Question: Outdoor Water Feature suitable for Axolotls?

I have a water feature on my patio that I have kept goldfish in for about 8 years. Would it be suitable for Axoloytls? The base pond is hard black plastic and has a 1m circumference. The channel created by the stone in the middle is 30cm wide x 12cm deep. It is shaded most of the day and covered with flyscreen mesh to protect from predators. It has a pump for the fountain and the small top pond gently overflows to the bottom. There is no substrate on the bottom of the pond and no plants. It is topped up and/or flushed directly from a mains water supply inlet on one side and I add water conditioner whenever this is done. The fish have alway done well and are easily seen because of their colour. I have added some photos below. My main concerns are that the water may be too shallow, there is no filter and water quality and temperature is a bit hit and miss! Your recommendations, thoughts and advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi!

Water quality and temperature is a big deal for axolotls. Goldfish are a type of carp and are VERY hardy fish. Axolotls are delicate salamanders who instead of having tough scales have a slimy skin which absorbs everything and is sensitive to temperature. Goldfish and axolotls are not recommended to be kept together because goldfish produce a lot of waste ammonia which while is not that destructive to fish, is toxic to axolotls. Also fish nip at axolotl's gills; they look like wiggly food which is stressful for the axolotl.

water depth does not matter that much for axies, they prefer to hang out on the bottom and walk around.

you said the fountain trickles water down slowly? Even small currents are bad for axies. It would have to be quite delicate.

Axies are beautiful creatures and great pets, i can understand why you want some for your cool water feature. Why not admire the axolotl’s beauty in a suitably sized glass tank instead of at the bottom of a dark pond? You can have all different colours that way

Axies can be done in ponds, but it is a lot more hard work. They need certain requirements which are much more easily administered in a controlled tank environment.

Pretty fountain. If you got rid of the goldfish and had some assurance that the summertime water temperature would stay within reason, then I think you could consider it. Otherwise, no.

It was never my intention to mix the Axies and goldfish. I will remove the goldfish to my indoor tank. I run a small business from home and have in excess of 30 small children between 2-5 years, visit each week. They do not all come at once, but there might be 2 or 3 at a time. They do not come inside my house, but love to look at the pond and whatever is in it! If I put the Axies inside the house, the children will not see them. I am prepared to take greater care of the pond conditions if anyone can suggest how this might be done....

tracey2301 said:

It was never my intention to mix the Axies and goldfish. I will remove the goldfish to my indoor tank. I run a small business from home and have in excess of 30 small children between 2-5 years, visit each week. They do not all come at once, but there might be 2 or 3 at a time. They do not come inside my house, but love to look at the pond and whatever is in it! If I put the Axies inside the house, the children will not see them. I am prepared to take greater care of the pond conditions if anyone can suggest how this might be done....

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An excellent and natural way to improve the water condition is to add plants to your feature. I don't believe you have any, pardon me if I am wrong.

You are quite right, there are no plants. I have tried but nothing seems to survive for long. Its very dark under the flyscreen and also its very shallow. I cant free float anything because it ends up in the pump. If you can recommend anything, please let me know.

If your plants arent lasting long it might be due to the goldfish, mine seem to love eating there elodea.

if they get hungry they seem to eat more plant buffer than usual. bit obvious really haha

Hi. While I'm still a beginner with axolotls I happen to be an expert with outdoor pond plants. So I might be able to help you a bit with running plants in your pond.

1) Yes fish will "eat" your plants.
Gold fish are actually relatively plant friendly but if you run too many of too large a size in too small a space they will destroy everything. Less fish will be a good thing.

2) "Very Shallow"
While a pond being very shallow is a generally bad thing... how shallow is very shallow? The actual deepest we recommend for planted outdoor ponds is only 50cm. And even down to just two or three cm there are plants you can grow. Presumably if you are running fish this thing is at least 15-20cm, that shouldn't be a problem it just may limit which plants you can grow and may alter the exact way you would pot them and grow them.

