Housing Male+Female without breeding

[miola]

Hello! We have two Axolotls, one male/one female, that we have raised from tiny babies to adults. We are attached to both. They are almost one year old. They share a 20 gallon long tank. I placed a divider in the tank from the start, because the bigger one is an aggressive bully who bites, and then the skinnier one became obviously male. They are siblings, and we don't want babies, or eggs to cull.

Is that an acceptable housing situation for opposite gender Axolotls? I imagine that they can sense hormones from each other in the water, and I wonder if this can cause stress or ovulation?

Recently their tank experienced a sudden severe nitrite/nitrate spike. I think I over-cleaned the tank and crashed the bacteria. I had to remove them from the tank while I worked on the problem. I purchased a 10 gallon tank to temporarily house them in, and have just kept doing daily 40% water changes for this small, filterless tank. The large tank is on the mend, and I moved the male back into it so that it would not crash again from lack of ammonia to feed the regrowing bacteria. He looks so happy with extra room to roam. The 20 gallon tank has a Fluval 30 filter.

Should I just set up a foam filter for the 10 gallon tank and just leave the female separated? Is 10 gallons enough? I don't have room for a second 20 gallon tank. She is a big, messy girl who likes to eat, but kinda a couch potato so she doesn't roam much. Or is there a better solution?
Thank you!

 

[Viking]

If you do not want eggs. They must be in separate tanks. Of course you have a coose about raising the eggs.

 

[edanded]

Hey! They definitely need to be in separate tanks, and most axolotl people will say the minimum sized tank you need for an adult axolotl is 20gal/2ft, and an extra 10gal/1ft for every extra axie in that tank. Anything under this and they won’t have enough room to move around in and there’s a decent chance you’ll overload your cycle as axies are huge waste producers.
If you have them together you will end up having an overproduction of eggs/overbreeding which can be really harmful to her and can shorten her life span.
If there is any way you can have a second 20gal that would be ideal but for the short term make sure you are keeping your ammonia levels safe in the 10gal your girl is in by doing frequent water tests and changes. Especially if she’s messy it’s unlikely that a 10gal will be able to keep up with her wate production unfortunately. If you are setting up a second tank filter system make sure you have her tubbed while you cycle your new tank (this can take up to 8 weeks usually).

A good tip for tubbing (when you need to take an axie out of their tank for whatever reason) is to tub in about 10 litres (or more) of cool dechlorinated water and you’ll need to do 100% water changes daily to remove the ammonia that is going to build up in the water. I find I have to change the water twice daily to keep the levels safe for our guy. This can be in any plastic tub pretty much. We just use a storage container. Lots of people prefer black ones as they’ll be darker for your axie too.

 

[miola]

Thank you for the advice . I did end up leaving her in the 10 gallon tank and I am cycling it with her in the tank. It has gone all right with daily 20% water changes. and lots of tidying. and Prime as needed. But I am waiting to see if it will stay consistently cycled. So far I have gotten one 3 day stretch with 0 nitrites/0 ammonia, but usually the nitrites and ammonia are at .5
The male is so happy in the 20 gallon, I will probably figure out a way to make a second 20 gallon work. I was not looking to take care of 2 tanks, but I'm there now either way

 

[miola]

Just to end the thread, the 10 gallon in-tank cycling went perfectly, all cycled. But it does need more frequent water changes than the 20 gallon because the nitrates tend to build up faster. I will be moving her into a 20 gallon as soon as I get a space set up in the basement.