Question: New Axolotl owner, read plenty (now: diary of Fred's new owner)

well last night was an experience.

I thought it may have been time to remove the divider in the tank, to allow Barney and Fred to co-exist and make friends, however things didn't go as expected.

What happened was this:


  • to begin they didn't really notice each other.
  • Fred turns around as Barney approaches.
  • Barney snaps at Fred tail, I put a net between them just in case
  • 10 minutes pass
  • then they walk around for a bit, then walk to each other head to head.
  • another surprised snap.
  • I'm on hand with net to separate at all times.
  • everything dies down and all of a sudden they're on top of each other tail wrapped around each others faces with no issues
  • as they walk away a surprised snap from Barney.
  • 10 minutes pass
  • Barney sits on the grass in the corner
  • Fred comes from under, getting very interested in his flapping gills
  • He stalks em, I'm panicking after a while he walks away.
  • 10 minutes pass, and Freds the other side of the tank
  • Barney comes in behind and generally snaps again.
5 Snaps over about 40 minutes, pretty much every time together, 4 from Barney, 1 from Fred.

I decided it wasn't time and the divider went back up. No injuries, just a little stress from them both.

I guess now wasn't the time?
Or Barney's still too playful?
Or this is normal and the surprised snapping at dangly bits passes?

All I know is it was a very stressful time, the only times I could tell if they were getting on was when they were next to one another. Those are the times snapping happened. My heart could not take any more.

I have videos of everything but will need editing due to my sounding little a little woman with my stressed whining and all the accidental swearing. lol

So that's that for now. Any advice?
 
Well i spent a great deal of time consoling myself with Ted yesterday and in the end I decided that last night Id give things another try.

This time i didnt remove the wall entirely I just folded it back so the could get at each other.

They've been together for over 12 hours now, and in all the time i was in the room there was no aggression, just plenty of sitting on each others heads and playing.

I feel that perhaps on the first try they were upset because i was stood over it, with a net, making then either think it was feeding time or worrying them by interfering.

This time Ive just let them to it, and they seem fine.
 
Wehey! Nice one! That was probably the scariest thing you are ever gonna have to do!
 
Well after a full 18 hours together they are happily playing together.

I've seen it all, foot on mouth, balls on head, lifting and flipping each other, tail slaps the lot. If it were going to kick off again, it surely would have done. I think looking at em now the only reason it would kick off if I were to try and seperate and so the divider is gone!

Crazy creatures who now seem so much happier to have company.

Also have successfully fed with no issues. Here are two vids for you guys to see the two together (sorry Barney is quite camo on film, switch to HD mode to see em better).

YouTube - Fred and Barney the Axolotls happily playing

YouTube - Fred and Barney the Axolotls, after 18 hours the best of pals
 
All is good in the land of Fred and Barney. They are the best of friends now.

Keeping 2 axies is different to keeping 1 in a tank, there are things you need to be aware of.

Being a little rough with water changes and/or moving items around in the tank can really annoy axies. I found this out the hard was and upset Fred. He wasn't used to the position of a few fake plants and was lashing out at them after the water change. Barney got in his way and got a little snap.

Barney backed off and left him alone, a few minutes later Fred was back, at twice his size, feeling sorry for himself and wanting to make up and get some contact again.

I now know I need to be a bit careful with water movement.

Anyway Fred is still an old man, and last night went to "sleep" in his hide about 6pm, but Barney being Barney wanted to stay up and swim, and swim he did.

5 hours straight of doing lengths in the 3ft wide tank, it's no wonder he's so svelt.

Fred occasionally popped his head out to say, keep it down!

It's so monotonous I wanted to catch it on video, but to spare you 5 hours of swimming, here's a very cute 3 minute highlight. switch to HD for better viewing.

YouTube - Barney the Axolotl swims lengths as Fred sleeps

note. Barney has been staying in Fred's hide with him, but to avoid potential aggression about territory there is now another hide at the other side of the tank, not shown in this video though.
 
WOW took me 4h to read this whole thread lol. Amazing stuff btw and very detailed. I am cycling my tank at the moment and waiting for my axie to be available since the stores are out of stock at the moment. I am wondering how old are your axie? and how big is your new tank? I read it somewhere but too lazy to look for the page it was on :p. Cuz I want to get 2 also but you are not suppose to but juvi together since they bite each other or some sort. And there is no way i can afford 2nd tank for which i'll combine at the end. let say in the future i buy a new juvi and add em with my adult axie, appearantly tat is not suggested also. So if I want 2 axie, i have to buy them both now and raise em together, i guess??
 
haha I'm sorry, it has turned into a monster.

