should i get it...

Okay, well I have my axolotl bob, and yesterday I finally found wildtype axies, which is what I wanted to keep bob company. The problem is that they are about 2" shorter than bob so would it be safe to get them and put them in the tank? I asked in the store if they could get larger ones but they said they usually come in that size. Also, I think that they are too young to sex as they are maybe 5" maximum, would it be long before I could tell their sex? I want a male but I dont want to end up buying a female because then I wouldn't have room to get my male to breed.

So basically what I want to know is:

Is 2" too big of a difference to keep the wildtype with bob?
Is 5" too small to be able to sex them? (seem to all be female but if they are too young I can't really go by that)
If I were to get it and keep it seperatly how long would it take for it to be close enough to bobs size to put them together?

I think that's it, thanks!

In answer to your questions, firstly how big is Bob? I believe the general rule is that an introduced axie must be no more than a third smaller or larger than the original inhabitant. In other words, if Bob is 8 inches or above then you may have a problem with the smaller one becoming a tasty snack for Bob!

Second question, 5" may well be too small to sex, though I have a young axie that is around this size and he obviously a male if you get what I mean! So that could be pot luck.

The third question, you have to keep the two seperate for at least 30 days anyway. The new axie has to be quarantined in case it is carrying any diseases. If Bob is full grown then it could take a couple of months for the smaller one to catch up, in my estimation. Though the consensus is to not breed from axolotls until they are at least 18 months old. Having eggs at younger age puts a lot of stress on the female and can be detrimental to her health. Also you may not get viable eggs from a young female.

Bob is probably about 8" I would say. I know I have to keep them seperate for a month, which I can do, so how much bigger do you think a new axie could grow in a month? I know that Bob grew almost 2" in the first month I had her, that has slowed down since then, but she is still growing.
I know that there is only 4 axolotls left in the store, and they get them in when they are out of stock. I think they sell them at a fairly fast rate, and I was thinking of going in next week, when hopefully new stock will be in, and then buy one that I can already see is a male, or buy the largest one I can get.
Should I ask the store first if they get all the axolotls from the same breeder? As if they do then Bob and the male could be brother and sister, and I'm guessing it is not a good idea to breed with a male from that store in that case?

I'm not sure how big the new one would grow in a month, I think it varies on axolotl to axolotl, also on temperature and diet I would imagine. Axies tend to grow quickest when they are younger then it slows down as they get closer to maturity. You might find the new one would be safe size-wise to put in with Bob after a month, but it's impossible to say for sure.

If the two axies are from the same breeder it won't really matter. I think I remember reading here that axolotls are so inbred anyway that it wouldn't make much difference. My two are brother and sister and have had babies successfully.

One thing to be aware of is that I have read that wild type axies are more aggressive than others, so when they are together you will need to watch for any bullying.

Also, you will need to have enough room to seperate your male and female after she has laid eggs (as well as seperate the eggs) as otherwise she will be exhausted having batch after batch of eggs. This can be done either with a seperate tank (ideally) or a tank divider.

I found this out the hard way. I seperated my two with a tank divider after her first lot of eggs, unfortunately she managed to climb over the divider 2 weeks later and I had more eggs! My female Lottie ended up very stressed and this resulted in her losing a lot of her gill 'feathers' and succumbing to a fungal infection. Luckily a few salt baths and fridging later she looked almost as good as new.

I was planning on separating them with a tank divider ,as I. don't have a second tank for a male and female. I would be able to house babies until they are old enough to sell on , so I wouldn't have any trouble with being able to breed, otherwise I would be looking for another female. Although I have been wondering if there is much of a market for axies in Ireland, as I have only ever seen them in this one store and never in any of the local papers .I guess if I did breed them I could sell them on here to anywhere in Europe so it's not that big of an issue.
I presume I would need a solid glass divider as I reckon they could still breed through a netted one, unless it was really fine netting?. I did read that wildtypes are more aggressive, but if they were separated and only together when I wanted them to breed, would that be much of an issue?
I really don't want Bob to get stressed, so they wont be housed without a separator. As well as that I don't think I could cope with that many babies! Would they have to be separated straight away? I know Bob is sexually mature so I'm guessing once the second one became mature breeding would be instantaneous and separation would have to be applied?

The divider I bought was a plastic one with lots of little holes, these holes are only about 1mm round so a spermatophore wouldn't fit through! I bought this type so that there is still some water flow between the two sides of the tank (the intake of my filter is one side and the spraybar the other) but if you had seperate filters then a solid glass divider would be better, less chance of unwanted eggs!

As far as the seperating the male and female you could put them together from the start as long as your female is mature enough to cope with egg-laying (over 18 months old) then seperate them once the deed is done!