Question: Our New Axie, Not Yet named!

So Yesterday me and my boyfriend went out to a pet shop to find a new Axolotl that we wanted. When we got there, they had 2 Albino Axies and 2 Black ones. When we had a look we found one black Axie that had been attacked. He had the tip of his tail missing, 1 of his front toes, and it looked like to us all the toes from one of his back legs missing as well.

When we saw the state of him we couldn't help but want to save him and make him better. And although we had always say we would stick to Golden Albino Axies...we changed our minds after seeing him.

Below you can see the injuries he has.

In our tank at the moment, we currently have 1 other Golden Albino called Kip, 2 scavenger Fish (Tom and Jerry) and a sucker Fish (Al). We have had them together for a few months now and all of them have so far gotten along really well. Kip has tried to have a go at Tom and Jerry once or twice, but he generally leaves them all alone. He's amazingly placid.

We were kind of worried that if we put our new Axie in the tank then he might not get on too well with everything else we have in there, but we haven't seen any problems so far. When watching our new Axie, we noticed he doesn't use his injured leg when he swims about, it just kind of hangs loose behind him. However he does use it when he is walking about at the bottom of the tank.

We just have a few questions if anyone can give us some help.

Obviously with our new Axies injuries we want to make sure he heals up well. If Kip leaves him alone then it should all be ok, but how long do you think it will take for everything to heal up properly. Do you think another Axolotl could have been the cause of the injuries, or would it have been a fish or something?

Also, can anyone tell us what kind of axolotl we now have? We think it might be a wild type, but would love for someone to confirm for us.

Finally....we would love some suggestions for names as we are really struggling! :bowl:

Thanks in advance for any help! :happy:

This is a very handsome wild type axolotl.

He was almost certainly chewed on by another axolotl, it happens a lot in pet shops, even the more informed ones.

The most important thing here though... get those fish (all of them!) away from your axies...! Best case they might chew on your axolotls' gills, worst case the sucker fish could be swallowed and kill one of them. I know nothing has happenned yet, but better safe than (very) sorry eh? If you really want something else in that tank get a couple of red cherry shrimp, but please lose the fish for the sake of your amphibian pal!

I would be inclined to keep your new guy in a temporary set up for a good 3 weeks to make sure he doesn't have any nasty ilnesses he can pass on to your existing axie (pet shops aren't the best environments, alas) and give him time to heal up.

The injuries should heal up in a month or two if he's not attacked further... some people might suggest treating his injured leg with salt baths/

Thank you for the reply!

Could you give me a little info on how to give him a salt bath? How much salt would we put into the water?

Hi There!
LeFarge just asked me to tell you a bit about salt baths (god knows we've had our share) and I just thought I'd let you know that another user has posted a fantastic picture tutorial here:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...axolotl/72698-salt-bath-picture-tutorial.html
Hope it helps!

xC

+1 for taking the fish out of your axie tank. There have been cases of sucker fish sucking on axolotls skin and causing some nasty sores. While it hasn't happened yet it doesn't mean it won't happen. And what kind of fish are these 'scavenger' fish? I assume they stay at the bottom a fair bit...are they corys or something? If they're on the bottom a lot, but even if they're not, sooner or later your axie will attempt to eat them.

I don't know if salt baths would be that helpful in this case unless the injuries were growing some kind of fungus, which it doesn't look like they are.

They should heal up okay if your new axie friend is kept in cool, clean dechlorinated water. It is probably a good idea to quarantine for about 3-4 weeks to make sure the new addition has no diseases. You can just use a tub and change the water daily, this way you can also monitor it's healing. Putting it in the fridge could help too, but is probably not necessary as long as you can keep the water cool.

Thanks for the replies were going to sell the sucker fish back to the shop we got him from (hopefully)...I've been wanting to for a while anyway he's useless! He barely moves and he's so ugly

As for the fish, yes they are corys. They are 99.9% of the time always at the bottom. They learnt VERY quickly not to go near kip and our Number 2 Axie (still not named), they always move out of the way when they see either Axie.

We're also now wondering whether or not Number 2 is male or female. Compared to Kip his cloaca is smaller. Also s/he is slightly bigger in size compared to kip who looks thinner. Now although we know the differences in size of the area between the legs for males and females...we are hoping someone might be able to say a little more. I'm trying to get pictures of them both for you but the little bugger won't stay still for long enough, or it's hidden by his injured leg. We've read loads on axies, but neither of us have seen a female to compare them to. We are certain kip is male, but help on figuring out Number 2 would be great

Thanks again guys

just park sexing for now... corys can KILL your axolotls. please search the forum and see all the first hand evidence... get rid of these guys... they do no good and, trust me, it will break your heart if you lose an axie!

I'm the other part owner of these wonders

We will get rid of the corys. The guy at the pet shop told us there would be no problem with them

We will look into getting some red cherry shrimp though.

Thanks again

Still need a name for this little beauty

About the cory's and and the pleco, I just thought I would share a link that made it very clear for me.
Caudata Culture Articles - Species Mixing Disasters

natjobe said:

About the cory's and and the pleco, I just thought I would share a link that made it very clear for me.
Caudata Culture Articles - Species Mixing Disasters

Click to expand...

Okay, thanks

They've gone now, just axolotls and we will get some cherry shrimp at the weekend.

Thanks for your help everyone!

We're going to spend some time figuring out the sex of the little guy now...if its a guy though (we hope it is anyway!!)

great about losing the fish!

he looks very young... probably too young to sex... once they hit sexual maturity the boy bits are hard to miss

How about spike for a name


Looks like a little bruiser in your first pic.

lollypop said:

How about spike for a name


Looks like a little bruiser in your first pic.

Click to expand...

We've decided to call him Tye

I've added a few cherry shrimp and one has gone already :O

I only added them 15 minutes ago

His tail seems to be growing back quite well too

Love it

Wish you well with him.