I could hide everything behind closed doors.
Fan chiller; an axolotl needs to stay in lower temperatures (like 64-68 degrees fehrenheit) so a way to keep the water cool is a must have. I have a fan chiller, because it was way cheaper, but it only cools the water to a temperature about 4-5 degrees cooler than the temperature of my house. So if you keep your house at 75 degrees, you'll need the next option!
Refrigerated chiller; I've had this one in my Amazon cart for a while, but I know I'll bite the bullet and make this purchase very soon.
Sponge filter; to help with water cleanliness, this one is for tanks of 15-55 gallons.
Hang over back filter; the general rule of thumb is you need filters that can clean 2x the size of your tank. This filter is for 30-50 gallons.
Extra filter media; for your good bacteria to cling to...I'll explain this later!
Long tweezers; for worm feeding
Long turkey baster; for poop removal
Hide; your lotl doesn't like light. It can't close it's eyes, so bright light doesn't feel good! They need a hide so they can surrender to the darkness, and will be much more active when that pesky sunlight goes away.
Air stone (bubblers!)
Tank siphon; for cleaning the tank
Live nitrifying bacteria; (cycles your tank much quicker!)
Prime; chemical remover and detoxifier. This conditions your water before putting it in the tank. If you don't use this kind, just make sure you use one that DOES NOT have chlorine in it!
PH Increase (or you can use baking soda!)
Axolotl pellets; I only use these as a last resort if my lotls won't eat their worms or if the worms went bad and I need to feed them something.
Red worms and night crawlers. These can be purchased at your pet stores, I actually buy our night crawlers from Walmart (located in the fishing section, not the pet section). We used red worms when our lotls were a bit smaller, but as adults, they mainly eat the night crawlers!
We have all the things...now what?
Notice that on this list of must haves...I didn't list an axolotl. Not yet. Before purchasing your lotl, the best thing to do is cycle your tank. You can definitely purchase your lotl and then cycle your tank, but you'll need to house your new friend in a tub (as in, a tupperware container or something) and change the water every. single. day...and that's not an exaggeration. I actually used a small 10 gallon aquarium when I needed to tub my lotls for an extended period of time, that way I could still put the fan on it and keep the water cool, and keep a bubbler in there. It's not necessary, but it keeps them happier, more active, and more likely to eat for me.
Cycling your tank...what is it, and why do we have to do it?
Cycling a fish tank is not for the faint of heart. It's frustrating, it takes time, and it takes consistency. If you have a big trip planned, you'll likely have to start over when you get back, or you need to get it done before you go. It's truly an every day comittment and you need to be fully invested to make it happen.
Now with that being said, let me explain what cycling your tank means. Cycling a tank means getting your aquarium ready so your axolotl can live in it safely. When your lotl eats and poops, it makes waste that turns into a chemical called ammonia. Ammonia is very harmful to to your axolotl.
To make the water safe, your tank first needs some good bacteria (nitrates). These bacteria grow in the filter, gravel, and decorations. They do the cleaning work:
Stage 1: Ammonia builds up from waste and food.
Stage 2: Bacteria grows that eats ammonia and turns it into nitrite (still harmful).
Stage 3: Once your nitrites are present, your good bacteria, nitrate, eats the nitrite.
Stage 4. The nitrate then builds up until you do a water change. Think of the nitrate as a trash bag at the end of the process. It doesn't keep eating, it just piles up until you clean it out.
The process of growing these bacteria colonies is called cycling. It usually takes anywhere from one month to three months to establish a cycle. Once the cycle is complete, your tank has a natural cleaning system that keeps the water safe for your axolotl.
How to Cycle a Tank
Step one: Set up your tank
To cycle your tank, you'll want to get everything set up. You need your aquarium full of water, filter(s) installed, bubbler going, and your media and any decor placed in the tank. This is so once your bacteria starts growing, it has something to cling to. You don't need your chiller going yet, as bacteria grows better in warmer water. Some people actually heat their tanks during the cycling process to try and speed it up, but I just left mine at room temperature.
