The Mighty Hunter

"I know there are fish out there, lots of tasty fish! And as soon as I find them, I'm gonna eat them! Now, wheeeeeere aaaaaare they hiding?"

My mighty hunter...

'In pantomime voice'

THERE BEHIND YOU......

he's gorgous, lovely white sand too

the fish might nibble at his gills, pretty as they are..

how do you keep tropical fish in the tank with the axo
are the fish surviveing at the lower temp?

guppies survive just fine at lower temps, rarely nip gills and make great feeder fish because they are prolific breeders.

I have a male and several females in my tank at the mo (no axies as yet, waiting for them to grow) and there are many babies in there, temp is about 18 - 19 degrees

just noticed the platy's too, they also breed like mad but not sure whether they nip Blueberlin will know the answer to that one

Hi y'all, was out and about. They are guppies and red platys and they are intended as food. They do not nibble at the gills. They checked him out when I first put him in the aquarium with them (and boy has he been checking them out, too! He just hasn't figured out yet how to actually catch them) and now they just ignore him. They tolerate the same temperature range, stay small, and give live birth (no eggs to protect). They also eat any leftover food crumbs. And they are decorative!

-Eva

If anything you will find the platys will eat their own babies plus the guppy fry lol...watch those fish though Eva, if your axie even has the slightest injury they will nip at raw flesh and nip and nip.

Thank you, Becky, I didn't know that. I will indeed watch them (I spend most of my day doing so anyway). I only have about 3 months to go until we move into our new house, and then I'll get a third aquarium just for (feeder) fish.

Hi Eva

I know this is a medieval thread, but I was wondering if you could post some pics of the different types of snails you have in your tank? As I really like the idea of having a few snails in there with Petrie. Also, where did you get yours? Do you think a garden/aquarium shop would have them?

I'm also in the process of setting up a tank to quarantine some feeder fish in - I had intended to just get guppies, but I think the platys add a lovely splash of colour! However, I don't think I can have both, as don't want the tank to be overrun with them...so are there any particulars pros and cons of either type? Or any specific differences?

If anyone else can shed light on either the snail or fish conundrum, it would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Zoe x

Hi Zoe,

I personally prefer guppies over platys because evasive platys can actually grow quite large and no longer 'bite sized'. I tend to have only feeder fish or perhaps feeder freshwater shrimp.

I know some members keep snails with axies. Personally i don't really like them. Snails reproduce quite readily and can be quite difficult to remove in future. Furthermore, some snail species can grow to a size that can cause impaction problems. Thus, its a fine balance between getting gigantic 'unswallowable' sized snails or very tiny snails that can serve as a snack.

Quarantine can also be a bit more difficult in the sense that unlike fish, you cannot observe obvious behavioural abnormality or highly visible physical pathology that can be readily identified in snails as opposed to fish, during the minimum 30 day quarantine period. For eg. fish would 'flash' or dart about or surface for air etc. that can be easily identified as potential illness. Snails, on the other hand don't display such behaviour. That said, snails can harbour parasites and other nasties as well.

Cheers.
:angel:

Hi Zoe!

I have ramshorn snails, apple snails (also called mystery snails), and bladder snails.

The ramshorn snails come in various colors (red, blue, brown..) - I have brown ones and red ones. They are small (have never seen any bigger than 1 cm) but pretty and skim the underside of the water surface ("upside-down floating") which is amusing to watch. I can't keep these in the tank for any time at all because they get eaten so quickly. I have bought them at pet shops as well as from other axolotl keepers from the German forum.

I have read contradictory info about apple snails. Apparently they are tropical snails, needing warmer water than what is in my coldwater axolotl tanks. Mine do fine, growing very rapidly and keeping everything quite clean. However, I have been told that at these temps, they will only live about a year instead of about 4 years. We've crossed the one year mark and they are still going strong. They have not laid eggs, though, so either I managed to have nothing but females, or the temps bother them after all? In any case, they are wonderful cleaners, become large quickly (mine are about 3 cm across), and are fast-moving and fun to watch. Their tails have glittery apricot-colored flecks, quite pretty.

Bladder snails are a plague to an (axolotl-less) aquarium. You can usually get them for free at most pet shops and from fish keepers. You are very likely to get them when buying water plants. They are also very, very small, and their shells are very soft. They usually disappear quite quickly from my axolotl tanks - but there are always a few teensy ones somewhere. They are terrific algae eaters.