3) "Very Shady"
Many water plants including many of the more famous ones like water lillies actually do require a great deal of sunlight. However fortunately there are plenty of water plants and bog plants that will happily grow in partial or even full shade. People around here have been using Peace Lillies as a sort of shallow water emergent in aquariums, and that is no real surprise as a vast range of Arum lillies and Aroids thrive in similar conditions. In addition you could run some Rainbow Nardoo (which is a fern) some floating duck weed, some loose submerged Foxtail, and a wide range of reeds and other plants.

4) "Getting stuck in the pump"
Water movement sounds like it may be your very biggest problem. It isn't just bad for axolotls, it is bad for the majority of water plants.

With plants however it is easier to determine how much water movement is too much. As a general rule if water is falling onto plant leaves, or if waves are upsetting plant leaves (or as in your case sucking them into a filter/pump intake) then there is too much water movement.

The easiest solution is to simply turn off your pump. Alternatively you may want to resize whatever your running water feature or filter is to a more appropriate size for a small pond. Just be aware that for very small ponds there may not be room to seriously run a pump/water feature/filter at all and still expect to run plants.

5) Axolotls in outdoor ponds
Guys around here can probably help you more. But I can give you this piece of optimistic news, and a small warning. I know for a fact that a man on Central Coast in NSW ran a great deal of axolotls in outdoor ponds under shade cloth for many years with great success (and almost no maintenance). But those ponds were of a pretty reasonable size and depth.

However I would be very careful of running axolotls in outdoor ponds (and despite having countless outdoor ponds to run them in will NEVER do so myself) because A) Kookaburras and other birds would pick off and eat axolotls in about 3 seconds flat (your flyscreen or whatever it is may help with this) and B) If the birds don't eat the axolotls then the axolotls will eat everything else and I kinda like my diverse and large population of frogs.


Now I don't want to go around advertising my business on here overtly but I AM a proffessional horticulturalist who grows and sells plants specifically for outdoor ponds. And my business does operate in Australia. We don't just sell plants we do provide free information and advice about growing them. Currently the business is closed and I am in China, so I can't help you out too much. But if you have any further questions then you can contact me in about a week or so by various means including a direct visit to our nursery where you could actually SEE how we grow plants in a wide variety of outdoor pond conditions.

Our website is Here

Hi im no expert but i have had axolotls in outdoor ponds for a few years. I usually use water troughs(500L range). These are about 1.5m diameter and about 40cm deep i think.
I use fine bird netting and wooden poles to make a lid to keep out birds/frogs ect.
I find this works well all year round but it is a mild climate where i live. I usally just add buckets of water boatmen/nymphs ect for food. Not long ago i removed my adults from a tank like this where they have been for 3 years and they seemed fine and healthy.
Hope that helps good luck

tracey2301 said:

You are quite right, there are no plants. I have tried but nothing seems to survive for long. Its very dark under the flyscreen and also its very shallow. I cant free float anything because it ends up in the pump. If you can recommend anything, please let me know.

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You could try water hyacinth, they are nearly impossible to kill but don't let them invade the entire pond, they are known to be invasive. Maybe your pump is too powerful, have you checked if you can adjust the setting on it?
Another easy plant that actually dislikes full sun in warmer climates is water lettuce. They do well in my pond but not in full sun!

FRANCOIS said:

You could try water hyacinth, they are nearly impossible to kill but don't let them invade the entire pond, they are known to be invasive.
...
Another easy plant that actually dislikes full sun in warmer climates is water lettuce.

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Unfortunately in Australia Water Hyacinth is an illegal noxious weed. You potentially could be fined or otherwise inconvenienced if your local council weed officer catches you at it. And you certainly should'nt be growing it anyway as there actually are very good reasons why it it pretty much at the top of the Noxious Weed water plant list (along with parrot's feather).

And water lettuce is the same in many states of Australia, except Victoria, where you are allowed to have it, But you probably still shouldn't grow it because it's still a bit of a dangerous pest in the wild.

Most large exotic water plants that float on the surface of the water are illegal or restricted in Australia, as are a number of other popular aquarium plants including various Elodias and Parots Feather. A lot of aquarium plant suppliers seem unaware of noxious weed restrictions in Australia compared to your average garden focused nursery, I have no idea why since as far as I understand it they all risk some incredibly hefty fines just like we would if we were found even having these plants on our premises at all!

There are alternatives you can use which are either native or otherwise not restricted.