Inroduced new axy, original now being aggressive.

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MortimerOwner

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Hi all,

I've had an axy, Mortimer, for just over a year now. He has alovely disposition, and is now mature. I was worried about him getting a bit bored and lonely, so I've recently bought him a companion, Pierre.

Pierre's quite a bit smaller, but not too much smaller (I was a bit worried that Mortimer may see him as a feast otherwise).

Unfortunately, following what appeared to be a bit of initial distrust of eachother- sitting at either end of the tank and not interacting- Mortimer is now acting quite aggressively towards Pierre. Hs snaps at him when he's near, sometimes causing Pierre to act very stressed.

Any ideas or tips on how to stop this, or advice?

Is this behaviour likely to contue? :confused:

Thanks in advance for your help :happy:
 
a divider until they are closer in size? My guess is the larger one is just looking at him as something smaller than himself that moves.
 
Hi,

Thank you for the advice. I did think that may the case :-/

Could it also be because my original axy's been solitary for so long now? I'm not sure how territorial they are as a species.
 
I don't think they are that territorial (they aren't wolves haha) but think of them as opportunistic eaters. Sometimes you get an axolotl that will snap at anything around trying to eat it regardless of what it is, and it gets labelled as aggressive. They don't have territory really but instead might bump into each other as they are moving to be comfortable or if they are looking for food. Some axolotls can tell when its another axolotl, my largest has gone many times straight up to the smaller ones smelling them to see if it can eat it. They have all been raised together so they are used to each others' presence. You might be right about yours not being raised around axolotls, he might not know what the new one is and just assumes it can be eaten.
 
Ah, ok. I wasn't sure.
I'll try separation, as I don't want to stress out the smaller one too much.
 
MortimerOwner said:
Ah, ok. I wasn't sure.
I'll try separation, as I don't want to stress out the smaller one too much.
Click to expand...

just get a divider. It allows them to see and smell each other while keeping them safely apart until they get to similar sizes. Its much easier then trying to set up a new tank and dealing with daily water changes etc.
 
I had the same issue with my boys; so I put in a tank divider and kept it like that for a few months. It gave Albus a chance to check Jinx out and get used to another presence in the tank. He assoicated the movement with Jinx, not food. At least, that's how I interpreted it.
 
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