Can axolotls really be housed together?

[Jonjey]

This is just a question concerning axolotls, I was told that keeping feeder fish with axolotls is neglect because feeder fish can nip axolotls gills. I know personally I've never seen a feeder fish nip my axolotls, but I have seen my axolotls nip each others gills and limbs.. So my question is, is it really safe to keep axolotls together? If gill nipping minnows are abuse then how is it not abuse to keep them with other axolotls. I feel like the same question can be asked for other tank mates but I won't get that deep into it. Thinking of separating all my axolotls for their safety.

 

[Liz Roome]

I have 2 housed together, they mostly just climb on each other.

I understand people say fish nip the gills of axies, to be honest I have giant danios in my Axie tank, not for food, although the axies try to catch them but the fish never touch the axies at all. It's a harmonious tank.

If your axies were kept alone before you got them this might be going part way to making them a little aggressive.
How big is your tank,? How many hides etc do you have, and how many plants etc?
Mine have a fair amount or decor to explore.

 

[Jonjey]

I have two 5" axolotls in a 50 gallon tank with some guppies, lots of caves and plants to hide in. The axolotls have only nipped at eachother when blood worms are involved lol, seems they smell them and think anything moving is food. They haven't taken a limb off but this morning my melanoid bit my goldens leg and held on for a second, my golden wigged out and got him off then went and hid. He looked like it hurt pretty bad.

 

[auntiejude]

Most axies don't bite or attack each other, assuming you follow the accepted guidance on space and size parity.

If an axie shows aggressive tendencies then it's probably best to keep it segregated.

Fish small enough to be food probably can't do much damage to an axie before it gets eaten. Bigger fish, particularly carnivourous and 'sucky' fish pose a real danger to axies, as demonstrated by countless horror stories available on this forum and elsewhere on the internet.

 

[Jonjey]

Two 5" axolotls in a 50 gallon tank is housed improperly? I've seen both my axolotls nip each other while feeding, so that means that they are just aggressive axolotls and need to be kept alone forever or what?
I said feeder fish so yeah small fish is what we're talking about here.

 

[Liz Roome]

Axolotls have an instinct when young if it moves the snap at it, as you know the water rushes in through their mouths along with anything else in the vicinity. Legs arms etc. axolotl sucking food in to me looks like a Dyson Hoover, no loss of suction. I have seen my babies suck in water and each other's legs, they don't like to let go, and yes as you said, it moves they think it's food. If they only manage to nip when being fed, try spreading the food or having 2 piles. Then they don't have to have the same pile. How often do you feed them if you don't mind me asking?

My axies nipped but when I gave them pellets they had a few each at opposite ends of the tank, they didn't nip.
Space doesn't seem to be an issue if you are allowing like 10 gallons per axolotl, approximately, seems they have heaps of space, hides and stuff.

I think its more like kids rushing to the table, going me first, me first. I'd certainly try feeding them separately, if you can chop the block of blood work in 2 and drop in separately see if it helps. ��

 

[lovesheraxies]

I think it really depends on the axolotl, I have three full grown that I've raised since they were two inches, only one is non aggressive, Leonard has nipped Sheldon's tail quite a few times, usually this occurs at feeding time but Penny is the worst by far, she nips at everything insight including herself, it's getting a little ridiculous the injuries she's inflicted upon herself. She's in her own tank too. Well now I have 9 Axies ranging from 3 inches to 6 inches and they are all friends, no nips, no bullying, they play daily and all eat together, they've startled each other but that's it. I'm not keeping them all in the 50 btw, I'm getting a 110 gal set up on the 21st and some will be going in there to even out the Axie per 10 gal rule. I do believe that Axies are much more alert and playful when they have a friend, I put two new Axies in with Leonard and Sheldon and Sheldon was so much more alert, sniffing and trying to lead them around the tank, swimming with them. Leonard just acted like his crusty self and sat in the corner. I took one out to put in a tank in my daughters room as it's her Axie and it immediately seemed depressed, hid and didn't want to eat, as soon as I put it back in the 40 gal with the others it perked right back up. From what I've witnessed I do think most axolotls would do better with a tank mate, but again it all depends on the axolotl.

 

[Jonjey]

Axolotls have an instinct when young if it moves the snap at it, as you know the water rushes in through their mouths along with anything else in the vicinity. Legs arms etc. axolotl sucking food in to me looks like a Dyson Hoover, no loss of suction. I have seen my babies suck in water and each other's legs, they don't like to let go, and yes as you said, it moves they think it's food. If they only manage to nip when being fed, try spreading the food or having 2 piles. Then they don't have to have the same pile. How often do you feed them if you don't mind me asking?

My axies nipped but when I gave them pellets they had a few each at opposite ends of the tank, they didn't nip.
Space doesn't seem to be an issue if you are allowing like 10 gallons per axolotl, approximately, seems they have heaps of space, hides and stuff.

I think its more like kids rushing to the table, going me first, me first. I'd certainly try feeding them separately, if you can chop the block of blood work in 2 and drop in separately see if it helps. ��

Well the thing is the times I've seen them nip, the first time I had just hand fed a feeder fish to my melanoid and the golden came up and nipped at his gills. The second time was this morning and recently I got one of those big jars, I put it on it's side in the tank and put a frozen block of bloodworms in there, when they started noticing that blood worms were around the were looking for them and the came too close to eachother my melanoid grabbed my golden's leg, he let go after a second but not before my golden wigged out then swam headfirst into a wall.
I have been feeding them by putting a block in and one goes in and eats most/all of it then I pop another block in and the other will go in and eat, has been working well but today neither could find the opening!

