Confirm or Deny vegetables to combat floating

Hi all,

Keating has gotten back into her floating habit after coming back down to earth for a while after I started feeding her beef heart/shrimp blocks. She's floating top heavy and I can't say I've seen a poo from her in a while.

She seems to want to come down to the bottom of the tank but is otherwise active and happy and eating.

A friend of mine suggested a solution her brother used for his floating goldfish which was to feed them a cooked pea (without skin) and the fibre would be enough to settle their guts out and get them to either have a poo or a fart or whatever to get the gas out.

Confirm or deny that this could be course of action for my axy Keating.

Cheers guys!

You are probably correct that the diet is the problem. I doubt that vegetables are the answer. Axolotls don't normally eat vegetable matter. Try experimenting with other carnivorous diets.

I'm not sure about getting your axolotl to eat cooked peas. One of my axolotl eats duckweed and the tradescantia that is floating in the water, but I can't say why he does it or if it makes any difference to his normal axolotl behaviour. They are all fed earthworms and axolotl pellets so it should not be due to hunger I would not advise you to feed beef heart as a main source of food, its not that good for axolotl. How old or what size is your axolotl?

I would say the diet is the problem. Switch over to bloodworms, blackworms or earthworms depending on the size of your axies.

Feeding cooked peas does help floating goldfish, but it has nothing to do with their digestive system. Fish float or swim awkwardly because of issues with their swimbladder. The peas affect the fish's swimbladder, which axolotls do not have. Axolotls don't eat vegetation, and I would definitely not try feeding it peas.

The only earthworms I can get a hold of are waaaaay too small. I would have to feed her about 7 to match the kind of nutrition that she would receive from one large one.

I've been assured that the beef heart/shrimp pellets are fine for her and she really likes them. I have some carnivore sinking pellets that I've been trialling but they're so small its hard to tell how many I should be feeding her.

She's about 6 inches inches long perhaps a little less. Can't tell how old she is.

I can't see any problem with feeding her 7 small earthworms. Why not, particularly as worms are excellent nutritionally? See:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...-general-discussion/81727-why-earthworms.html
Who exactly is assuring you that heart and shrimp pellets are fine? The pet store that sells those products perhaps? Heart and other meats are good protein sources, but contain ZERO vitamins and minerals. The shrimp pellets may be somewhat better, particularly if they are supplemented with vitamins and minerals. The carnivore pellets are more likely to be supplemented. They come in various sizes, so you might try getting bigger ones. Be careful about cleaning up uneaten pellets, this can cause big problems with water quality.

Beef heart and shrimp cubes are actually not good at all for her. They would be like you eating candy bars and Big Macs for your diet - to put it in perspective.

Axolotls have not developed as animals to subside on meat from the heart of a cow - a mammalian source of meat that they would never, ever have access to in the wild. Their bodies are not meant to process this kind of food and it will damage their organs.

I don't mean to sound too dire - but the diet she's on now will almost certainly shorten her life span. Not to mention could be causing the superficial issues you have now due to her body not being meant to process this type of food.


I am not someone who believes that a captive animal must be fed *exactly* what they have access to in the wild, as there are many ways we improve their lives and give them longer life spans. But just like you shouldn't feed a herbivorous iguana feeder mice, an axolotl's body is not meant to process meat from a large land animal. Axolotls are carnivores, but their diet doesn't include mammals - you're looking at worms and insects as their source of protein. This is what their bodies have evolved to process. Feeding an axolotl cow meat is like putting vegetable oil in your car - the machine is not made to run on that fuel. Axolotl are also the type of animal that eats an entire prey creature - not just chews off the meat.

Sadly, most pet stores have no idea what their more "exotic" animals need. I see this all the time since I frequent this forum as well as one for bearded dragons. Many pet stores give deadly or unrealistic advice just to make a sale or simply because they don't know any better.

Earthworms, the ones called "night crawlers" are your best bet. They are pretty darn big my axolotl is about 8" long and only has one every other day and is about to switch to one every two days since he's slowed down with growing longer and is starting to grow wider.

Blackworms are also good. For pellets, try "Hikari Massivore Pellets". They are so big that for a 6" axolotl, you may have to cut them in half ! I had to do that until recently. You can order them on-line and one bag will last you a very long time ! It cost me $10 for a bag, which seems steep - but it's been MONTHS and I still have most of the bag left. Even if I used that as a staple and never used worms, I doubt the bag would be empty. I'm not sure the count in pellets, but I wouldn't be shocked if there were enough to last an entire year.