Life update #21

Hey

This isn't actually 21, but whatever. Its summer so I'm just trying to update this once a day using the blogger app on my iPhone.

I haven't even seen my blog on the web in months so I'm not sure how all of these posts are getting formatted and such. I know I'll have to change the layout and delete most of the acolyte crap change the name and shut, I'll do it this weekend I suppose.

Anyway about the fish fry, successfully in their new tank with no parents do we'll see how they bide. There's like 20 and I guess by Friday they'll be free swimming.

Josh

Angel Fish Breeding

Okay so I had 4 angel fish in my community tank. They paired up and started going at it, we had to move the less dominant pair into a tank on their own and both pairs laid eggs. The eggs in the community tank didn't make it because other fish ait Dat shit but the eggs in the tank with just two in it hatched today and I'm reals exited.
Gonna start feeding them baby brine shrimp tomorrow and hopefully we,ll have 50 piece cent sized angelfish. Will update blog tomorrow because it's summer and I want to start blogging more about fish and life n shit so yeah, gonna remove all that axolotl stuff too.

-josh

At Least Put A Blanket Over The Tank For Privacy For God Sake. (Blog #10)

This was one of my better ones; usually i find all the information online and post it but for this one i reitirated everything into my own words. I also still find it funny that these posts dates are exactly around this time last year. This ones from March 18th 2011




Breeding. Thats right, Breeding.
My little fellas ain't up to it yet, but that doesn't mean i can't touch on it and give you guys some info. So, hopefully the title makes sense now.

The "Bonding"
Takes axolotls around 6 months - 1 year to become sexually mature (remember this is still all in the juvenile stage of life).
Axolotls, like birds, will form a bond with each other and begin the mating process. (Note: Its not a good idea to breed axolotls until they reach their full size)
The "Mating"
Basic:The male axolotl will "Swim around the tank" for a while, and make gestures at the female, such as pushing up is tail and tapping on the females vent. The male will then leave Packs around the tank and try to lead the female over them, the female will then pick one of them up (With her cloaca), and be pregnant.

The "Laying of the eggs"
The impregnation usually happens between 2-4 hours. The female will then begin laying eggs somewhere the female finds appropriate. i.e. on plants or soft gravel. The female will leave between 100- or 1000 eggs in just 1 session. After the eggs are fertilized, its best to take both axolotls out of the tank. 

The "Hatching"
The eggs "if all has gone well" should hatch in 2-3 weeks, or about 17 days. The eggs have shown to have better hatching results if placed near plants as the water circulation has a better effect to them. Dont expect all 1000 eggs to hatch though! And Remember:
Axolotls are cannibalistic in nature and go through a "Cannible" phase for the first 6 months of their life.

*Update*
No! No No, i promised myself this wouldn't do this.  I've wanted an Axolotl for ages and swore i'd take care of it. Recently because of all the stuff in life thats been happening, Im starting to get lazy. The usual 20 degrees celcius temp i like to remain went up to 26 degrees the other day! Poor fish were boiling in there! I've been lazy with the Ice bottles and keeping the tank both clean and cold.
The Super worms (That i mentioned earlier) Are still alive and moving, Except that they don't seem so eager for them anymore. You got to give variety to the axolotls so il vary them on blood worms and ...wait for it.. OX KIDNEY. Yeah i managed to get my hands on a frozen ox kidney and theres enough to feed them for months on it. Also, I notice the axolotls are either spitting out or not fully digesting the worm and i see half of it usually moldy floating around in the tank. Eek. Better give it a good rinse out tomrrow then, ay?
Anywho, see you in a couple days guys,
I'm a whole lotl axolotl


-Josh

Choose the fish, thats right for you (Blog #9 i think)

Choose the fish, thats right for you!

Sorry for the week's absence, been real busy. Which is actually funny because in this blog post from this time last year i talk about how busy i was; as you will read in the first paragraph. Basically it's all the same, but instead of a play i'm doing a musical, and my i got dropped from the volleyball team this year

:(
Enjoy.

An Explanation:

Pic above: Gold type axo eating a GOLDFISH!!

So as some of my avid readers would of noticed. Its been a lot longer then "2 days' Since my most recent blog post. This is because life has been extremely hectic this past week. I'm talking Work, Volleyball practice, 3 assignments and now a damn School Play i have to be a part of. (I'm operating the spotlight, my acting doesn't see sunlight don't worry) This has made the first week of March very stressful so please bare with me. My next blog post probably wont be until "March 7th" so don't check back until then. (But after that Ive still got Tests + Study for the next 2 weeks,  so, yeah)

If you ever decide to get an axolotl. You should definitely shop around and find one thats right for you.
Many aquariums will only carry a few (if any) axolotls in there shop, especially if its the summer months. There is the occasional store where they will keep a dozen of the damn things in a single tang. This squishes them all up together and is extremely stressful in axolotls. 

