Axolotl getting fat

Hi

My axolotl has been getting fat, and seems to keep gettting fatter! (attached photo)
Is this just from the eggs? If so, does she need anything special in the environment to induce her to release them? Will there be any problems if she keeps them too long?
How long does this process roughly last? A few weeks? A few months?

She is still producing a lot of waste... usually twice a day, so I don't think it's any digestion issue.

Also, she is eating a lot more than usual... She used to eat about 5 pellets a day, but now it seems she wants to eat a lot more if I keep feeding her (She stands with her head raised when waiting for food)....
Should I keep feeding her as much as she wants? the same amount? or even reduce it a bit?


cheers

Oh My Gosh!
Mine is doing the same!
And the funny thing is that she looks JUST LIKE YOURS.
Coincidence? TWINS??

Mine recently became sexually mature;
her fingertips got darker.
I'm thinking that her body is getting ready
as if she were getting ready to mate and reproduce.

That picture you attached looks like my two guys. :|

Either all three of them are normal or my guys are waaay too fat.

Hi there,

Since your axolotl still has a ravenous appetite and doesn't show other signs of stress or illness, i am inclined to think that she is just getting matured and developing the characteristic shape from eggs. She also has the dark toe tips to indicate maturity.

Adult matured female axolotls will all take on this appearance throughout their lives. She would lay eggs during breeding stimulus if you have another male axolotl in the same tank. Rentention of eggs is extremely rare in axolotls, but is still a 'technical' possibility. When there is no stimulus, she would just remain as she is now, still with the full rounded shape but not lay eggs.

Cheers

She looks fine. She looks like a nice, big, healthy axolotl. I would say she just has eggs in her stomach. You are doing great to keep her nice and healthy.
Mitch.

So there is no problem with axolotl's overeating? (guess they are smarter than goldfish)

She is actually a bit chubbier than what the photo looks like, but I guess it's normal for her.

Thanks for the reassurances :happy:

The problem with over eating is all the waste and poop and everything your axolotl is going to excrete. You wouldn't want your axolotl any fatter than what it is now. Your lucky you have an axolotl that will eat alot. My axolotls just hide away and i have to feed them when they decide to come out.
mitch.

Hi Kozza,

Overfeeding an axolotl can cause the same problems that obesity causes in humans - it can overstrain the nternal organs. Your axolotl does not look fat to me, though. How big (long) is she? She looks like an adult in the photo. If she is 20 cm (8 inches) or more, you only need to feed her once a week. A nice big earthworm or two each week should fully suffice to keep her well fed and healthy for many years to come. You will also notice her coming out more if she isn't fed every day (to beg).

-Eva

Tried to measure her, but she doesn't want to stretch out in the same place I aligned the ruler.
My best guess is about 21.5cm.
By saying adult axo's only need to fed once a week, does that mean they need more food if they were still growing?

I tend to give her about 5 pellets a day, and some days a couple more as snacks during odd times.
The problem is that I currently have her in the same room as the computer, and so when I can see her watching me, or sitting in the feeding stance then I tend to oblige. Also, it's kinda the only way to interact with axo's

I'll check around and see if I can get some worms at a bait shop or something....
But are pellets still OK for once a week feeding? And should I up the amount in that case?
Having less waste to deal with will be quite welcome.

One thing I see people mention a lot, is to give them beef heart as an "occasional treat", because it's too hard to digest for them to have it often.... Is that really a treat for them if they can't digest it easily??

She got a blood worm from left over bait once... she seemed to enjoy that

And Mitchell, she wasn't always that easy to feed.... I was given her during the Australian summer heatwave coz she wasn't eating for her previous owner who was afraid she was going to die.
The first few weeks I had to spend a lot of time to get her to eat more than a couple of pellets.
It's only really been the last week or two that she decided to start feasting, Which is why I am asking now. Figured it was most likely she was building her energy to produce eggs, but wanted to make sure I'm not feeding her so much that she is heading for an axolotl stroke! - if they exist.

I would assume your axolotl's would come out more often if they needed more food, kinda like what Eva says.
Maybe for mine, eating is her main entertainment coz I haven't yet got a big enough space to give her a tank mate (and make use of those eggs :wacko

Hi Kozza,

Based on the size of your axie, i would say its very likely a full grown adult. Larvae and juveniles do need to be fed more frequently compared to adults.

You can feed your adult axie once or twice a week. Pellets are fine as a staple food but why not offer a variety? Live earthworms, bloodworms, blackworms are fine as staples as well. Treats can be things like small pieces of beef heart, shrimp, fish etc.

I would recommend you feed as much as your axie can eat within a 20min sitting during a staple meal session. You have to assess whether it needs more than 5 pellets or not. Thereafter remove all uneaten food and resist feeding any more in the day (or days).

When you want to offer treats, perhaps restrict it to one treat a week. The treat will be a single piece of beef heart or shrimp/fish. This can still be an interactive session.

Have you also considered feeding feeder fish as 'treats' to earn? Suitable feeder fish like guppies, platys and minnows can be quarantined for 30 days before being offered. The axie can exercise by huntin, to earn this treat.

Cheers.

Hi Kozza,

Pellets are fine but because they are "total nutrition" they can quickly lead to a fat axolotl. Five pellets once a week is absolutely enough for an adult axolotl. That is the thing I don't like about pellets: they seem like such a sad meal because you should only give so few. Seems so unsatisfying.

