What are the requirements for an axolotyl?

Question

I'm getting an axolotyl on Monday and I have most of the things I need for him. I put in a real plant, a filter and pump in the tank. What else does he need? I will get a hollow toy for him so he can hide etc. Is that all he needs? A heater or light for example. Thankyou. Any tips from axolotyl owners would be appreciated as well. Thanks so much

Answer 1

I've kept and bred these. They come from deep lake areas in Mexico (where they no longer live, thanks to humans). So they're adapted to low light, low oxygen, and low temperature. What you'll need to do is to try and replicate their natural environment.

The biggest problem anyone can have in keeping these is keeping the water temperature cool enough for them. They like the water temperature to be 65o or less. Keep that in mind when you decide where to put their tank. Both a heater and a light will warm the water too much for their tastes. (no light means no plant will survive for long)

As far as using any type of air pump or filter - the more water movement you have, the more oxygen you'll have in the tank. The more oxygen you have, the quicker they will lose their external gills. Skip any filter, it will make too much movement in the water. Use the air pump, but get a valve you can attach to the tubing to set the flow to about one bubble a second.

Wood or rocks (or your hollow toy) will be a place for them to hide when they want. They also seem to like decor they can climb on when they feel like it. You'll also see them floating on the top of the water sometimes.

You don't mention any kind of food. If yours are more than a few months old, they should be eating prepared (rather than live) foods. I always gave mine a varied diet - bloodworms, blackworms, brine shrimp, and turtle and fish pellets.

If your pair is over a year old, you may want to sex them if you're going to keep them together. Males have a "bulge" at the base of the tail (go down to axolotls and see photos: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/sexing.shtml ) that females don't. If you have one of each, expect some breeding in the tank. You'll know when this is going to happen because you'll see things in the tank like you've never seen before. The male produces spermatophores, which look like little white Hersey's kisses. They'll be all over the bottom of the tank. The female will pick these up to fertilixe her eggs, which she'll lay and generally attach to something in the tank. The eggs can hatch in as little as three days, depending on the temperature of the water. If you want t o try and raise babies, it's difficult, but not impossible. But you'll need to be able to provide a constant supply of live food, because the babies need to see motion to trigger a feeding response. I start them on baby brine shrimp, then move them to live bloodworms or blackworms in a few weeks. Gradually, I can change them over to frozen bloodworms by mixing these with the live ones. You need a lot of space to raise them successfully, because the young are cannibalistic.

Here's a website where you can find additional information on keeping axolotls: http://www.axolotl.org/

Answer 2

we have 2 axolotls, we dont have a heater in the tank, they prefer the low 20's (Celsius). in the wild they live in the rivers of Mexico which are created by melting ice caps. we also dont have a light they dont need that either, we feed ours about every 2 three days, they dont need to eat every day and we use frozen beef heart squares, cut it into small pieces and use a skewer and hold it right in front of his nose (easier if still frozen) and he will grab it off that, they are nearly blind so if you just leave food in there it wont get eaten. sometimes they aren't very active so dont stress if it sits in one spot for a long time.
Good luck