Make sure you check they don't have disease!

Axolotls that are kept in stressful living conditions (which is very common) do tend to develop some stress disease which is easily spotted. The disease will appear as white spots along the tails of the axolotl. See the picture below.

These axolotls tend to isolate themselves in the tank and stay behind the filter. So try and pick the ones that seem Big, healthy and most of all happy. Try and pick an active axolotl. IM glad i picked Aristotle he is 24/7 swimming around the tank unlike my other axolotl who moves half n inch every hour =/.

Colour!

I picked a black and white axolotl. They are a good mix and they look really pretty in the tank together. Choosing corresponding colours is usally an important decision to most avid aquatic animal enthusiasts. 

Those big round puppy eyes

Sagge, my wild type axolotl was picked because when i first saw her in the tank. She was standing up on 2 feet smiling at me and blowing bubbles. Definitely go for an axolotl if you feel a connection or "Click" and they will find a place in your heart for good.

Now, If you take care of them right, You've got a soul mate for the next `10-15 years :D.

**Update**
The Worms are still alive. theres still around 1 and a half dozen left in there. I've reduced my feeding patterns by feeding them 1 each. And then every other day i take a worm and cut him in half and feed them each that. The summer month has just finished in Australia but man its  still hot. Oh and everyone get there timers on! at the end of this month  a new Axolotl will be joining Sagee and Aristotle. No, theyre not breeding. But i decided a new one would really spice up the tank and im waiting untill we're well out of summer. (Oh and i got some cool pics of ari munching on a worm to show you guys)
Thanks then,
Im a whole lotl axolotl


-Josh

Birthday!

As you read in the title...Today is my BIRTHDAY!

My presents were of course the amount of new Fish and aqua products i have been putting in my tank over the past few weeks.
I had a very fun and enjoyable day.

I also thought that today could be the #2 anniversary of "Aristotletheaxolotl" blog. So cheers,

See you soon.

-Josh

                        (Created in under 25 seconds)

Cruel, But Delicious! (Blog #8)

Cruel, but delicious!

This is my blog post from Feb 21, 2011.
It was discussing live food, in which i bought a container filled with a sawdust like subtance and 20 "Superworms" - A type of ground worm with legs. After the axolotls died, i became lazy and the worms just say there and there little box. Sometimes at night time i could hear them moving around in the saw dust. 11 and a half months later the worms were still sitting there, most of them had either been eaten or just simply died, because i saw a vast amount of wormshell inside the container. My only question is how did they survive that long without food? Maybe they ate that saw-dust type thing. Anywho, I open the container up 1 week ago and their are 2 left. The container smelt HORRIBLE, there was dead insects inide it for about a year. Anyway, i fed one of them to my Brothers "oscar" fish and threw the container out. Maybe that worm i threw out is now in the dump living the high life aftering being imprisoned for a year. I miss feeding the live worms to my axolotls. Sometimes i would have to hold the worm under water for them to eat it. Other times i just placed the worm at the top and it would slowly sink down, and, depressingly, convluse with muscle spasms as it gasped for air. The axoltols would soon eat it though, after it stopped moving. There was a funny time i remember when the worm was fighting to wriggle out while the axolotl struggled to keep it in his mouth, because, as you know, they must swollow it whole.
Sorry for that wall of text. When the memories flow you find it hard to stop writing. See you next Tomorrow

