Female keeps attacking male who is skinny and won't eat

[hotfish]

I've been having problems with my two axies, male and female. I noticed she was attacking the male and leaving chunks of his tail missing as well as mangled limbs.

For a while she stopped and he was healing well but its recently been starting up again.

The male now refuses to eat and is getting very skinny. He is also very low energy and I've noticed that he sometimes lets out bubbles out of his mouth. I've decided to fridge him until he regains health. I'm hoping this was the right thing to do...

The female recently laid eggs and is otherwise fat and healthy.

Here are pictures of the male's injuries:

In this image the front foot is stuck to his side like that. It looks broken from different angles.

 

[HayleyK]

Did you separate them before? Besides right now in the fridge?

Fridging will slow his metabolism down so I doubt he will eat. I wouldn't put him in the fridge personally, I would keep him in a separate cool and dechlorinated tub and persist with feeding and keeping an eye out for fungus.

 

[hotfish]

Yup they were separated before.

The thing is he was still eating OK before (although, he would eat the worm and the spit it out, but he would eat pellets) but now he just flat out refuses food.

 

[HayleyK]

What's the usual temp of tank and other water parameters?

You'll just have to persist. I had a poorly axolotl who refused food too, I fed her some bloodworms and she seemed to eat them, I think it was easier to eat as they were small and the smell kinda lured her to it, and then she occassionally took an earthworm. I had to cut the earthworm really small and could take 20 minutes or so to feed her just persist.

Goodluck!

 

[pondweed]

Once he's had some TLC and healed up, perhaps you could look at your tank set-up again? You said they were separated, so I'm guessing you have a divider…? Perhaps adding more hides on his side to break up his view of her might help him to relax a bit and encourage his appetite.

 

[layna]

I agree i would remove him from the fridge.
Fridging reduces their appetite, so if he is already thin, thats a bad idea.

It may take him a day or two to regain his appetite after he is removed, but you could try some wax worms, blackworms or bloodworms to get him interested in food again

 

[xxianxx]

Is there much of a size difference between the two axolotls ? Do the attacks take place during feeding ?