 

[rachel1]

If you're seeing aggression over a food source, I would recommend feeding them simultaneously at separate locations. That way you don't have one hungry axi wanting food and another resource guarding the food it has. My dogs live harmoniously, but if one stuck its nose in the other's feeding bowl, all bets are off. The same goes for axi's. They will want to protect access to an inherently valuable resource.
And as far as feeder fish go, many people do not use good judgement. As long as they have been properly quarantined, are safe to eat (no poison,spines, etc) and won't eat the axi, then no problem. Minnows are really the safest bet, you'd be surprised how many fish have hidden spines. Just be careful! I know of an experienced fishkeeper at a local shop who put an axi in with feeder goldfish, and they reduced its gills and legs to nubs in a days time. Also, fish aren't a great source of nutrition, but that's a topic for a different day.

 

[xxianxx]

Nice to see this topic debated civilly. The same conversation was had on Fb group (world of axolotls) and it was offensive to the extent that I left. Apparently all fish are axolotl killers and anybody who uses them as food is trying to murder their axolotl. This is of course total trash, certain species pose a risk but small non aggressive fish such as guppies, endlers and white cloud mountain minnows pose no threat. If you are in the UK please be aware that live feeding of vertebrates could lead to potentially prosecution for animal cruelty. The law is a grey area and there are situations you can live feed but its best to steer clear of advertising the fact that you do it.

 

[Jonjey]

Nice to see this topic debated civilly. The same conversation was had on Fb group (world of axolotls) and it was offensive to the extent that I left. Apparently all fish are axolotl killers and anybody who uses them as food is trying to murder their axolotl. This is of course total trash, certain species pose a risk but small non aggressive fish such as guppies, endlers and white cloud mountain minnows pose no threat. If you are in the UK please be aware that live feeding of vertebrates could lead to potentially prosecution for animal cruelty. The law is a grey area and there are situations you can live feed but its best to steer clear of advertising the fact that you do it.

Figured someone would show up, I wanted to get this forum's opinion on the matter, as I've never seen anyone on here say that feeder fish are harmful to axolotls. That was truly a disgusting display of humanity on that post. I'm glad the admin took care of them.

 

[xxianxx]

Figured someone would show up, I wanted to get this forum's opinion on the matter, as I've never seen anyone on here say that feeder fish are harmful to axolotls. That was truly a disgusting display of humanity on that post. I'm glad the admin took care of them.

The dangers of using certain species of fish are well known, plecos suck axolotls slime coat, even stripping the flesh to the bone, harmless looking coryadoras have sharp spines, goldfish get big and are gill nibblers, they also increase the bioload of the tank and contain thiamanise, cichlids are aggressive and can be spiky. People see the species mixing disaster section of this site and extrapolate the dangers of certain species to all fish. Its just not true and just shows the danger of having a little knowledge and no common sense. My main concern with using feeder fish would be the introduction of disease, if you breed your own rather than shop bought this risk is greatly reduced. I was quite shocked at the level that particular thread sank to and was very annoyed that such a foul mouthed harriden who had enough make up on to be a member of Gerry Cottels clown troop was allowed to get away with it for so long.

 

[xxianxx]

I failed to address the risks of keeping axolotls together. I raise large numbers, if the stocking density is high you increase the risks of limb loss, with small juveniles its nearly inevitable that they try and chomp each other and it appears to be deliberate predation. As they get bigger this propensity to attack tank mates reduces, with adults any damage is generally down to an accidental bite during feeding. Some axolotls can be aggressive and they will consistently attack tank mates, I had a 9" female who did this, she calmed down when I put her in with some 12" ones. To reduce problems with adults feed seperatly with tongs or feed individuals in different parts of the tank, not much you can do with juvies except keep separate or reduce stocking density.

 

[Skudo09]

To say small feeder fish are a no no is a bit extreme... I think as long as they are quarantined properly first to prevent introducing any disease or parasites to the axolotls then they pose no threat (as long as the owner is happy for the fish to be axolotl snacks). I personally prefer not to have feeder fish at all but this is a personal preference. On the other hand, I think it is best to steer clear of larger fish such as goldfish, plecos and catfish.

I think it is fine to keep axolotls together with other axolotls as long as they have enough space, and are of similar size. However if one is showing particularly aggressive behaviour towards another axolotl it is probably best to separate that one.

 

[fireball99]

Funny you ask that question. My axie came from a communial tank and is housed on his own with us and went from happy to share lotl to snappy lotl.

When we went on holiday last year the man who raised him as a baby said he would be happy to have him back for a few weeks while we were away. He put our axie back into the large communial tank he was raised in. By that point, most of the babies had gone so there was less axies in the tank than had been there when our axie came to us.

When we got home we discovered that our axie had been snapping at others and was pretty territorial (even though it wasn't his tank) and had to be housed in a tank on his own after a few days of bullying the others.

I wondered if he had just gotten used to his own tank and didn't like sharing space again, or whether he just saw the other axie as food because it moved.

Snappy little critter :wacko: