Axolotl Tank mates?

Hi, I'm getting 3 little juvies this coming monday from axolotl canada, I've done a lot of reasearch on the little guys and my tank is mid cycle (so i might hold off on the axies for a bit)

Just wondering if I could maybe put some ghost shrimp or cherry shrimp in the tank with them to help with waste control.

The tank is a 20 gal and is 30 wide. I know its not the recommended size but I plan to move them to a larger tank as they grow. There are a lot of hides and plants for them all!

While some people do add ghost shrimp with their axolotls to help in cleaning up left over food, I would NOT recommend it for juveniles.

Axolotls will eventually eat the shrimp, which is fine for adults. But the exoskeleton on shrimp may be to difficult for juveniles to digest and lead to impaction followed by death if not caught or noticed in time.

The best choice in adding other species with Axolotls is a simple one: JUST SAY NO

Other animals are never really good for 'waste control', even if the shrimp eat a small amount of the extra food and poop they are just going to convert it into more poop. Best to use water changes with a suction siphon to clean. And in the end the shrimp are going to be poop as well since the axolotl will eat them.

Cherry shrimp are ideal for Axolotls if you want to put shrimp in your tank. Exoskeleton is not an issue. The only way shrimp will aid your tank cycle is by creating Ammonia to feed the cycle. Plus being a food source. They are also ideal if you have an algae problem.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-beginner-newt-salamander-axolotl-help-topics/f48-axolotls-ambystoma-mexicanum/f57-axolotl-general-discussion/71221-shrimps-axolotls.html

They will all get eaten. No point. If it smells like food and fits in its mouth, the axie will eat it.

I put cherry shrimp in with my two n.v, they love it there always hunting around for them. A few will get eating, i do think some shrimp get smarter and learn to watch out for the newts. My problem is the shrimp poop is all over, if you have sand the poo will stand out more and is unattractive. I vacuum every other day, i have about 8 shrimp in 10 gallon with two newts. Its not to pretty on day two when vacuuming, i probably get a table spoon of poo every two days.

Know i have about 30 shrimp in a 2 gallon, and one hade baby's but i dont know if i want to add any more shrimp after these guys get eaten, to much vacuuming. I gues it would be great if you could put gravel in with newts.

I did notice to I had double sponge filter,one looked like it was going to need to be rinsed out within a week or two. Now bothe sponges look brand new

Shrimp are fine but I would probably wait until the babies are a bit bigger just so they don't get impacted. That's just me personally, though. Just realize that the shrimp will eventually get eaten and that they will probably add more waste than they clean.


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