I agree with Ray about platys. I have both guppies and platys and whereas some platy types are quite pretty, they are very strong swimmers and a few will always manage to escape from being eaten. They also actually like the water a tick warmer than the 16-18°C I have in my tanks, and so do not breed as readily as I would like. (On the other hand, their fry hides at the bottom of the tank, unlike guppy fry, which could mean that although the adults are breeding, I never see the fry because it is getting eaten immediately.)

Guppies are wonderful. I have various colorations of fantails because they are pretty. Their breeding prolificacy is legendary, of course. So, however, is the appetite of an axolotl. I finally had to set up a separate breeder tank for the fish after my axolotls were going through about 15 fish a day per tank. It is unlikely that they will overrun an axolotl tank (for long).

Hope this helps,

-Eva

Darkmaverick said:

Quarantine can also be a bit more difficult in the sense that unlike fish, you cannot observe obvious behavioural abnormality or highly visible physical pathology that can be readily identified in snails as opposed to fish, during the minimum 30 day quarantine period. For eg. fish would 'flash' or dart about or surface for air etc. that can be easily identified as potential illness. Snails, on the other hand don't display such behaviour. That said, snails can harbour parasites and other nasties as well.

Cheers.
:angel:

Click to expand...

As ever Ray, spot on advice - I hadn't considered this, but in light of Sharon's plight at present, I'm feeling very wary of parasites...so will have to ponder tank-cleaning vs. risk of parasites...

Out of curiousity, when you say "flash", what do you mean, as I've not heard this term previously (except to describe a flash of light...or what old man in rain macs do...)?

blueberlin said:

Hi Zoe!

The ramshorn snails come in various colors (red, blue, brown..) - I have brown ones and red ones. They are small (have never seen any bigger than 1 cm) but pretty and skim the underside of the water surface ("upside-down floating") which is amusing to watch. I can't keep these in the tank for any time at all because they get eaten so quickly. I have bought them at pet shops as well as from other axolotl keepers from the German forum.

I have read contradictory info about apple snails. Apparently they are tropical snails, needing warmer water than what is in my coldwater axolotl tanks. Mine do fine, growing very rapidly and keeping everything quite clean. However, I have been told that at these temps, they will only live about a year instead of about 4 years. We've crossed the one year mark and they are still going strong. They have not laid eggs, though, so either I managed to have nothing but females, or the temps bother them after all? In any case, they are wonderful cleaners, become large quickly (mine are about 3 cm across), and are fast-moving and fun to watch. Their tails have glittery apricot-colored flecks, quite pretty.

Bladder snails are a plague to an (axolotl-less) aquarium. You can usually get them for free at most pet shops and from fish keepers. You are very likely to get them when buying water plants. They are also very, very small, and their shells are very soft. They usually disappear quite quickly from my axolotl tanks - but there are always a few teensy ones somewhere. They are terrific algae eaters.

I agree with Ray about platys. I have both guppies and platys and whereas some platy types are quite pretty, they are very strong swimmers and a few will always manage to escape from being eaten. They also actually like the water a tick warmer than the 16-18°C I have in my tanks, and so do not breed as readily as I would like. (On the other hand, their fry hides at the bottom of the tank, unlike guppy fry, which could mean that although the adults are breeding, I never see the fry because it is getting eaten immediately.)

Guppies are wonderful. I have various colorations of fantails because they are pretty. Their breeding prolificacy is legendary, of course. So, however, is the appetite of an axolotl. I finally had to set up a separate breeder tank for the fish after my axolotls were going through about 15 fish a day per tank. It is unlikely that they will overrun an axolotl tank (for long).

Hope this helps,

-Eva

Click to expand...

I like the idea of ramshorn snails, because they sound like they'd be very easy to eat (for Petrie, not me) and I like the idea of anything that cleans for me . So now it's just a matter of weighing up the pros and cons (cons described by Ray above).

I think, in regards to fish, I will stick to guppies - I honestly think they will last quite well because Petrie has the reflexes of a potato, so I think he will make an atrocious hunter - earthworms frequently escape him, so I imagine the fish will too!


Thanks to both of you for your informative responses :happy:

Zoe x

Hi Zoe,

Fish with parasites, particularly those with skin or gill irritation, tend to behave a little differently. In a shoal situation, most shoal fish tend to swim together in clusters, even facing the same direction. An ill fish would kind of swim off sync and hence dart about or move in such a way that the reflective sheen from the scales will 'glimmer' like a flash indicating something is not quite right. You would notice a silvery or white flash as the fish twists and turns exposing its underside. This is termed 'flashing'.

Cheers.