Question: Is this a nipping injury or something else?

Ok following on from my last thread. Jerry one of my 2 5 month old axies started floating, so I fridged him where he started to show signs of fungus. Regular salt baths sorted this out.

Before he started floating he started to show 'grazes' on his legs. And some missing toes.

Anyway, we reintroduced him to the tank with his brother(?) yesterday and this morning he has the same grazes on two of his legs.

If it's a nipping injury then fine, boys will be boys, and they are only young.

My water quality isn't quite perfect yet, but ammonium is 0, nitrite is 0.1 and falling.

The first photo is Jerry, the one I'm worried about, his front right leg has a visible graze. And there's a very similar one on his right rear leg too.

The second photo is Steve, just to show a photo of him really. Since Jerry's been in the fridge he's got a lot bigger, and his gills have got a lot 'fernier'.

Thanks,

Gareth

Better photo, it's like he posed for this one!

Gaz

Hi Gareth,

I think it looks like a bite mark, yes. I find "boys will be boys" somewhat hard - although not necessarily highly developed animals, axolotls are indeed capable of feeling pain. Is your tank large enough for two (growing) axolotls?

-Eva

What I meant by boys will be boys is that young Axolotls are known for nipping and it does subside as they get older. No lasting harm is done, although obviously if it becomes excessive I'll be forced to separate them.

The tank's fairly large, around 85 litres. And it almost certainly won't be large enough when they're bigger, I belive it's large enough for them at the moment and for a while to come.

I certainly didn't mean to sound insensative I love my boys, but nipping can be a part of owning 2 axies.

I just wanted to make sure it wasn't caused by something else that could be eliminated by me.

Gaz

Hi Gaz,

Ok and I am sorry if I sounded like a nag. I think the arm injury looks serious enough to want to separate the two, but certainly it is your call.

The 85 L depends on length. If it were, say, 85x50x50 cm that would be nice and roomy for two adult axolotls, but my husband tells me that my math is lousy and these are not the dimensions of an 85 L tank.

I have read from a lot of people who were dealing with the same thing ("boys being boys") and resolved the problem by hand-feeding or feeding at two fixed but different spots so that the axolotls do not fight or "slip" and bite each other.

-Eva

The only sure way to stop nipping and biting is to separate them. I have 2 females that 'nip' each other, but neither have ever lost a limb, it tends to be more grazing and a few nips out of the tail.

The only thing I would be wary about with an injury like that is the fact that it is raw flesh and axolotls love raw flesh, so its best to keep an eye on them as you don't want repeated nippings at a raw injury.

The missing toes are from before, it's just the graze on the leg this time around. And you don't sound like a nag at all! Just rightly concerned, maybe I hadn't taken the nipping seriously enough.

Is it viable to separate the two in the same tank? I.e with some sort of divider? I do hand feed the two of them, and try to keep them fairly far apart when I do so.

I think the nips occur because Jerry enjoys taking a gulp of air then slowly sinking to the bottom, occasionally he'll land on top of Steve and he seems to bite out, I assume thinking he's food.

The tank's 2ft long, by a foot wide, and about 18" deep.

Gaz

You could do with getting them a bigger tank if you're going to keep them together. I house 2 females in a tank 2 or 3 inches short of 3 foot.
They wouldn't have a lot of room each if you were to put a divider in. Axolotls require a tank of at least 18 inches per axolotl so if you did that each one would be very cramped at adult size.

After your joint advice I've just bought Jerry his own tank of around the same size. I'll never be entirely happy with him and Steve together, so this option is just better all round.

Thanks all.

Gaz

Hi Gaz,

Good for you. I always feel slightly rude telling someone "You have to buy another tank" as that assumes one has the option of doing so and is not always a viable option. I'm glad you do, and did.

-Eva