Question: What kind of little coldwater fish can you feed axies

hi i have a question about feeding little cold water fish to my axie and i was wondering what types you can feed them
and i was also wanting to know what everyone else feeds their axies

hi tonimeloni

i feed mine(when i had one he passed before xmas) earthworms, bloodworms, beef heart and a mixture of ground up beef heart and turtle mixture(i cant remember the name but i can get it for you if you want me to) given to me by the vet....remember if you feed the axie feeder fish you need to make sure they are germ free.

lea

A proper diet for an Axolotl will consist of Earth worms, blood worms, RARELY treats like beef heart, or live fish. Cold water fish that you can use AFTER a 30-day quarantine are white cloud minnows, or rosy minnows. They will be ok in cold waters, and are probably your best bet. Caudata Culture Articles - Fish with Caudates check that site for some more information.

Guppies will probably be the easiest for you to find.

ok thanks everyone for the help its just that im sure my axie would like a few different things to eat

I'm sure it would never tried feeder fish in with them but another thing they love as a treat is cherry shrimp. Generally cheaper than feeder fish and they breed readily. I'd definately recommend getting a few of them .

Bit of a hijack, but i bought 3 cherry shrimp from my local fish shop. They only had 3. I've had them about 2-3 months now. In their own little tank with some moss balls and pretty pebbles. one died in the first month but the other two. 'John and Edward' are still alive. I was hoping to breed some but the shop have never had any more in. Anyway back to my original point. Dont get too attached to the cherry shrimp and name them like i have. It looks like my axolotls will never taste cherry shrimp, or at least not John and Edward! Lol mel

and the hijack continues...sorry

luckily for me i have 10 females and 4 males (though i only ever seem to be able to find half of that number as they are in a very heavily planted tank) 2 of the females were laden with eggs when i bought them so i have lots of very small baby shrimp once they've reach a decent size they'll be going into the axie tank.

tx

gaz

How do you tell if they're male and female? I dont get much of a look at them but they look pretty much the same to me. One is redder than the other but that could have shed more recent than the other. If there is still two!.? Not seen them both in the same room at the same time recently. ; ) Lol! Mel

females generally have a little more pigmentation than males - the main way i've been told is that the females are a little larger, have a creamy/whitish "sadle" which is particularly visable after a moult and they, the females, also have a larger tail with larger tail plates.

if i can get a picture over the weekend of a male and a female i'll post it but my camera has a little difficulty with them being so small.

I've read that the shrimp need temperatures of over 70 degrees...do you heat the tank that you keep them in? And what about when they are moved to the axolotl tank?

Temperature Range:65-85 F

seems to be at the upper range of suitable Axolotl temps...are they ok at a bit lower like 60-63 degrees?

I keep my cherry shrimp at room temp. No heater no filter. They seem to be doin well. I've been watching them today they look very happy. One is a lot redder than the other i'm hoping for babies! But will prob need to get more. Mel

ok everyone ill try see if i can find some cherry shrimp i just put the sand in the bottom of rosies tank its really funny cause you can see where she has been in the sand

Yeah the little footprints are sooo cute! Mel

Hi,

Sorry i have to add my two cents too.

I actually bought feeder fish for my axolotls Feeder Guppies & Cloud Minnows about 10 kept them quatantined for 6 weeks (too be on the safe side) and fed about 5 to my axolotls by the time i got to the 5th one i was feeling really guilty so i stopped.

My partner was asking if i had fed them all as hes petrified of my getting anymore pets,lol

I said that the Axolotls were full so would feed the rest tommorrow well,that was 6 weeks ago they are still there along with a new tank filter pump heater 3 siamese fighters,1 clown loach,1 red tailed shark,2 frogs,11 glass catfish,bunch of danios & minnows,So Mel i totally understand whare you are comming from!!!, lol :lol:

Hey guys

I just wanted to comment on the Red Cherry Shrimp feeding concept.

A while ago i set out to breed Red Cherry Shrimp as a supplement to my Axies diet, and to stimulate their hunting instincts a bit.
Six months later here is what i learned:

You will need a decent sized tank to accomodate a huge load of shrimp (I use a 15 Gal)
Dont keep any other animals in there with them.
Make a heavily planted tank preferably, i run mine as a planted tank with Co2 Supplement and fertilizing, this way it also makes for a beautiful addition to the room .
However, a word of caution on the fertilizing, a lot of fertilizers contain copper, which is lethal for shrimp, stay clear of those and in general use very little fertilizer (less than you normally would).

Keep the temperature in the shrimp tank at 75-78 degrees. While shrimp can easily thrive at lower temperatures, this temperature will HEAVILY promote breeding.

Feed them! Well fed shrimp will breed MUCH more than they would otherwise.
I feed mine with fish pellets, with carotene(improves their red colours) and i feed them Zucchini (needs to be boiled for a few minutes before using.

Use an airpowered filter. You are gonna need good filtration if you plan on breeding large numbers of shrimp, air powered filters have the advantage that they wont harm baby shrimp (which tend to get sucked into power filters)

Do water changes! The number one killer of these shrimp is bad water quality, they are very sensible, even more so than fish and axies.

By applying these methods i am breeding hundreds of shrimp using up only little space. I have enough shrimp to constantly keep some in my Axy tanks while i am even able to sell some of them off now and then.

I like them as a supplement live food for the Axies, since:

They pose no threat at all to the Axies (unlike fish).
They can live at the same temperature as the Axies.
I believe they are better, nutritionally than most fish.
They are quite beautiful and fun to watch in their own right.
Axies love them.
They are easy to breed when done properly.

Oh well, turned into a long post! :happy:
I hope some of you could find a few useful hints within it

Regards Bjorn

lea said:

hi tonimeloni

i feed mine(when i had one he passed before xmas) earthworms, bloodworms, beef heart and a mixture of ground up beef heart and turtle mixture(i cant remember the name but i can get it for you if you want me to) given to me by the vet....remember if you feed the axie feeder fish you need to make sure they are germ free.

lea

Click to expand...

Mammal meat is not suitable as it is way too rich in calories, is not complete at all and they can´t fully digest it. It can be used as a treat, but i wouldn´t use it at all (after all if you have earthworms and other invertebrates, why on earth do you need beef heart Ô_o).
I´m not sure if the turtle mix you use is what i have in mind but if it is, then i´s not suitable at all. It contains a portion of vegetable matter.

hi azheal

the ground beef heart (with the mixture already in it) was given to me by a vet whom i got off this web site down the gold coast. i will let you know the name of the stuff tomorrow because it is at home and im at work. sorry....he feeds his axies it..........i tried to give him some diffrent foods so he didnt get bored......
lea

hi

the name of the mixture is wombaroo reptile vitamin and mineral supplement.
he buys a beefheart from the butcher and cuts the fat off it and grinds it up then adds some of this stuff and rolls it into logs and freeze it and cut it up into peices when they need to fed it to the axie. i used this as s treat his main meal was earthworms.....

lea