Adding a new axolotl?

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your advices for my first axolotl that's doing pretty fine now. A few days ago, the pet-shop owner called me for new axolotls at his store. In fact, axolotls are rather rare in my country, so they are imported pets.
My leucistic white axie stays on his own within the tank of 45cm x 25cm x 22cm, and he's about 22cm in length at the moment. I actually don't know whether my current axie is a male or a female?
As I know that I can't let any other fish stay with an axolotl, I intend to purchase another axolotl (not the wild type) to be his tank-mate. I am unsure whether they would get along with each other or not? If I let 2 axolotls stay together, do I have to get them a new tank with bigger size?

Please advise me!

Kind regards,

You can have two axolotls together, but you will need a bigger tank. Just make sure that both axies are around the same size, and quarratine the new axolotl for 30 days before adding it in with the old one.

Hi Ganymede264,

I understand your enthusiasm for axolotls, they are such wonderul animals! I think that a friend for your leucistic is a good idea, too. They will surely get along well.

Two words of advice, though. One: before you even think of getting a second axolotl, please, please first get an aquarium that is at least 80 cm long! Two: I very strongly advise you to get an axolotl of the same sex as your leucistic. Most axolotls are avid breeders and you will wind up needing to separate them to protect the healthof your female, which would mean yet another aquarium.

To find out what sex your axolotl is, please read here; there are pictures to help. You could also post a picture here of your axolotl's back side, and we can sex it for you.

-Eva

Today, I paid a visit to the local pet shop. There were 2 leucistic axolotls (one male and one female by the looks of them) and 1 wild-type axolotl. However, the feathers of the 2 leucistic ones all disappeared! The shop owner told me that they were attacked by other fish when they arrived, and she tried to persuade me that their feathers would eventually grow back anyhow; so she asked me to buy them as soon as possible, otherwise other people might pick them up.
Well, I'm not confident to buy one of the 2 leucistic axolotls, as their current conditions at the pet shop don't look very promising to me! I intend to buy the wild-type axolotl, but I'm afraid that it might not get along well with my current axie.
I really want to find a friend for my current axie. I regret that I cannot post my current axie's pictures to the forum, because the pictures were taken by a mobile phone's camera, as they are very dusky. According to your instructions, I discover that my current axie is a female by looking at my axolotl's cloacal region.

I do look forward to your advices as soon as possible!

Many thanks,

I would advise against buying those leucistic axolotls from that pet shop because you don't know whats REALLY wrong with them. Stick to buying from a breeder. Thats my opinion!

Ganymede264 said:

Well, I'm not confident to buy one of the 2 leucistic axolotls, as their current conditions at the pet shop don't look very promising to me!

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I agree with you.

It's hard to walk away, but the pet shop will be delighted to pass a problem onto you as then they can order more.

Loss of gills can be caused by water quality issues, illness, cannibalism and yes fish.

The gills 'may' grow back, but they don't usually grow back to their original standard.

Ganymede264 said:

I intend to buy the wild-type axolotl, but I'm afraid that it might not get along well with my current axie.

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Wildtypes do tend to be more aggresive than the albinos and leucistics. I had a wildtype in with an albino and had no problems. She was more assertive than the other at feeding time, so I just kept them at opposite ends of the tank so there would be no 'altercations' lol.

If you have enough hides, this allows the axies to have 'time out' from one another if they need to.

As Kira has mentioned, remember that any new addition to the tank must be quarantined for 30 days before being introduced to your current axolotl. This ensures the new comer is not carrying any diseases that can spread to your other axie.

And remember, we love photos!