Checklist: setting up your axolotl tank

🖨️ Keep it handy: print this page or save it as a PDF (Ctrl+P then “Save as PDF”) — it is designed to be ticked off as you go.

Step 1 — The equipment, item by item

Realistic total budget: 200 to 350 € all in (excluding a water chiller, +90 to 150 € as an option if the room goes above 22 °C in summer). The detailed choices are in our setting up an axolotl cold-water tank guide.

• ☐ 80 L tank minimum (100 L recommended), long rather than tall — 80 to 150 € (the axolotl lives on the floor: favour surface area, not height)
• ☐ Adjustable low-flow filter (outlet aimed at the glass to break the current) — 30 to 60 €
• ☐ NO heater — the axolotl lives in cold water; a heater must be avoided (0 €)
• ☐ Reliable thermometer (and a 10-15 € surface fan for summer) — 5 to 20 €
• ☐ Fine sand in a thin layer — 10 to 20 € (never gravel: impaction risk if swallowed)
• ☐ Liquid test kit (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) — 25 to 40 €, non-negotiable
• ☐ Water conditioner + starter bacteria — 10 to 20 €
• ☐ 2 hides (tube, terracotta half-pot, soft-edged root) — 15 to 30 €
• ☐ Dim lighting or floating plants for shade — 10 to 25 € (the axolotl avoids strong light)
• ☐ Soft net + transfer container — 8 to 15 €

Step 2 — Cold water and cycling, before the animal

An axolotl is a fragile amphibian: distinctly cool water and a cycled tank are non-negotiable. The parameters are detailed in our axolotl water parameters guide.

• ☐ Target temperature: 16 to 18 °C, never sustained above 20-22 °C — in summer, a surface fan or a chiller (no ice cubes, which cause shocks)
• ☐ Week 0: install sand, hides, filter; fill with conditioned water; run the filter 24/7 — then hands off, no animal
• ☐ Weeks 1-3: track ammonia then nitrite with the liquid test; nitrite spike around week 2-3
• ☐ The only real green light: ammonia and nitrite undetectable two days in a row AND water below 20 °C — not before, whatever the calendar says
• ☐ Then, every week: change 15 to 20% of the water (matched temperature), check nitrite/nitrate and temperature

Step 3 — Feeding and cohabitation

• ☐ Food: axolotl-specific pellets, earthworms, pieces of mussel or shrimp — 2 to 3 times a week for an adult, never daily (overfeeding pollutes and fattens)
• ☐ Remove leftovers after the meal to protect water quality
• ☐ An axolotl lives ALONE: no fish (they nibble its gills), no cohabitation with a differently sized conspecific (cannibalism)
• ☐ Minimal handling: it is a display animal; guide it into a container, never bare-handed and dry — see can you touch an axolotl

To go further (profile, gear, guides), see our axolotl page.

🩺 Our hygiene and health advice stays general: it never substitutes for an examination by a veterinarian, the only person qualified to advise on your animal.