In case you haven't found it yet, the Caudata Care site has articles on types of food (here) and their nutritional values (here).

For occasional treats I would rather feed something that is maybe not as nutritious or maybe on the fatty side but still well within the range of an axolotl's natural prey - maggots, mealworms, waxworms, crickets, snails, small freshwater fish, isopods, etc. These are usually available at pet stores that sell reptiles (and yor garden or nearby park probably offers some tasty surprises, too).

Axolotls that are still growing fast need more food. Larvae need to be feed several times a day. Small juveniles should be fed daily, and larger juveniles can skip one or two days a week. Adults should be fed once or twice a week.

It may help you to resist overfeeding if you keep in mind that you really aren't doing your pet a favor by making him fat. You might also be suprised how much more interactive he is if you don't feed him every day. I like to hang over the top of the tank and watch mine come stick their noses out of the water at me. Makes me laugh out loud and I can stand there for hours. Ok, I'm weird. But still. If I feed them every day, they are much lazier and don't always swim out to "greet" me.

-Eva

I raise my own guppies and toss a few in when I see their supply getting low. If they're hungry in between feeding they can hunt one down.

I also toss live black worms in there. They're incredibly small and not a meal at all but they spend a lot of time hunting for them in the sand. Gives them something to do when they're not eating, hunting or resting. And it makes them active.

Although, I hadn't actually considered breeding food for her before, I have given her a couple of neon tetra's. Placed them in the tank and watched for a while... no reaction from her.... Left the room and came back and found a tank with only an axie. So I didn't get to watch the hunt

So now I not only have to learn how to take care of an axolotl aquarium, but also feeding and care for the food source... while it should be interesting, it just seems weird to look after something I'm going to sacrifice ... I take it that it unsuitable to have the feeder fish breeding in the same tank as their predator? (as long as the number's are stable, the axie could have 24 hours self-serve buffet... I'm pretty sure I'm going to be told otherwise, but just seems closer to what they have in nature)

So far, it's been about 2 days without feeding.. she still looks the same size and less waste already, but she is getting very "snappy". Will even snap if I put my finger next to her on the outside of the tank. She is also staring at me a lot more than normal, which is probably going to get her on the "twice" rather than "once" a week feeding plan :happy:

Just FYI, the pellets I have say to feed them twice a day with whatever they eat in 6-10 minutes.. not that I'm inclined to believe that over the advice from everyone here

Excellent Kozza,

Another happy story here. As for feeder fish, sometimes some of the more evasive ones actually dodge being eaten and even have little families of their own. My own feeder fish has somewhat established a perpetual cycle/supply of new fish for fodder. I guess you can look at it in terms of advantages and disadvantages, i would not consider either to be the only correct way.

Advantages are they are all in the same tank so you do not need a separate set up. The original fish in there have been quarantined before introduction so there is no need to requarantine new fry. The fish type is also one that you know your axie would hunt, be able to thrive in the tank conditions and also not aggressive or nippy to your axie. If you provide a lush cover of aquatic plants (floating or submerged), there will be plenty of hiding places for the fish.

On the other hand, leaving the fish in there would increase bioload, so you have to be extra stringent with water parameter checks and maybe perform more frequent water changes. Also you would not be able to control the number of fish hunted per axie per day. Would be a little difficult if you are monitoring the nutrition of your axie.

So to summarise, you may like to incorporate a blend of both. Leaving some to breed and removing excess fish into another tank etc. If you feed sexually dimorphic species of fish (for eg. colour male guppies vs plain female guppies) you can also separate them in terms of sex, so you can ensure what goes in the feeding tank and what goes in the breeding tank.

Cheers.

Hi Kozza,

If you have a steady supply of food, you obviously don't have to "culture" (breed) it yourself. It just becomes cheaper in the long run. Besides, if I buy, say, a packet of grubs, there are 20-40 in the pack and I only need about 3 a week. So I feed them to keep them alive, healthy, and nutritious until they are fed to the axolotls - which is a sort of "culture" on its own.

There are many foods that you can culture easily. Earthworms, crickets, pillbugs, snails, slugs, shrimp, just to name a few besides feeder fish. There is an entire section of this forum dedicated to feeder critters (here) and it is full of very, very useful information.

I had kept my feeder fish (guppies and platys) in the same tank as my axolotls. Two weeks ago, though, I fished (hehe) them all out and put them into their own tank, because it has got to the point where I can't keep the fish in the tank long enough for them to breed - they become dinner too quickly. By the way, an axolotl tank is a bit too cold for neons, so I would suggest adding only enough neons to be eaten quickly, so that the rest do not suffer while waiting for the axolotl to be hungry enough to chase them.

-Eva

Well, it's been half a week without feeding, and she is still the same size, or perhaps a bit larger, and even looks healthier! (I don't know if this is right, but I take the length of the gill stalks and thickness of the "feathers" as an indication of how well they are doing). Although, she is still really snappy, which still makes me feel a little guilty for not feeding her more often (especially since she seems to know to watch me when I'm eating my own food!)

Thanks again to everyone for the advice and also the links

Especially, I wouldn't have picked up on the tetra's being too cold.... The previous ones indeed didn't get time to become uncomfortable, but they were a stand alone bonus, so I'll probably use guppies (thanks for colour tip too) if I get that far to try setting up a feeder colony.