Urgent help please - swollen abdomen

I have recently (ie within the last week) purchased a tank & 4 mature axolotls, got home from work today and one of them has a grossly swollen abdomen. My question is, is it normal when the female is laying eggs for this to happen? Or is it likely to be something else? Please don't jump on me, I am new to axolotls so haven't experienced this in the past. Axolotl was normal this morning when I left for work. TIA

We have adult females and they look fattish/round stomach , so i don't know if the swollen abdomen is eggs or something else (Are you able to post a picture? - it might help). What substrate do you have in the tank (bare floor, sand, gravel or other)? Other thing is how often do you feed them?

Anyway, I hope you don't think I have jumped on you - just asking for clarification

And welcome to the forum. You'll find lots of help and advice here.

Hi, thanks for the reply, have uploaded a pic (sorry about the quality, was taken with my cellphone)

I have only had them four days and fed twice so far, have been using frozen bloodworms, axolotl pellets and "axolotl tucker" (mix of shrimp/beef/vegetables/cereal) from the local pet store. One in particular was keener to feed than the others but to be honest I can't really tell the difference between the three white ones yet so am not sure if this is the same one.

You can see the gravel they are on in the pic, I was not entirely happy with it but purchased an established tank which is what they have been used to. I intend to change the gravel to something larger after reading various posts about gravel consumption.

One of the females had laid eggs the day before I picked them up, so wondered if this could be what is happening this time.

It is so easy to overfeed one, when they all look the same! I have done it once or twice; esp. when they move corners. The white ones/leucistics are easier for me, as they have different speckle variations.

I see what you mean re the abdomen tho! I can't honestly say, whether it is overfed or whether it is the one that had eggs and has maybe got more eggs producing in it.

Maybe someone who has had a breeding female will be able to tell you.


If you intend using a pebble/larger gravel try and use 3cm+ size. And change it in sections; ie; scoop out a section every 3/4 days and add a new substrate to the removed section until it's done.

welcome!! us NZ'ers just keep adding to this forum lol.

i dont think that is normal sizing. it could be gravel consumption, overfeeding or some sort of internal problem. i dont think it is eggs and you say it happened in a day? if you fed before work then its possible its over feeding however if you didnt it is most likely gravel consumption (axies often sniff around for a while after feeding, sometimes days and snap) or something internal.

i would advise you to start removing the gravel (its probably only just started the cycle anyway if the gravel and/or filters dried out during the move) bit by bit, perhaps divide into 4 sections and slowly remove it. they dont mind being on bare bottom tanks and theres going to be less chance of it causing problems then. i have some great sand in my axie tank, i got it from benchmark and its 'plasterers sand', its quite dark and isnt overly fine but is quite dirty. it was 5 bucks for 20kgs- this is in tauranga though.

i would not feed for a week or so and see if it goes down but if she seems to be swelling more it might be worth putting her in the fridge for a bit.

good luck and if you need any help dont be afraid to ask!

Thanks for the help guys. Will keep you updated. She/he/it (let's not even go there with sexing yet, I know theres at least one male and two females amongst them, the old owner wasn't sure about the forth!) is still with us this morning and it could be my imagination but doesn't appear to be as bloated. The stomach has lost the really translucent look and is definately darker, this could be a stomach full of gravel? She/he/it is still relatively active, but when it moves it's going along on its back legs with it's front up higher. Not floating or hanging around at the top of the tank, but I did see it swim up to take a gulp of air and swim back down to the bottom again.
I know I sound like a real dork but like I said I'm new to this, I have tropicals and goldfish as well but have always wanted axies.
Thanks again

normally if the axie has eaten gravel you will see lumps and bumps or perhaps the faint colour of the rocks inside.

you dont sound like a dork at all! the only stupid question is the one that isnt asked! i also keep tropicals (discus, oscars, apistos etc) and goldfish and these are definatly easy pets to keep! there isnt much too em once youve got the basics

Quick update, have now got 1/3 of the tank established in sand and am much happier. Saw one of the others puking up gravel yesterday so am fairly confident that the problem is the gravel. The swollen Axie looks a bit better, still not 100% but I am keeping a close eye on it. I do have to say though, I am not at all happy with the $15 (for a small container) axolotl pellets I was sold at the petshop, the buggers will NOT eat them and the couple I must have missed when I cleaned the tank yesterday were disgusting when I cleaned up the tank today. They much prefered the $1 beef heart from the supermarket - typical!

I know it's a hit and miss sometimes with the pellets. We still have 3/4 bottle left from last year; and they smell disgusting. You can also get some axie tucker -can't seem to find it at our local petshop, but I know the bigger ones sell it, but I just stick with worms (or beefheart/liver when it's too cold for me to collect worms!).

I found some more blue gravel today, in our 3yr old axies tank, (they've been on sand since January - previous owners had on blue gravel), so don't be surprised if it takes several months before you stop seeing gravel poos.