Help Please

I recently bought an axolotl and its been going good for 2 weeks now. I decided to add neon fish to the tank and they were going fine for a few weeks until tonight, i came back and all of them were dead!!! Im worried that ive done something thats going to upset my axolotl and dont know what to do!! please help, any info would be appreciated
xoxoxo
Serena

Neon tetras, which I assume are the neon fish that you added, are a rather delicate tropical species. Axolotls and other newts and salamanders do best in cooler waters, preferably below 70F. Neon tetras come from the warm, soft waters of the Amazon basin and do best around 76F and the differences between these two can often be fatal to the tetras. Neons also do not acclimate very well, are quite sensitive to water chemistry and do best in very large schools of at least a dozen. All of these could have been factors in their deaths.

It is best not to mix any other animals, be they fish or different species of salamander or newt with your axolotl. They usually have different care requirements and the axolotl will often try to eat anything smaller than it. There is a nice article with the dangers of species mixing here.

Just to be sure that your axolotl is safe I would suggest doing several 20% water changes over the course of the week. This will help to remove any buildup of toxic chemicals that the rotting tetras added to the aquarium as fish begin rotting nearly instantly after dying. It will also help to remove any prior buildup that may have killed your neons.

Hi,

I want to add something in general concerning mixing with feeding fish (that is the only way of mixing possible in my opinion and - as the name "feeding fish" says - only for a short time ).

Every fish that does not come from home-breeding should be quarantined the same way new salamanders should. Some of these fish maybe infected and as I know from a recent case there definitely are some fish-parasites that may infect axolotls, too!

So it's best to keep them seperated for several weeks and watch them closely.

Additionally I agree with magustrate - neon tetra need different water conditions (especially temperature) as axolotls do.

I think this thread better fits into the axolotl-help section so maybe someone could move it...