Tank mates:

emmyk

emmyk

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I'm on the search for the perfect tank mate. I know it says pretty much everywhere that the best tank mate for an axolotl is another axolotl, but has anyone had success with anything else? I have a snail that lives happily with my Stanley, though I might have to change that when Stanley's mouth gets bigger..
I just got a huge 20 gallon tank that dwarfs the little guy, replacing his 10 gallon. It looks Soo empty, though I might get more plants. Anyone have an animal that lives in harmony with our beautiful axies?

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And yes I am aware that most animals will either be eaten by axolotls, or try to eat him.

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Some you can try include guppies, minnows, ghost shrimp, cherry shrimp (a personal fav but I can't get them in NZ :( ) and snails. These are used for feeders but often they can coexist in a tank if there is enough hiding spots etc for the feeders to escape.
 
Please see the section on species mixing disasters. The only truly suitable tank mate for an axie is indeed another axie. Snails are in my opinion a no no. There are many examples of why in the section that I mentioned. A few of them have resulted in the very unpleasant deaths of axies. Please do not put your axie in unnecessary harms way !!
 
Sigh. I don't know what to do. They've lived fine together after closer inspection he does have a trapdoor that could be dangerous. I'm so torn.. I might just have to get a small tank for my snail and some pretty fish. I've become quite attached to them as buddies. I will remove him soon.

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How big is your axie? Mine like glass/ghost/river shrimp in the tank - they watch, stalk and occasionally catch and eat them. If your axie is only small (<4") it may not be big enough or quick enough to catch shrimp, if it's bigger then eating them isn't a problem.

Or just get another axolotl....;)
 
I bought 12 cherry shrimp with the intention of breeding them, then feeding them to my lottles.
This was a great plan until my mum "looked into their little bug eyes" and decided i couldnt feed them to the lottles, i now have a tank for the shrimp and my lottles have nothing to hunt HOWEVER...
I did sneak one cherry shrimp into my tank (naughty i know :p) it lived there quite happily wandering around with the lottles for around 10 days, then it magically dissapeared haha (dinner mmmm)
So on this theory, i believe if you had quite a few shrimp and a lot of little hiding places (maybe elodea) then they could live happily together for a while a least
 
layna said:
I bought 12 cherry shrimp with the intention of breeding them, then feeding them to my lottles.
This was a great plan until my mum "looked into their little bug eyes" and decided i couldnt feed them to the lottles, i now have a tank for the shrimp and my lottles have nothing to hunt HOWEVER...
I did sneak one cherry shrimp into my tank (naughty i know :p) it lived there quite happily wandering around with the lottles for around 10 days, then it magically dissapeared haha (dinner mmmm)
So on this theory, i believe if you had quite a few shrimp and a lot of little hiding places (maybe elodea) then they could live happily together for a while a least
Click to expand...

Ha! don't be so sure it's gone! I had about six cherry shrimp in with my lotl's ages ago and I haven't seen any in months until I changed one of their live plants from one tank to another and found one hiding in the plant!
 
so far small shrimp seem to be the best candidate for a buddy/food ;) hehe
anything else could nip at its gills and cause other problems
 
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