I believe Fred is about one and a half years old. I kind of rescued him from a neglectful owner. He was grumpy, sat in a warm conservatory, had been kept with fish and so had gill issues and also was full of gravel.

The kind and prompt advice of the people here meant within a few weeks he was a lot healthier, now he's pretty much top form.

Barney is young, about 6-7 months old I imagine, I bought him recently as a juvenile on the day he was delivered to a pretty poor LFS in my area. I like to believe he dodged a bullet as within days, the rest of the batch were looking worse for wear.

My "new" tank is 160 litres, I use "new" as i got it second hand, in a right state full of poorly kept fish from ebay. £63 including a cabinet and everything. It's a juwel Rekord 1600, they go for about £300 new. Took a bit of cleaning, and the obvious alterations but was worth it.

Both the guys are different sizes, and Barny is a juvie, you've gotta be careful with em in the same tank sure but I believe now he's old enough not to be too big a problem.

I was very careful adding them together, they had months to get used to seeing each other through glass, then through the mesh for a few weeks, then they had an encounter with my interjecting (which there was a bit of aggression, but with hindsight I believe I caused it with the net etc.)

Sure Barney is 2/3 Fred's size, but they really love each others company, there aren't any issues. Barney was probably the most "pesky" but he tends not to want to attack Fred due to his size.

Fred believe it or not is the scaredycat, I've learnt I need to be careful turning light on too quicky or startling them as Fred appears to look at Barney as protection ironically and will dart for Barney to save him, smashing him out of the way.

In my opinion:

  • To integrate your two, when the time is right just do it carefully and patiently.
  • Use a divider so they can see, smell feel each other but can't do any harm.
  • Keep them well fed so they don't look at each other as food.
  • When they're together, relax, if you stress out, move quickly, aggravate them, they could lash out at each other.
  • Don't feed bloodworms, it's too easy to have an accident (a warning received from Ted on these forums.).
  • Don't feed bloodworms, it's too easy to have an accident (a warning received from Ted on these forums.).

A think a good indicator of when they could potentially go together is when the legs of the juvie, look to be almost the same size as the older. Even while the body is still growing the legs seem to get strong, and stop.

You really want both to be capable of receiving an accidental bite or snap even if it doesn't happen, because it could, through no fault of your own. They are pretty stupid creatures at times.

In your situation, buying 2 together probably makes sense, but you will have 2 pesky snappy juvies so just make sure that there's plenty of room, plenty of hides, plenty of "controlled" feeding (With worms, not floating bloodworms) and a nice relaxed atmosphere.

Juvies will be pesky when together, maybe snapping or attacking each other, unfortunately it's in their nature, all you can do is try and reduce the need or the opportunity.

Hope that helps, thanks for the interest.
 
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160L comes to 42 US gallon. Mine is currently 29gal but I dont know, yours look way bigger haha. I think you have more floor space than depth. I dont think I can afford another tank, at least for now. I'll stick w one axie :( would you recommend 2 axie in 29g (110L)? From the way I see, the size of the tank, it can def support 2 axie but again I wouldnt know, i dont have em yet

Its not that I want 2 axie, but internet said they are pretty social so I would feel bad to have a social animal being alone...if you know what I mean
 
nixx1985 said:
Its not that I want 2 axie, but internet said they are pretty social so I would feel bad to have a social animal being alone...if you know what I mean
Click to expand...

I just bought my first two Axo's from a petshop recently and I believe they are much happier now that they each have their own 10gallon. Both of them had damage to their gills from being kept in small tanks in high numbers and were both full of gravel. I do plan on moving them into a 75gallon in the near future but I've noticed that both are much more active without being flighty now that they are separated.

They come to the glass and follow our fingers or watch the cat and dogs moving around the room. That seems to provide a good bit of stimulation and since I've been trying to get some weight on them I doubt they get much of a chance to be lonely before i'm back at the tank with some pellets.

I wouldn't be too worried about them not "socializing" enough.... it's not like they are Love birds after all :)

Mat.
 
I don't really agree,

Together in a large tank my axies are 100x more active than they ever were.

They are constantly touching or following each other and provide entertainment to each other for most of the day.

Now I've done it, I would not dream of separating them unless illness or something occurred.
 
