Illness/Sickness: Axies attacking each other!!!1

Hi everyone!!!

I have recently got to leucistic axolotl, they are around 5-6 cm they are currently in a 3ft tank, and I am in the process of getting a larger tank for them. I noticed recently that one of the gills on the smaller axie has started to shrink and curl up!!! And then the other day when I was watching them, the larger of the two bit one of the other ones gills in half!!!!

Should I just separate them now, and get another 3 ft tank. because I am worried that if I get a larger tank and keep them together they may still attack each other!!!! The smaller one is only a little smaller, so I thought they would not attack each other!!!!!

Any help would be great!!! Thank you

Hello, If you only have 2 axies a 3ft tank should be plenty big enough for them! At that size they have a habit of going for each other (they grow out of it!) use of physical barriers in the tank (plants, rocks and ornaments will work) or a few hides and caves will give the axies space away from each other, or you could use a tank divider to separate them untill they are about 5in or so by then the aggressiveness should wear off! Ive heard its best to feed them at separate ends of the tank or use a divider when feeding to eliminate any accidents when they are snapping for food!

im glad to hear they will grow out of it, i will perhaps try a divider for a while and hope the can get on better when they are older!!! id rather keep them together than to seperate them!!!!

thankyou for replying, im loving Gomez by the way he is a handsome chap!!!

julez

Axies grow pretty darn quick so it wont be too long until they can be together (when they are small they can be cannibalistic to each other) I'd split the tank in half with a divider (i just used abit of plastic mesh attached to the sides with little suction cups and cable ties) and let them grow out a bit! Ive never had any axies a small as yours but all the ones I see that are sharing a tank are all about 5-6in + so this may be when they are a safe size to be together (might be wrong, u may be able to get away with them being smaller, I'd let someone else confirm that for you tho as i dont really know!) either way I wouldnt worry too much as little axies will grow back missing body parts in no time!

Ha Gomez is like a little brother to me, such a lovely monster! I'd love to see some pics of your little monsters!

Ed

in know, mine have grown so much since ive had them (8 weeks) ive been wanting them for years now, and it wasnt until the last of my goldfish died and i had an empty tank that i got round to doing it, im so glad i did they are great to watch.

HAHA sorry i just measured the larger one and he is about 41/2 inches long, what was i on about before, they were probaby 4cm when i got them, so hopefully they wont be doing this for long then!!!! i'll try feeding them seperately and just hope no more gills go missing.

do you think the shrivelled up gill may grow back??? or is this a sign of illness???

im hoping to get some pictures on here as soon as poss, just gotta find my camera lead first, but they are cute!!

julez

Almost sure the gills will be back in no-time. Maybe a bit shorter or different than they used to be but they'll be back.

thats good to know thankyou!!!!