When someone asks me about my fish, the person standing next to them will go "What?" I'll say "We're talking about my Axolotls" which is usually followed my an even louder "What?!"
Today i'll be giving you an in-depth look of what is meant by the term "Axolotl"
If someone asks you what an Axolotl is. The normal response would be "A fish with Legs" This is far from the truth of what an actual axolotl is. Axolotl is the term given by the Aztecs to this mysterious creature. The axolotl is a wild water salamander or water dragon found in the wild rivers of mexico. They have become endangered in the wild but are healthy and in supply at the local aquarium as long as your not in the middle of the summer months. Axolotls require a long widthy tank with a graveled bottom and filter. The tank needs to be kept cold with no fluctuation temperatures. Frozen ice bottles in the tank can be a cheaper alternative then the $1k chillers they sell. The require temperatures between 16-20 degrees Celsius, higher degrees then that causes stressful and lazy behavior leading to disease and sometimes death. The best thing about axolotls are they are not the sort of fish that just die on you. You start to see symptoms of unhealthy behavior and death soon comes within a week, don't expect to wake up one mourning to see a dead axolotl floating at the top of your tank ( unless of course you don't something crazy like feed them chocolate ect.) Apart from being sturdy fish that most find appealing because of there lovable appearance, Axolotls are the few fish that you can handle and hand feed. This very feature was the reason i got so into fish. Mexican walking fish are carnivorous and there diet is formed with some of the foods listed below. If you ever chose to get an axolotl, check out my previous blog posts to see some tips and tricks.
**Update** Day 8:
I rock up at the aquarium and i ask them for their life food section.
They got everything my little fella could ever need: Earthworms, Blackworms meal worms and "Super Worms"
Intrigued by super worms i ask and sure enough there are 2 dozen little Caterpillar things in a Tupperware container filled with sawdust. They are running around like crazy in there. The guy at the counter says they are a better feed and are more nutritious for them. I buy the box for $16.
I go home eager to feed them both, i pluck out a worm and drop it in the tank. Thing drowns in close to 20 second and then goes straight and stiff. I put it in the mouth of Aristotle and it takes him about 4 minutes for him to gobble it down. I try it different for  Sagee, i quickly take one out and put it in the mouth of Sagee, he Snaps it out and the worms thrashes about and tries to break lose. they fight for a while but the worm surcame to the water and goes stiff and it takes sagee about 7 minutes to gobble it down. Some people would consider this cruel to feed to them but its better give them a varied diet. And i don't want to hinder them by just eating frozen after frozen food. When i go to pick up my next axolotl (At the end of march) i will pick up some mealworms to feed them. Oh well they seem to like it and ive got enough worms here to feed for the next 2 weeks. Im a whole lotl axolotl
-Josh

Personalize and Decorate your Tank. (Blog #7)

Personalize and Decorate your Tank.

Hi. this post is from Feb 19th 2011, and is about decorating your tank. The picture below is NOT my tank its some image from Google. There are about 7 more of these old axolotl posts before i will begin talking about my current fish. I blog once a day, i hope you enjoy!

Decorate your fish tank, any type of fish will look stylish with these tips. 

Gravel-

You need to have some layering on the bottom of the tank.
Whether this is gravel or sand, a bottom layering is essential.

For specific, Axolotls, require bigger then pea size gravel, as they have a tendency to swallow them. They require pebble sized rocks much larger then pea sized. I have spread said rocks out making 2 layers for them over my 3 foot tank and they seem to love it just fine. Bare glass is impossible for them to get a grip on and can be stressful and some times. Sand is also a risky choice as it can lead to murky water every time the fish moves. Make sure when first purchase of your gravel you rinse out the rocks in water a few times so all the dirt rubs off. 
Plants-

Definitely throw some plants in the tank. As long as you have a light suitable enough for your tank, even if you don't plants are a good way to have more oxygen flowing through your tank and some plants only need a few hours of artificial light a day. Be careful you don't buy anything too expensive though, axolotls might have a tendency to nibble on the leaves if they get a touch hungry.

Logs-
Caves and hiding places are essential for all axolotls, they need to have a "Hidey hole" for those times they don't feel safe. You can pick up some plastic logs from your local aquarium for medium price. You can also pick up other things that don't necessarily provide a spot to hide in, but add some attractiveness and spice to the tank. Having a mixture of these is great and will make your axolotl feel right at home.

Filter-

Choosing the right filter for your tank is essential. Make sure you get one that can pump the the right amount of water for your size tank, if you have a tank, it is a stupid idea to get a 500 liter pumping filter.

**Update** Day 5:
Shit! I got home from work and i put in a bottle of frozen water into the tank (I do this during summer, put bottles of ice in the tank to defrost and cool down to the right temperature for the fish) and the bottle dropped down and clipped Aristotle, lying directly beneath it. He scattered away instantly and i dont think he was hurt, just the sudden fright of death from above. Sagee is being more active, she walks around and swims more then she use to. I hope that means shes getting use to this new environment. Tomrrow is going to be fun, im going to buy Earthworms from the aquarium and test out feeding LIVE WORMS to the axolotls. It will be a true test to there sence of smell and movment to try and catch them, its also a good idea for me to vary there diet as they have been eating nothing but frozen blood worms for the last week. Untill tomrrow, Thanks for reading. Im a whole lotl axolotl.

-Josh