Illness/Sickness: Axolotl's fighting!!

[AxieNewbie]

Hi all,

Not been on for a while been very busy but in need of some advice.

I have 2 axolotls in a 30 litre tank, they were pretty small when i got them and am slowly increasing the tank size as they grow. The bigger one of the two has grown loads, but hes turned into a bully with it! Charlie the smaller one, is a fair bit smaller and i think hes growing slower too.

Problem is now and again the seem to be fighting, a couple weeks ago they were fighting, swimming madly round eachother and attacking eachother and Charlie had 2 legs bitten off. They settled and seemed fine since, but now tonight they had another fight and one of Charlie's remaining legs was attacked, not bitten off but hurt as now he cant yse it or move it it seems . I hve moved Charlie into a smaller and shallower tank by himself to recover and help him manage to reach the top of the water now as hes struggling to swim and move around much with only one good leg left.

I think they are both male but as Charlie is a bit smaller not 100% sure. Do you think i need to separate them permanently? Im worried Archie is going to kill him next time :

Oh i should probably add, they seem to fight when theyve just been given food and are eating. Archie seems to always go wherever Charlie is and push him around, eat the food by Charlie etc

Please any advice would be great, i know the tanks not big enough long term and im trying to get more space asap but what do i do in the mean time, keep the apart?

Thanks

 

[FX1C]

Yes - separate them now.... Please!!
That's a total no-brainer!

You should have separated them straight after the first incident so that the injured one could recover in peace.
When they are regenerating limbs their overall growth slows / stops so of course the size difference is just going to get worse & another attack almost inevitable

It's horrible that it was left in there to be attacked again instead of healing.

For now concentrate on getting the injured one well by keeping it in clean cool dechlorinated water changed 100% daily & the tub or container cleaned well every 2nd day.. Watch for any fungus on the newly injured limb & if you see signs then do salt baths (sick axolotl sticky) twice daily & keep in the separate container (no need to fridge!)

While that one recovers you can look at getting a bigger tank & set it up for the larger one.. It's a wait & see as to whether they can be housed together in the future.. Designing a tank so that all hides are open tunnels with multiple entries / exits that way no one gets cornered & defensive, lots of paths with alternate routes so they can avoid each other if they want. Feeding at different areas / opposite ends of the tank so they don't compete for food helps too.
Start the reintroduction once they're the same size & use a divider at first then rearrange the whole tank / hides before the actual reintroduction.



<3 >o_o< <3

 

[AxieNewbie]

Re: Axoltl's fighting!!

I have separated them already, and when the first fight happened i did in fact separate them for a few days til i thought the injured one seemed calmer and comfortavle and well fed, then i put them back together, i thought it would be fine as i thought maybe they had fought because i didnt feed them for 2 days and then they fought over food because they were hungry. I fed them more regularly hoping that was the problem and it seemed to resolve itself for a while but it happened again. I separated them straight away, im not cruel i wouldnt keep them together if i thought it was going to happen again!

I have now got a second tank and they are being kept separate now. I was too scared to risk reintroducing them again even once fully healed etc. Maybe when i have a 4foot tank and my own place to live i'd consider it but now, no chance of it. Little one is healing really well, legs a growing back already and hes doing really good now.

Thanks for the advice, i am doing all that now, not risking them fighting again!

 

[AxieNewbie]

Re: Axoltl's fighting!!

Oh and i meant to add, the leg that i thought had also been damaged/broken in the second attack, is actually healed, seems i got him out in time and a couple days resting it helped. He is now back to swimming round with 2 full legs and not just 1!! So happy about that.

 

[kapooey]

Re: Axoltl's fighting!!

You can buy a divider if you want to put them in the same tank.

 

[Petersgirl]

Re: Axoltl's fighting!!

I made a divider from a condensation sheet cut to size, which cost less than £6. I found this was a good and cheap alternative to buying a commercially available divider.

It is awful when they fight, particularly when they've gotten on okay until that point (I'm crossing my fingers that Tooth and Gally don't come to blows as Gally gets bigger - a few cautionary nips so far - 'Get off my head!' or 'Are you a worm? *Nip* No, definetely not a worm!' - which always seem to happen at feeding time, since they're in hunting mode. I've not had a bite yet, just nips of the 'what's that?' variety, and they've never held on or left any marks). I hope your Charlie heals quickly! :happy:

 

[iChris]

Re: Axoltl's fighting!!

axies don't "fight". What they do though is mistake tankmates (other axies) for food, they snap and as a result they take limbs and tails off by mistake. they have 2 things on their mind and 2 things only, that's to eat and reproduce when conditions are ideal. I wouldn't at all be surprised if the "bullied" axie had a good go back at the bigger one.

younger axies seem to be more agressive to each other, but that's only because they need to feed daily and mistake each other for food. adults can do this too, but it's less common as they don't need to be fed as much.

30L is too small to keep one axie easily, so you may need to consider getting a bigger tank in the future, considering that adult axies can get up to 30cm long. in a perfect world, you want about 50L per animal or if you can't get a tank that big, a tank that is longer and wider than it is deep because floorspace is preferable to depth (as they spend most of their time at the bottom)

 

[AxieNewbie]

Re: Axoltl's fighting!!

Hii!! Thanks for all the advice, im hoping to get my 3ft x 1ft x 1ft tank back from my step mum really soon which will be perfect. They are both doing really well separated at the moment however and Charlie's legs are almost fully grown back already!! Hes doing so well im so pleased. Eating well and growing nicely, same as Archie. Hopefully can get a divider for the 3ft tank to start with then may try introducing them after settling into their new surroundings a bit, gradually and with plenty of space and hidey places. Thanks all