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"water dogs" bought under suspicious circumstances that may be axolotls

BreakingBrad

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Hello everyone! First post

I'm sorry to start it with what I am sure is a common topic but I am struggling to make an identification. Identification information is surprisingly sparse but from what I have read I think we have axolotls.

My girlfriend has wanted axolotls for a long time. She had a 55 gallon with a few goldfish which cycled the tank. We maintained the tank specifically for future axolotls. Using a master test kit PH is around 7-8, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate hovers near 0 or ultra low with weekly water changes of 20%. I've had a lot of fish tanks in my life from 110 gallon Amazon tank with a 40 gallon mangrove swamp overflow refugium to a 14 gallon nano reef with a zebra mantis shrimp! This isn't my first rodeo.

We were at a LFS in Wichita and saw a tank marked axolotls! It said water dogs $10, albino axolotl $50, and then simply axolotl $40. I asked the employees for help and they sold them to us as water dogs for $20 for the pair. I have never trusted pet store employees and these individuals did not seem to me to be particularly well informed (I could see a heater running in the tank and they told me you can tell it's an axolotl if it's pink or white...) so I suspected that they might be miss marked axolotls. They were the only two animals in the tank at the time so there weren't others for comparison. We bought them knowing that either way they will be great to care for and if they are water dogs they will just require the tank to be reorganized and partially drained.

They little guys have been eating earthworms like champs and doing great for the past week or so since we got them. I can't help but want to know what they are though. I will post pictures in the next comment because for some reason it is not letting me right now from my phone.
 

BreakingBrad

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Thanks everyone!
 

tipnatee

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First of all , beautiful tank btw. And water dog is a another name for axolotl , unless it was mistaken for mudpuppy but mudpuppy will already crawl out of your tank and slittering around your house by now so I think you are correct it is axolotl ( some people think saying wild color could be mistake as capture from the wild which is illegal so water dog might be the easier name than a long explanation) :bowl:
 

BreakingBrad

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They flat out told us the "water dogs" were tiger salamander larvae otherwise I'd agree with you about the naming. I wish they would just use the scientific.

So you think they are axolotls?! My girlfriends family are from Mexico City so there is some extra meaning behind raising axolotls.

Also thank you for the compliments on the tank. Here's a more inclusive photo.

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We are still waiting for the drift wood to fully sink. I got it for her at over 5 feet long and had to cut it down as well as creatively maneuver it so that it would fit in the tank haha. Please ignore the spots on the sand as the drift wood has dropped a few pieces that the siphon struggles to pick up. I also built the light bar on top so that you can fine-tune the color temperature to whatever hue you could want. I'm working on a new design that will simulate clouds rolling over.

Here are some light hue examples blue-->red

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auntiejude

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First of all , beautiful tank btw. And water dog is a another name for axolotl , unless it was mistaken for mudpuppy but mudpuppy will already crawl out of your tank and slittering around your house by now so I think you are correct it is axolotl ( some people think saying wild color could be mistake as capture from the wild which is illegal so water dog might be the easier name than a long explanation) :bowl:

'Water dog' refers to tiger salamander larvae, not axolotls. (Ambystoma tigrinum, A.mavortium, A. melonasticum etc)

I'm pretty sure those are axolotls - Ambystoma mexicanum.

Which is weird, because we usually get water dogs passed off as axolotls...
 

tipnatee

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I think so too , cause it's looks too old to be tiger salamander lava. Calling it water dog as the name it self it just confusing :confused: There're probably more than a few online info that I know of so far which claim that water dog is Another name for axolotl. I think in the axolotl world that might start considering racist :D
 

BreakingBrad

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The tank said Water dog, albino axolotl, and axolotl. My guess is that they sold the water dogs and the albinos and then thought what was left were the water dogs. Hopefully someone didnt go home with a water dog expecting an axolotl.

I told my girlfriend and the employees at first that I thought they were axolotls. Looks like she might have saved $60 haha! I am glad you guys are confirming my suspicions :D
 
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