Your water in the tank will need to be primed (Prime). Always test your water source using your API Freshwater test kit so you know what levels your water is at when you start doing water changes. You won't do water changes until the nitrates are present, nitrites are at 0, and ammonia is at 0. Once your nitrites and ammonia are at 0, the only way to get your nitrates within range is to do water changes...but I'm getting ahead of myself, this will all be explained more later on! Now. Here's the chart you'll reference every day for the next serveral weeks:
And here is what my water test looked like when testing my tap water:
Step two: Adding your Live nitrifying bacteria and Ammonium chloride
Now that I know my starting PH is 8.2, ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0, and nitrates are 0, I can get going on adding live bacteria and ammonia!
The instructions for the Live nitrifying bacteria say: dose 4 oz (119 mL / ½ cup) per 10 US gallons. I have a 40 gallon tank, so I added 4 cups. After adding the live bacteria, ammonia needs to be added so the bacteria can feed (this is how nitrites develop!).
The instructions for the Ammonium chloride state: Dose 4 drops per US gallon to reach 2 ppm. We want to reach 4 ppm to get this cycle established, so I need 8 drops per US gallon. If I need 8 drops per US gallon, and I have a 40 gallon tank, I need 320 drops...which I'm NOT going to count out individually. Here's a dosing chart widely shared in the axolotl cycling community:
Based on this chart, I can see there are 20 drops in 1 ml, so 320 drops would equate to 16 ml needed in order for my new aquarium water to reach 4 ppm to get the cycle started.
Step three: day two+
After 24 hours have passed, I need to check the water. After the first day, I saw no change.
So, I did nothing. Ammonia is still at 4 ppm, and that's where it needed to be. It stayed like this for another 24 hours, so I added a second dose of Live nitrifying bacteria. After another 24, we started getting somewhere!
It was beautiful. That purple showing up in the nitrites is SO EXCITING, and the ammonia dropped down to 0.50! This means I need to redose the ammonia to get it back up to 4 ppm. Math: 3.5ppm/4ppm= .875x16ml = 14mls of ammonia. So I dosed it back up to 4ppm, and repeated this every day.
After doing this for several weeks, a couple issues popped up. I corrected the issues (will explain later on) and this is finally what I got to. My tank was finally cycled.
Step 4: Lowering the Nirates
All I had to do was do a few water changes to get the nitrates down to an acceptable level. I did a 50% water change, added ammonia to 4ppm, and again, waited 24 hours. Nitrates were then at about 40 ppm, so I did another 50% water change, added ammonia to 4 ppm, waited 24 hours, and here we were:
Once all the numbers are in acceptable ranges, you add ammonia to 4 ppm for to make sure your levels remain consistent for three days straight. During this time, I added my fan chiller to the top so the water would be at an appropriate temperature after the three days were up. Then, after the three days, the peramiters were perfect and the temperature was down to 65 degree. I finally go to add my lotls! Once they're in their new home, you no longer add ammonia, as they'll create their own ammonia for the nitrates to feed off of. You no longer need to check the water perameters every day, but I did for a couple weeks because 1. habit, and 2. paranoia that something was going to happen. It took me about 2 and a half months to get it right, so it just didn't feel possible to actually be finished!
Water Changes
After a couple of weeks, some of the water evaporated, dropping the water level (the fan chiller I use evporates the water at a quicker rate than the big fancy chillers would) so I tested the water, saw the nitrates were a tad high, so I siphoned out some water (Tank siphon) and used it to vacuum out some stuff out of the bottom of the tank. I siphon the water into a big clear tote because my tank is not close enough to a bathroom or exterior door. I then either use the water to water my plants, or I take it outside and dump it.
Next, I rinse the tote and fill it with cold water. I have my clear tote marked so I know when I get to 10 gallons, that way I know exactly how much Prime to add while it's filling up. If I need more than 10 gallons, I still fill the clear tote up to to the line and add the prime, then just scoop in water until it reaches the top. Seachem Prime (which is what I've linked) does not require a waiting period, it neutrilizes upon impact, so you do not need to let the water sit before adding it to your tank.
