What causes aggression?

I am beginning to wonder if maybe I should seperate my male and female. The male is the one who has completely lost his gills and has gotten so small since I got him ( he didn't eat for almost 3 wks). Now I notice that he seems to hide inside a log most of the time, and I wonder if he is hiding from the bigger female. Last night I saw them fighting and pulled them apart and later I saw her pushing at him and he was trying to get away from her. Again, I pulled her away. Other times they seem just fine, sort of curled up together. I did my 20% water change last night and so all my levels were reading fine. I had finished their salt water baths which neither of them like. The water temp is around 20C. I just wonder if she may be bullying him or something as she is somewhat bigger. I have no idea of their ages, as I really did not know what I was getting when I bought them. I was very mis-guided.

However, I was thinking that today I may go and get a bigger tank, but now I wonder if I should get a seperator for the new tank to keep her away from him for a while. What do you all think? I really do not have the time or money to keep up two tanks. Anyone have experience with this?

Dedee

What size is your tank?

if you are unsure best to divide them (better safe than sorry my axie has a few rips in his tail because i didnt listen to my gut). Aggression can be caused by not enough room (or hiding places try adding a couple of plant pots to hide under) not enough food / food related excitement (be careful at food time not to make them snap at each other / feel like they are competing for the same grub & careful not to end up with fat axies!!) I found lowering the temp helped calm them. Also if they are still young / small they can be aggressive. Other newts seem to be aggressive when one is sickly I dont know if this counts for axies though. Some people find wildtype axies can be aggressive with leuistic/albino (I have not witnessed this myself mind).

Finally some axies are just aggressive ... like my deaky ....and dont do well in company.


Regards to the divider I used one of these to introduce my axies what I havnt seen mentioned any were is how (in practice) messy this makes the side of the tank that doesnt have the in flow (if you have a filter)..... so some additional cleaning will still be required. Good luck

ps if you are going to get a new tank you are still going to need to cycle it (made quicker with water from your current tank) so make sure your divider fits both tanks (or make/ buy two) that way they can stay in this tank whilst the new one cycles fight free.

My tank is a ten gallon tank, but like I said I am actually on my way out to get a bigger one. I am just uncertain as to whether or not to spend my money on a divider. I certainly do not need more cleaning. I was actually thinking of doing the permanent sand thing for the bottom as I believe that I have way to much gunk under my large rocks on the bottom. I really need to keep the maintenance as simple as possible, while keeping them as comfortable as I can. My kids are high maintenance also. Not much time left. I just hate to think that he is doing poorly because she is being mean to him. Well, off to get a bigger tank. Anyone have personal experience with the permanent sand thing? Is it really hard???

Dedee

When you say the male is smaller, how much smaller are we talking? Ideally they should be kept with similar sized animals (smaller ones may even be on the menu of larger ones). It sounds like the smaller one is quite stressed and maybe a bigger tank won’t solve that if he’s still in with the large one. You don’t necessarily need a fish tank. A Rubbermaid style tub will do as temporary housing whilst he grows. You can’t get much simpler than a plastic tub with some water in it.

Axolotls are not social animals and as Carrie mentioned some can be aggressive. I would keep them separate until they’re equal sizes. If he’s stressed he won’t feed and is unlikely to thrive.

I don't mind keeping him in something like that, but don't I need like a filter and everything to keep water quality in order. Or do you just do a complete water change every so often or what? I don't want him getting worse because he is in poor conditions.

Dedee

If you have a regular water change regime you can maintain good water quality. Filters just collect waste – they don’t remove it from the tank (unless you have an external one). One animal won’t be producing enough waste to cause significant issues if you are doing regular 20% water changes and siphoning out debris.

I would suggest that a 10 gallon tank is too small for a pair of adult axolotls so in the long term you will need to expand their enclosure. You still didn’t say how big each one was…

Dedee said:

I am beginning to wonder if maybe I should seperate my male and female. The male is the one who has completely lost his gills and has gotten so small since I got him ( he didn't eat for almost 3 wks) ... I did my 20% water change last night and so all my levels were reading fine. I had finished their salt water baths which neither of them like. The water temp is around 20C.

Click to expand...

I know this is a really old post, but I spend a lot of time going back through pages of old posts so that I can learn things about axolotls and their health problems.
In this one, I am at a total loss to understand why noone in this thread asked why on earth these poor axies were receiving what sounded like regular salt baths. Surely this is a possible reason why one of the axies lost its gills? There is no indication from Dedee, the poster, that the lotls had any form of fungus or other infection. So what is going on here?

Exactly what I was thinking when I read this. A salt bath irritates and stresses axolotls and should not be used unless needed.

Thanks, Jaffa Cake. So I'm either not going mad or I'm not alone. Either is comforting.

It's very alarming, that jumped out at me too along with the fact two adults were housed in a teeny 10 gal, they def get aggressive if there is so little space. Anyhoo, you aren't crazy. Lol

It wasn't linked but appears they are treating for fungus which was mentioned around the same time in this post:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...f58-sick-axolotl/49181-sick-new-axolotls.html

It was never clarified if she actually had axolotls and not tiger salamanders.

Posts like this now-a-days are usually combined by mods or links are included by members to keep the context available for future readers. You will find a lot of the earlier posts can be difficult to follow.

Thanks for that Elise. It was difficult to understand why noone else had spotted that otherwise, given how on the ball everyone on this forum is.
I am still learning - hence my dedicated trawling through scores, perhaps hundreds of old threads going back years and years. It is fascinating stuff, and I am becoming quite an armchair expert. Problem is, of course, nothing substitutes for experience....