Axie Tank Mates?

I was wondering if it was possible to keep axies with fish? My water perimeters are are set up to house an axie, i have a good amount of space, nothing that's a bottom dweller, or that's aggressive, would it be too stressful, or can it be done?

It depends what type of fish you are planning on and whether you want them as feeder fish or not? If you are putting in fish as pets I wouldn't recommend it as your fish will be eaten if small enough or if large, may take bites out of your axie. Whether it is a top or bottom dweller is probably not a big deal as they will still interact with your axie whether they like it or not!

Here is a site that goes through some stories about BAD fish to keep with axies so you might be interested in reading about: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Mixing_disasters.shtml

With feeder fish, that is another story. So I won't go into it unless that is your intent

I have a 55 gal set up fully cycled, i've been keeping fish for about 5 or 6 years now, i've kept reptiles as well, but was looking for something interesting to move on to, i was thinking about breeding my plecos, but then i discovered these lovely axolotls. The fish i have are medium sized, they very from an inch and a half to four inches, though they will all grow more, they are all quite fast though, so i'm really not too worried about them getting eaten. They are even tempered, quite frendly, ive never had any problems with them fighting or nipping each other. My tank is fed a variety of Blood worms, brine shrimp, algae wafers and flake food, so i thought the Axolotl would fit right in?

ooo, just looked at that link... think i'd have to take out my snails...... ouch....





maybe i'll just set up a new tank for an Axolotl instead of trying to mix >.> those stories are scary....

I think no matter how fast your fish are, they will get eaten! Axolotls can be very fast when they feel like it. My axie can catch baby guppies which are pretty fast What type of fish are they? I know catfish are REALLY bad to keep with axies but not sure about others...

Also if they are medium sized and likely to get larger they may nibble at your axie, especially the gills. Which can be quite stressful for your axie. However, some people have managed to keep fish ok, but to me personally I think it is too big a risk. I only have baby guppies as feeder fish. This thread you might find interesting, it was started by a member that keeps fish with his axies successfully so perhaps you might get more of an idea about the issues involved from that thread: http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=51494

My tank is labeled as tropical/semi aggressive, but i keep it at about 21 degrees, my fish are actually rather tame for being aggressive, I've tried to feed them feeder fish and the feeders ended up not only NOT being eaten, but growing up in the tank and getting very fat and having babies.... sad... anyways, i have a small school of tiger barbs, a medium to large tin foil barb, bala shark, red tail shark, angel fish, a knife fish and some kind of large tetra i can't remember the name too, i do have a small talking rafeal catfish, but he is very small and fast, catfish really can't be harmful to other animals until they're bigger. When he get's large i'll have to move him anyways in case he wans to suck on another fish while it's sleeping...

But now I'm worried about snails, and you're right, those gills might look like some type of algae to the fishies, i wouldn't want either of them harmed.. I have a 20 gal show tank i could maybe set up as an axie tank, i think that could comfortably house one.. do they do better in communities?

Ok 21C is probably a bit hot for an axolotl. Ideally the temperature should be under 20C. (14-18C is best). I don't know a great deal about most of your fish but I am sure someone else can help you out with the appropriateness of keeping them with axies. How big are your snails? Smaller ones are less risky but most people recommend avoiding any problems by not keeping other fish or snails in with axolotls. But yea, I have gone against that somewhat by keeping guppies with mine but I minimise the risk by making sure they are tiny and disease free. None of them have gotten big enough to do any damage to my axie and if they did grow enough I'd send them back to my friend who breeds them.

However, 20 gallon tank would be fine for one adult axolotl. I have a year old axie in a 15 gallon tank comfortably. Axolotls are fine by themselves too. You can keep axies of the same size together though if you want - depends on the size of your tank. Floor space is more important than depth and 18inches of floor space is recommended per adult axolotl. If you keep bigger axies with smaller ones, they can eat or attack the little ones. When I bought my axie from the aquarium he was in the tank with a much bigger axie and as he only had stumps for legs, I imagine he had been attacked a lot (his legs have regrown now tho )

so, the other tank i have is 18'' x 6'' only enough for one, my snails are about quarter sized, there are two of them (blue mystery snails) and i don't mind taking them out... oh.. i have a frog too.. i forgot... i really think i need to set up a new tank for this guy, I'm just really worried about the effects of keeping all these guys together..
plus..

The general rule of keeping axolotl is not to keep any thing else with them.
Having said this some do keep small snails that hitched a ride on plants ( I have some plus some limpet type things and a mystery red dot that toodles around a small area of the tank glass). I do feed feeder guppies occasionally and so far they have been eaten, but I know of some that stay resident, these could nip at the axolotl gills and cause damage.

yeah, i think I'll set him up in my 20 gal, it'll be good for him to have a colder tank anyways (i could have dropped the temp in the fish tank, till about a month ago they were kept at abou 19c i just raised the temp..... but i want to make sure all the little guys are safe

now... on to finding an axolotl in California, lol >.<

Axies are banned in California unfortunately... http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=50789

The only way you can get them is illegally...

I know >.> but i also plan to own a ferret too. sooooooo >.>
i'm going to be a good law abiding citizen and hopefully i don't get bugged.... i know people who've successfully kept both species here, really, they don't care as long as you're not releasing them into the wild. Fish and Game in Californina is CRAZY, but the regular law isn't too particular unless they're looking for a reason to get you in trouble

Caudata.org frowns upon illegal trade/purchase of animals. If you are planning to purchase animals illegally, don't post about it.

And stating Fish and Game doesn't "care as long as you're not releasing them into the wild" is a fallacy. The point of having a wildlife law enforcement agency is to enforce wildlife laws, not 'overlook' hobbyists. The laws are there for a reason, and breaking them is still illegal, regardless of what law it is. In this case, the law prohibiting Ambystomatid salamanders serves a very good purpose: The protection of an endangered species (the California tiger salamander). Ambystomatids can hybridize pretty readily, and if a non-native Ambystomatid species were released, it could dilute the gene pool of the California tiger.

I have a 110 gal. tank and 220 gal. tank. With all of the fish you are talking about. I would not put any of those in with a axie. Or a pleco they have spines. I have snails in with mine never had a problem. You might be able to get away with a fan tail gold fish.

I dont reccommend putting your Axolotls in with anything other than Cardina Multidenta or Large Apples snails.
Most fish will either nibbles at your axolotls rami(the fluffy red bits) or end up in your axolotls mouth. (Which happens to be rather big)
Plecs also may seem like a good idea, being armour plated, but they can give some nasty injuries to your axolotls.

As I said, Cardina Multidenta(Ghost/Amano Shrimp) are good tank cleaners if you want them in your tank, they are usually fine with your axolotl and I have kept them with mine for a few months, and it has been succesffu.
Apples snails are also fine, if you get rather large ones, bigger than the axolotls head though or it'll end up eaten.