Question: What to put in my new Axolotl tank.

[MThompson299]

Me and my partner have our axolotls in our koi pond and they have been doing great with zero conflict between the fish and the axolotls. We have decided though, just for more personal enjoyment and wanting to see them more frequently, to purchase a 55 gallon tank to house them as well as looking to add a few more axolotls to our family. I am just wondering what would be suggested to put in the tank with them such as rocks or sand, underwater plants, and/or little fish "houses"? I am also looking in to creating a environment that would be suitable for reeding if possible later on down the road. Also I know there is alot of controversy between putting fish or other animals in with them, but are there any aquatic creatures that would be safe as tank mates? Also if anyone has any axolotls for sale and want to contact me with prices and such I would be very appreciative (I know there are threads for this just did not want to make multiple threads).

Thank you to everyone for any suggestions.

 

[limnologist]

First I want to say that I have 5 axolotls that could really use a new home.
as you know, axolotls like cold water, so, most any cold-water plant should be fine.
I hand feed my axies, so substrate has never been a problem for me, I suggest that for decor, you use mostly drift wood and large smooth stones.
I have succesfully kept all large species of tadpoles, koi, goldfish, plecos, guppies, platies, mollies, and shubunkins with my axolotls. I advise against any native fish like, or related to the bullhead, the sunfish, the bass, or the bluegill as they are all terribly aggressive against axies.
In my opinion, I think having a large stump-like chunk of wood as the center piece with many large smooth stones scattered around mixed with a few large plants, a few bunched plants, and a few floating plants would look awesome. I would keep 2 koi, 3 shubunkin, 1 goldfish, 4 tads (bullfrog probably), 1 bristlenose pleco, and a school of endler's guppies (mostly for a food supply).

 

[keiko]

In my tank I have fine sand substrate, plants (anubias, java fern, java moss, moss balls etc. and a couple fake ones), big rocks, some tunnels etc. where they can hide and some fake wood.
You can put pretty much anything in there as long as it's aquarium safe, not too small (bigger than their heads so they won't be able to swallow it) and doesn't have any sharp edges where they could hurt themselves.
I have fake wood in my tank, but you can also use real wood. But it's good to keep in mind that real wood can leach tannins in the water and affect water parameters like pH and GH.

Any other animals you put in the tank will most likely end up as snacks for your axies or try to nibble on the axies gills. If you put a lot of red cherry shrimps or something like that in there a couple might survive for some time, but you probably wouldn't see them much anyway because they would be hiding from the axies.

 

[MThompson299]

Also any recommendations on live food? And is there a simple way to raise live food? (I know a kind of dumb question)

 

[MThompson299]

Limnologist how much are your axolotls? And what kind do you have?

 

[keiko]

Also any recommendations on live food? And is there a simple way to raise live food? (I know a kind of dumb question)

Earth worms are very good to use as a staple. You can start your own worm farm and have pretty much endless supply of worms for your axies. There's a thread on here somewhere by auntiejude that gives advice how to do it.

 

[MThompson299]

Earth worms are very good to use as a staple. You can start your own worm farm and have pretty much endless supply of worms for your axies. There's a thread on here somewhere by auntiejude that gives advice how to do it.

Awesome thank you keiko.

 

[MThompson299]

First I want to say that I have 5 axolotls that could really use a new home.
as you know, axolotls like cold water, so, most any cold-water plant should be fine.
I hand feed my axies, so substrate has never been a problem for me, I suggest that for decor, you use mostly drift wood and large smooth stones.
I have succesfully kept all large species of tadpoles, koi, goldfish, plecos, guppies, platies, mollies, and shubunkins with my axolotls. I advise against any native fish like, or related to the bullhead, the sunfish, the bass, or the bluegill as they are all terribly aggressive against axies.
In my opinion, I think having a large stump-like chunk of wood as the center piece with many large smooth stones scattered around mixed with a few large plants, a few bunched plants, and a few floating plants would look awesome. I would keep 2 koi, 3 shubunkin, 1 goldfish, 4 tads (bullfrog probably), 1 bristlenose pleco, and a school of endler's guppies (mostly for a food supply).

How much are your axolotls and what kind do you have? Are you willing to ship them? I live in Atlanta. Also me and my partner are very attentive to our aquatic pets as we have built our own koi pond along with our own bio filter. We test our pond at least once a week to maintain balance.

 

[Asevernnnn]

I would keep 2 koi, 3 shubunkin, 1 goldfish, 4 tads (bullfrog probably), 1 bristlenose pleco, and a school of endler's guppies (mostly for a food supply).

Unless I read this post wrong, I would not advise doing this,
Plecos can suck the slime coat off, and injure the Axolotl with their spines.
Koi and Goldfish produce high amounts of waste and ammonia which could make the water toxic to the Axolotl. Not to mention they're not very healthy if eaten either.
Tadpoles will eventually metamorphose if not eaten and then you'll have bullfrogs and nothing to do with them.
Guppies are considered okay if quarantines a few weeks prior being added to the tank.

As for other stuff to add,
Plants that do well in cool temperatures like Java Moss/Fern, Hornwort, Elodea/Anacharis
Some hides, I like to use terra-cotta pots and PVC pipe personally since its cheap, I don't bother going to a petstore and spending 30$ on something that I could use for less than a dollar that works just as well.

 

[MThompson299]

Thank you all for the advice! We are up and running and the axolotls are enjoying it. We have a few live and fake plants plus a huge replica of some sort of colosseum given to us by the person we bought the tank from. We used sand for our substrate and are going to add more stuff later.