My Axolotl eats plants?

[Teun]

Hi,

I have my axolotl for a while now, and I discovered something weird. My axolotl tries to eat drowning plants that are in my aquarium now. He seems to have a little trouble doing it, and I thought axolotls don't eat plants?

I removed them from my aquarium now, because I'm a little worried about this. Will this do him any harm? Thanks.

 

[Kaysie]

Axolotls will eat anything that moves. This includes fingers, other axolotls, and plants. Mine bite their silk plants all the time.

It may cause indigestion, or extra or funny looking feces, but I don't think it causes serious issues, as long as the plants aren't toxic.

 

[ianclick]

Hi Teun,

There may be food scraps on your plants. Have you noticed how violent and inacurate an axies lunges for food can be?

It is likely that it is getting your plants by mistake.

 

[oceanblue]

I was thinking of posting a vegetarian axolotl thread but this one has beaten me to it!

Mine eat watercress leaves and stems frequently judging by the way their droppings unwind into a mass of fibre. I suspect they are going for the older leaves which are rotting and being eaten by a tiny daphnia like crustacean (exact species undetermined). They sometimes used to take bites out of water-lily leaves but here the target was small ramshorn snails (Planorbis planorbis) which they have eaten down to the verge of extinction. They remain fit and healthy and seem to need less food than most people advise to thrive. I'm not sure how much nourishment they are getting from the plant material but think it is a significant portion of their diet in my plant choked tank.

I don't think you need worry about harm if the plants are not too toxic.

 

[Casaloxl]

my axies regularily munch on some vallis if they dont feel like eating it, they just spit it back out, otherwise what goes in comes out..