Yah but how old are your axie? According to the internet, you can put them together after 1 year old but not recommended when younger than 1 year old.

The stores where I live sells them between 3-6 months old I believe so I cant take a chance to grab 2. I do have 30gallon tank so I think it can def give spaces for 2 juvi to not fight. What do you experts think??
 
one is 9 months, one about a year and a half.

They are animals, I don't believe there are as defined rules as you'd believe. The key is making the environment work for them, so if they are frustrated they have somewhere to go. A decent body of water is imperative for 1 or 2 or 10 axies.

I'd be aware that almost everything on the internet about axies is speculation, or the opinion of John Claire. That's not to say that most of it isn't sage, sensible advice, but there are many many examples of people who break the "rules" yet have perfectly healthy axies.

John says 10g's is enough for 1 axie, I wholeheartedly disagree with that fact. However the rest of his advice is just about spot on, and a great read for beginners (except maybe a bit cautious on temps, most people here keep their axies at 20-21 with no issues)

Just try to picture them in the wild, and how they would be there. Back when there was an abundance of them it seems sensible that they would be able to live in harmony.

Evolution would not be kind to a creature who cannot help but eat his own mates.

Anyway I digress, 1-12 months, sure I'd separate, as I said before because the limbs are so weak, and the gills so tiny that an accidental snap (and that's what it would be) would do damage.

After that, I'm sure putting them together is the best possible thing to do. Axies appear to love company at a mature age. It's rare to find aggression without there being an underlying cause.
 
If i can afford it, i'll get 2 and if I see any aggression i'll put a mesh in between like you did until they are a bit older i guess.
 
a rather humorous event last night.

I was feeding them both cut up earthworms at either end of the tank but Fred wasn't really fussed and turned around.

Once Barney had finished his, he came to hoover up Fred's left overs and between the two worms Fred was sat, with his tail inside the log.

I turned my back, and when i turned back around Barney had eaten the two worm pieces and had Fred's tail in his mouth outside of the log and was tugging at it as if to pull Fed out, who is twice his size.

Obviously he didnt get very far, and Fred didn't care less, he would have snapped or gone mad if he was angry but he just kind of looked at little Barney as if to say "get a grip man, that's my tail".

No injury in the slightest, Barney's bite must be so incredibly feable that Fred just didn't care.

So far it's only water changes and feeding time where extra care is really needed with 2 axies, they will misbehave at times, but for 99% of the time it's just continuous affection, and when it's not, it's usually because they're confused about the situation.
 
a rather humorous event last night.

I was feeding them both cut up earthworms at either end of the tank but Fred wasn't really fussed and turned around.

Once Barney had finished his, he came to hoover up Fred's left overs and between the two worms Fred was sat, with his tail inside the log.

I turned my back, and when i turned back around Barney had eaten the two worm pieces and had the tip of Fred's tail in his mouth and was tugging at it as if to swallow. It does I suppose look alot like an earthworm.

Obviously he didnt get very far, and Fred didn't care less, he would have snapped or gone mad if he was angry but he just kind of looked at little Barney as if to say "get a grip man, that's my tail".

No injury in the slightest, Barney's bite must be so incredibly feable that Fred just didn't care.

I usually just hand feed them at the moment with pincers to avoid issues, but they're getting to the stage where I don't really need to. They don't fight over the same bit of food, and certainly don't think each other as food, but they are still incredibly stupid.

So far it's only water changes and feeding time where extra care is really needed with 2 axies, they will misbehave at times, but for 99% of the time it's just continuous affection, and when it's not, it's usually because they're confused about the situation.
 
Hi guys,

Just checking in to let you know that all is well.

The guys are happily getting on and living each day.

I'm still meticulous with tank husbandry and have got into a good routine, the guys are well fed and tank is always looking great.

Barney has become a real character and has much better eye sight than Fred, he's inquisitive and loves staring into the shrimp tank.

Fred has become more playful, and if anything is the more passive of the two.

The only time I have to be careful is at water change time, that really does upset them for a little while but they soon calm down.
 
haha yeah still going.

"The boys" are still fine, very enjoyable getting to know their personalities.

As for the bulk of my effort in the aquarium world, it's all about learning to breed shrimps atm.

Fun times.
 
Ha the story about Barney nipping Fred's tail is sweet! Alan has had a quick nip at Hoshi's tail before and to the same result, he didn't even seem to notice! Maybe it's not as sensitive at the tip of their tail? Although I'd have thought it would be, maybe even more so!
 
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