I leave the lotls in their tank when doing a small water change, but if I'm doing a deep clean of the tank, I tub them for the duration of the cleaning. I typically do a deep clean about once a month, and it entails taking everything out of the tank and scrubbing it. This is viewed as a big "no-no", but I specifcally use extra media (Extra filter media) and put it in my HOB filter (Hang over back filter) so that I can scrub the filter clean and replace the filter cartridges (Filter replacement cartridges) instead of cleaning them out because they get nasty. Also, the Sponge filter already comes with media, so I'm comfortable taking the sponges off and spraying them down with a handheld nozzle in the shower. The reason we need this extra media is because this is where our nitrates are! If we completely scrub everything clean, then we'd get rid of those nitrates we worked so hard for! But by keeping media in the two spots that see the most water turnover, it keeps the nitrates in the water, and keeps the ammonia out. Just to be safe, I alternate which filter I'm cleaning each water change. I typically do the HOB filter when I do my deep clean, becuase it entails a lot more work and I can do it at the same time as my decorations and hides, and I do the sponges during my easy week.
Issues during cycling...
Issue 1: Nitrites off the charts
Now, it would just be too easy if everything went smoothly during this process. Maybe it will go smoothly for you, but I had a few problems arise.
First, what is this blueish-grayish color showing up in my nitrite test (below)? I thought it was the desired bright blue, but it wasn't...
After more research, I discovered that when your nitrites are off the chart, as in, wayyyy too high, it goes to this color. In order to figure out where my nitrites were, I did a test mixing the tank water with tap water, since I knew my tap water was at 0 nitrites. Here's what I found:
My nitrites were SO high! Now, you're not supposed to do a water change while you're cycling your tank...but I didn't have a choice. I don't know how it happened, or why, but I had to bite the bullet and do a 50/50 water change. It still didn't bring it down to "in range", but it was able to correct itself after a few days. This process was frustrating because, during my tests, the water wasn't bright purple. I saw this as the nitrites lowering, when in reality, they were getting so high that the chart didn't even recognize where they were. It was only after not seeing that bright blue color for a week or so that I started actually researching it. This issue pushed me back by atleast a week!
Issue 2: Low PH crashed the cycling process
After days of seeing progress and having my tests heading in the right direction, it stopped. My nitrites stopped going down, my nitrates were there, but nothing was changing. Again, more research...
I discovered that it's super important to do ALL 5 TESTS! Low PH and High PH need to be done. Just because my high PH is showing up as 7.4 doesn't mean that's what it actually is. Here's where it was actually at:
Low PH in the 6.4-6.6 range is too low for the cycle! If you go back to the reference chart, there's no star next to those numbers, and it caused my cycle to stall. Now, you can either use PH up, or you can use baking soda, either of these will bring your PH up. This, again, extended my cyling process by another week.
Issue 3: proper use of the API Freshwater test kit
After more than 2 months of this, I was fed up. I thought I failed. Even after all the research I did, I could not complete the cycle. Those nitrates just wouldn't show up, and I couldn't understand. My PH is within range, my ammonia is at 0 after 24 hours, my nitrites are at 0, but where are my nitrates!?
I couldn't find anything online. Nothing. There wasn't a single thing that explained this phenomenon. I decided to look on Facebook, and I happened to find a group that was dedicated to cycling your tank for an axolotl (what're the odds!?). I posted my problem, and someone responded. You'll never guess...
"I had this problem! You need to shake your test kit before added the drops in!"
...No. Way. So I got another vial, added the tank water in, and I shook nitrate test bottles. I hit the bottom of them on the ground, and I shook them real good. And guess what.
I was both excited that I had finally done it, and pissed that it was something so simple. Yet again, I wasted atleast a week, maybe even two weeks on this issue. My lotls could've been swimming in their newly cycled tank a week ago! But now, I could finally start my water change process to bring the nitrates down, and I could start the three day test.
Now, I shake every test bottle before adding the drops in.
In Conclusion...
I explained our entire process from start to current, and hopefully now you understand the process a bit better than you did before. Cycling a tank is not for the faint of heart, and axolotls are not a cheap or easy pet to take care of. I'm hoping you've done this research before having a fatality like we did, and I also hope you know there are so many good resources out there for you to keep this incredible animal alive!
Please reach out to me if you have any questions, whether it's about cycling your tank or anything else with your lotl. I'd be happy to help!
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