Aggressive behaviour

[katy]

You might have seen the pic of my new axolotl in a recent post, and now it seems I have a problem.

My original axy is a male, is always super-active and always playful. The new one, a female, is slightly smaller and much quieter - she spends a lot of time just sitting around, like you'd normally expect axies to do.

I've had her for just a few days and already she's missing half of two gill feathers. Is this behaviour normal when introducing two axies or is my male abnormally aggressive? Should I remove her from the tank, or will they settle down eventually? I hate seeing her get hurt, though I know they should grow back.

 

[sharon]

It might be a matter of hiding places, tank space per axo, and getting to know one another. I really hope someone else has a more definite idea.

How big is your tank?

How many hiding spots per axo do you have? i.e. I have 6 axos and 12 "caves/ledges" and umpteen plants.

Sharon

 

[mik]

Sharon's bang on. Use the biggest tank you have when mixing axies of different sizes and make sure there loads and loads of hidy places.

I have different sizes in my main tank but I keep a careful eye out too.

Mikki

 

[katy]

Ok, I can do this. There's plants and ornamenty things but no caves or anything. That's easy to fix (Juju didn't care about hiding, he likes to play with me, and I was being selfish in thinking I wanted to be able to see them all the time). I hope I don't have to separate them!

My tank's a 15 gallon one last time I did the calculations, 2ft across.