My Axolotl isn't eating! HELP!

Hi There,

Hoping someone on here will be able to give me some advice or reassurance.....

I am new to keeping axolotls and have recently purchased two (one gold, one leucistic). We have had them for about three weeks now and all seemed fine, though now the leucistic has slowly stopped eating! Since I'm not greatly familiar with their behaviour yet, I am not sure if this is normal or not, and if i should be worried? The book I have on them says that they can go months without eating, but the gold one is a monster in comparison. He will eat nearly everything you give him and is growing nicely, he's also very active in the tank. In comparison, the leucistic seems quite docile, he doesn't move very much and hasn't eaten in about four days. When he does it it tends to be one bite of bloodworm from the tweezers and he's done. His tank mate has managed bloodworm, browning worms and prawns and eats quite a lot in one go. The lecuistic did manage about a quarter of a prawn on two occasions but this is the most he has eaten so far... He's also quite a lot smaller than the gold when they sit side by side and this wasn't as noticeable when we first got them, so either one has grown or the other shrunk...

We have been having some issues keeping the temperature down (it seems to like to stay at 24 no matter what we try- including fans and ice bottles), though at its lowest we have been able to get it down to 20. I wondered if this could be affecting is appetite and energy, but this seems unlikely since the other one is thriving? I am checking constantly for fungus etc but there is no sign of this either.

So far my theories are: He's either very fussy, Not as healthy as I think, or perhaps intimidated by his tank mate, who's quite a bit pushier than him, though they do lay on top of each other sometimes??

I would really appreciate any advice you can give me, I'm starting to really worry that something might happen to him

Thanks

Serena

I hope someone pipes up; I don't keep axies but good luck! Check out some of the links in my sig and maybe you can find some advice.

Hi Serena, what substrate if any do you have in your tank?

Hi Serena, welcome to the forum.
OK, first of all, any 2 axies will behave differently - thats why we love them, because they all have their own personalities! So yes, it's normal for them to behave differently.

It's also normal for them to sit on top of each other - they are sociable little beasts and like company.

How big are your axies? If they are over 4" you can try them with earthworms - best food for axies. If they are smaller stick with bloodworms as a staple, although you can mix it up with different foods and see what they like. You can try daphnia and brineshrimp (if your axies are under 6"), waxworms, river shrimp, worms of various kinds - blood, earth, black, you can get pellets very easily. Go easy on the prawns though, they are full of salt which is not good for axies. Maybe thats why yours isn't eating - too much salt in his dinner?

Axies CAN go quite a while without eating - if they are fully grown and kept at 7-10C. If yours are small they should be eating every day.

Keeping the tank cool in this unseasonally warm British weather is not easy, but I suggest you invest in a cooling fan - easy enough to get on Amazon, it blows air across the surface and cools it ncely. My tank is at 18C today - outside it was 22C.

I have an axie, almost fully grown (8-9") who has just decided he doesn't like worms any more. He'll take pellets every other day if he feels like it, maybe a waxworm or 3. He's just fussy. He did it before, for about 3 weeks, then found his appetie again. My 3 girls eat like pigs (we've nicknamed on of the 'the dyson') and are probably a bit too fat.

But yours could be fussy, stressed due to heat or water flow, stressed after his relocation, he may have eaten sand or gravel.

In summary - try differnt foods, get a fan, dissect poop for evidence of gravel or sand. And post us a picture!

Have you tested your water? After 3 weeks there could be a build up of ammonia if your tank has not been cycled.
Individual axies succumb to poisoning differently, and not eating is one of the signs of being poorly.
Just worth considering if you are not used to keeping aquatics.

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