Should I Breed My Axolotls?

[Tevez]

Hi guys,

Ive just recently acquired two new axolotls to live with my current one and am somewhat worried about them breeding (after reading some things on the net).

My original axolotl is a female (most likely from as best I can judge) around 8 inches long and am not quite sure how old, I've had her for about 6-7 months and when I got her she was about 4-5 inches long.

The new axolotls I have are a male roughly 9-10 inches long and a female (assuming since its small and looks significantly different than the male) which is 4-5 inches long. (Not sure how old either of them are but assuming male is a fair bit older than my current female and the new female is quite young)

Originally I thought having one male and two females would be great for breeding, however from what i've read it can cause a lot of stress on the females.
My question is; is it currently safe for the females to be with the male as they currently are, or will their bodies start going into overdrive producing eggs which in turn will cause their bodies stress?

I am in no rush to breed them and just want whats best for them. Is it possible for the male and females to live together or will I need to segregate them?

Thanks for any help you could give me and im sorry if this question has already been posted and answered somewhere else.

 

[xxianxx]

One of the dangers of surfing the net looking for advice on axolotls is that there is a lot of very poor advice available from a whole host of "pros" who know very little other than the absolute basic care requirements. Facebook can be horrendous btw. If you want to breed your axolotls its fine, its a natural behavor obviously. Just make sure the y are in good health, the females should have finished their initial first year growth spurt and hit adult size, feed them up before and after laying, give them a break between batches, this may involve separating the sexs but not always. I have a female who would lay every few weeks if given the chance, so she is kept from the males after laying, other females lay several times a year and regulate themselves. Breeding axolotls is easy but you have to make sure they are healthy.

 

[Chinadog]

A common mistake many people make when breeding Axolotls for the first time is trying to raise too many babies. They aren't difficult to raise, but the foods they need when very young can take some getting the hang of. By limiting the number of hungry mouths, its normally possible to learn as you go without the whole lot starving if you make any mistakes.

 

[Tevez]

Thanks for the info. When it comes to separating them though is a physical barrier in the tank enough or will they need their own tank?

 

[xxianxx]

You can raise them individually if you wish. If you keep them together be sure to separate them by size as they will show different growth rates and the smallest may get eaten.