One of my wild types with friends

Boomsloth

Boomsloth

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So I know keeping axolotls with any other species of animal is generally frowned upon, but I must have one of those rare cases of friendly axolotls. These guppies were living with my bichir as food for him but he would only snip at their tails until they couldn't swim and never finished eating them. So I decided to put them with my juvenile axolotls. They are pretty timid (my guess from the bichir) and have never nipped at the axolotls.
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He's not the only axolotl in there! He's the second largest compared to the leucistic which could easily swallow the guppies but neither even try to chase them down. There are also a whole herd of ghost shrimp roaming around which will eat right in front of their faces and not get eaten themselves. The current tank they are in is only temporary while everyone grows into adults (also I live in a dorm so they limit tank sizes) by the time I move out they should all be at least 6in or more and I already have multiple larger tanks to make them all happy :)
 
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as you can see I have many juveniles, I'm going to try to get approval to do my senior thesis on their development and genetics. I haven't had any issues with biting or aggression, they eat, sleep, play and swim together. You can see them all piled up on each other even though there are hides everywhere else. They saw me come in and rushed over to get food. In about three months they will be moved to multiple larger setups :)
 
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Here they are coming in to eat together. They stumble in eat then wobble out.
 
The problems with species cohabitation are more than just the risk of someone being eaten or injured. Guppies live best at the high 70's/low 80's in Fahrenheit, with 72 being the lowest recommended temperature. Obviously axolotls aren't meant to be at 72 degrees, 70 being the uncomfortable high point.

Keeping an animal at the wrong temperature can lead to stress and a weakened immune system, which makes them more susceptible to sickness (also a good time to note that other species could be carrying diseases).

But even aside from all that, the fish look way too big to be in there. The fish should be smaller than the axolotl's head to be suitable for food.

You have lovely axies, but I'd remove the fish.
 
It might be the perspective of the pictures but all the guppies could easily be eaten by the axolotls (except maybe one of the super pregnant females). I have kept these guppies with my bichir as food for him so its not much about aesthetics of having fish. My bichir kept killing the guppies but not eating them so I moved them with the axolotls and watched them VERY carefully for the first week. The guppies didn't even try to peck at the axolotls. Even though the temperature is too cold for the guppies they seem to be thriving and two baby guppies have been swimming around and growing. All the nips in their tails from my bichir are healing so I am not too worried about disease at the moment. To be perfectly honest I am surprised they seem so active in the cold.
 
And obviously the tank is setup for the axolotls first. I also would not recommend people to keep fish with axolotls regardless of my tank because it still is a risk especially if you don't have the time to observe them together. I check my axolotls every day for injuries and have yet to find any missing their feathers. The fish will even eat the bloodworms right in front of the axolotls face.
 
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  • Shane douglas:
    with axolotls would I basically have to keep buying and buying new axolotls to prevent inbred breeding which costs a lot of money??
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  • Thorninmyside:
    Not necessarily but if you’re wanting to continue to grow your breeding capacity then yes. Breeding axolotls isn’t a cheap hobby nor is it a get rich quick scheme. It costs a lot of money and time and deditcation
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  • stanleyc:
    @Thorninmyside, I Lauren chen
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  • Clareclare:
    Would Chinese fire belly newts be more or less inclined towards an aquatic eft set up versus Japanese . I'm raising them and have abandoned the terrarium at about 5 months old and switched to the aquatic setups you describe. I'm wondering if I could do this as soon as they morph?
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