Question: My first axolotl! What color is he?

I'm absolutely in love with my new baby! He's only around 2 inches right now and I got him last week. He's been fattening up, which is great because when I got him he was underfed and really thin. He's very light and kind of greyish/purple. You can see how grey he looks in the video The only time he looks brownish is against non-white surfaces or under yellow tinted lights. Does anyone know what color he might be? A few people have said he's purple and a few said light melanoid, but I can't tell the difference. How do you differentiate between the two? I know he's some sort of melanoid since he doesn't have the reflective ring around his eye. I've also read that there's such a thing as purple or blue tinted melanoids. I know that coloring can change as they get older, but does anyone have any idea what he might be? I can't wait to watch him grow up! I haven't thought of a name yet and it's been a week. I just keep calling him my baby, haha.

Here's a video of him: (I removed the rocks from his tank already and it's been remodelled to a semiplanted tank! No need to worry about those stones anymore!)
Video Link
Sorry for the terrible quality!

Your little one is beautiful. :happy:
I don't know the difference between purple, dark melanoid, etc., but he has already got quite a few dark patches, and it's likely that he will get darker as he gets older.
Please keep us updated on his progress and post lots of pictures.

Donna001 said:

Your little one is beautiful. :happy:
I don't know the difference between purple, dark melanoid, etc., but he has already got quite a few dark patches, and it's likely that he will get darker as he gets older.
Please keep us updated on his progress and post lots of pictures.

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Thank you! I definitely will! I love this baby to bits. I've already taken so many videos of this little guy. Hopefully I come up with a name for him soon!

Awe, what a cute little guy! From the first few pics he looks a bit like my wild type, Jabu, but in the video he looks much lighter! He'll probably darken up as he gets a bit older and bigger and then you can see for sure what type he is!
Here's Jabu for a reference! On the left is when I got him almost a month ago and on the right is two weeks ago!

SammyTheLotus said:

Awe, what a cute little guy! From the first few pics he looks a bit like my wild type, Jabu, but in the video he looks much lighter! He'll probably darken up as he gets a bit older and bigger and then you can see for sure what type he is!

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Ahh, I love how your baby has grown! Those gills are so lovely and the color too!

Yes! Only time will tell! I can't wait to see him grow up. He doesn't have the shiny ring around his eye or any shiny spots like wild types do, so he's likely a type of melanoid. Since I've gotten him, I think he's gotten slightly darker. His grey spots have become more grey, hehe.

I spoke to a couple more breeders, and it's likely that he's a light melanoid. Purples have dark spots on their bodies. I still love that he has a bit of a purplish hue for now though!

Karatts said:

Ahh, I love how your baby has grown! Those gills are so lovely and the color too!



Yes! Only time will tell! I can't wait to see him grow up. He doesn't have the shiny ring around his eye or any shiny spots like wild types do, so he's likely a type of melanoid. Since I've gotten him, I think he's gotten slightly darker. His grey spots have become more grey, hehe.



I spoke to a couple more breeders, and it's likely that he's a light melanoid. Purples have dark spots on their bodies. I still love that he has a bit of a purplish hue for now though!

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He's getting huge haha and his appetite is crazy! ?
That's awesome, I love the purple colour and hopefully he'll retain some of that in adulthood! I'm hoping to get a melanoid as my next type, or perhaps a golden albino!
Please post lots of pics of this little guy, I can't wait to see the floor development!
Pick out a name yet?

SammyTheLotus said:

He's getting huge haha and his appetite is crazy! ?
That's awesome, I love the purple colour and hopefully he'll retain some of that in adulthood! I'm hoping to get a melanoid as my next type, or perhaps a golden albino!
Please post lots of pics of this little guy, I can't wait to see the floor development!
Pick out a name yet?

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I just spoke to another breeder, Erik Eads, and apparently there is no such thing as purple axolotls. They're just grey with a purple tint and the tint usually goes away by the time they get to 4 or 5 inches. So there is a chance that this baby would be considered a purple melanoid if he keeps this grey coloring. The purple axolotls with the dark spots are usually just spotted mels that are also grey! Colors are so confusing!

Please post pics of your next baby! Ahh, the golden albinos are gorgeous! I'm waiting to get one more baby from my LFS sometime this week. Not really sure what type I'd like next either though. I do like the copper type though!

I haven't picked a name yet I was thinking either Grey or a food type of name, haha.

Karatts said:

I just spoke to another breeder, Erik Eads, and apparently there is no such thing as purple axolotls. They're just grey with a purple tint and the tint usually goes away by the time they get to 4 or 5 inches. So there is a chance that this baby would be considered a purple melanoid if he keeps this grey coloring. The purple axolotls with the dark spots are usually just spotted mels that are also grey! Colors are so confusing!



Please post pics of your next baby! Ahh, the golden albinos are gorgeous! I'm waiting to get one more baby from my LFS sometime this week. Not really sure what type I'd like next either though. I do like the copper type though!



I haven't picked a name yet I was thinking either Grey or a food type of name, haha.

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Oh wow! Colours really are confusing! ? Either way your little guy is gorgeous and I love those greys and purples! ?
Here's my baby! I'm thinking he's only about two or three months old, but I'm not sure. His name is Gideon and I die for his little nose freckles, I'm pretty sure he's a copper type!

When I saw your little guy all I could think of was the Pokemon Gengar, hehe! ? That's a cute name imo!

Copper axolotls were the reason why I wanted one to start. I found a pet shop an hours drive away that were advertising juvenile coppers. I came away with 2 coppers and a wild type.
I like my mature axis, but the juveniles are so much cuter. And the very young ones are just so adorable.
:happy:

SammyTheLotus said:

Oh wow! Colours really are confusing! �� Either way your little guy is gorgeous and I love those greys and purples! ��
Here's my baby! I'm thinking he's only about two or three months old, but I'm not sure. His name is Gideon and I die for his little nose freckles, I'm pretty sure he's a copper type!

When I saw your little guy all I could think of was the Pokemon Gengar, hehe! �� That's a cute name imo!

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That's a great name! Do you watch Criminal Minds by any chance? There was a character on that show named Gideon! Ooh! I had no idea what copper babies look like but he sure does have that copper coloring! I can't wait to see your baby grow up too! How big is he?

Donna001 said:

Copper axolotls were the reason why I wanted one to start. I found a pet shop an hours drive away that were advertising juvenile coppers. I came away with 2 coppers and a wild type.
I like my mature axis, but the juveniles are so much cuter. And the very young ones are just so adorable.
:happy:

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Oh wow! Those coppers are gorgeous! For a moment I thought you were showing me two axies, and the wild type started out as a copper I was like woah! He's a dark copper HAHAHA. It's amazing how different all the wild types look from one another!

My local fish shop carries axies but only when they're babies. I've never seen any bigger than 2" so I wonder what they do with them if they don't sell... Anyways, my local shop is an hour away by train, which is what I get for not driving But the guy there doesn't really know much about axies and only thinks there's two kinds, wild and white. So I can't ask him about which colors he got in recently. I just have to make that trip! I guess it's fun going and staring at all of them, but it's just such a far commute to walk away empty handed. I think there's only one breeder near me as well, but I'm incredibly picky and I have to stare at the babies for like an hour before I can make a decision

Going to stare at them for an hour is all part of the fun. :happy: