Photo: Small axolotl has been eating big shrimps!

[Lone]

I have three adults axolotls (Hades: slim wild coloured, Anubis smaller wild coloured and Lucifer: albino). But at the local pet store they had the most adorable golden ones. Even though they was on gravel - and you could see they had been eating some - I ended up buying two. Since they are a lot smaller than the adults, I placed them in my shrimp tank, thinking that they would not be able to eat the big shrimps. I have seen them trying to eat one, but spitting it out again. The shrimps are around 2½ cm (0.9 inch) and the axolotls are around 6 cm (2.4 inch). But practice makes perfect, so now they have weird shaped bellies, with red "stuffing". Hope they can digest them! Anyone has experience in that direction?

Here is a picture from the top:

How big the shrimps eaten are:

And some without shrimps. It is Gabriel at the Front.

Hades is the less shy:

Lucifer likes to sit in/up the corners or in the caves:

Anubis (now has sand to walk on)

 

[mareofnight]

Those are some big bellies! They must have been hungry!

 

[Lone]

Apparently so. Even though they have been feed with frozen shrimps and other items like that every day! But guess nothing is as good as live food =)

 

[SanderB]

I wouldn´t put them with those beautiful shrimps. They will eat them all.
And shrimps need hot water while axolotls need cold water, so they can´t live together.

 

[Lone]

Yes, so I have realised that, so I am beginning to set up another aquarium. But I have heard that red cherry shrimps, didn't care so much about temperature?

 

[SanderB]

I have read that they are as sensitive as fish to the waterquality.

 

[Lone]

I have read that they are as sensitive as fish to the waterquality.

Yes, waterquality, but Red Cherry should be fine in a bit lower temperature, event though they might not breed so much. At least that is what I have been told =)

 

[memojo1979]

Yes, waterquality, but Red Cherry should be fine in a bit lower temperature, event though they might not breed so much. At least that is what I have been told =)

I've been looking into Cherry Shrimp + found that the majority of internet sites I've browsed said 20*C was the lower end of their temperature requirements, whereas it's at the top end of axolotls temperature requirements. My axie tank tends to sit at 20*C, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to introduce some Cherry shrimp into that tank permanently (depending on how good at hiding they are!), but will have them in another tank initially for quarantine, but also for breeding I hope!

 

[Lone]

Hope it will work out for you, I am also hoping mine will breed. The axolotls have been moved and I have been filtering the filter, so the intake is not so big it will take the young ones.

 

[SanderB]

In a fishstore I went to yesterday, 1 cherry shrimp is about 8,05 euro.
I would sell them and don´t feed them to axolotls

 

[Lone]

That was expensive! I got around 15 red Cherry for 13 Euros and I have seen them a bit cheaper since. But I think the trick is to buy from privates, not fish shops =)

 

[Morrison]

Is it me or does Hades looks a bit skinny?
(Lovely axies by the way)

 

[Lone]

Yes, I find that very strange too. No matter how much I feed him, he stays that way. The two other have no problems getting fat. Hope it is just his metabolism that is really high.

 

[kirsty]

Yes, I find that very strange too. No matter how much I feed him, he stays that way. The two other have no problems getting fat. Hope it is just his metabolism that is really high.

I have the same thing with my axie, I have two and both eat roughly the same amount however one looks rather skinny compared to the other and even if i feed him/her more it makes no difference - I think its just the metabolism

 

[zoezakella]

I wouldn´t put them with those beautiful shrimps. They will eat them all.
And shrimps need hot water while axolotls need cold water, so they can´t live together.

red cherry shrimps are fine to be kept with axies but they wont breed aswell in the colder water, best thing to do if you want to use them as food and as pets is to set up another aquarium at a higher temp so they breed away and then put a few in with your axies every now and again :happy:

 

[Lone]

Kristy: I am happy to know mine is not the only one. Yesterday he was walking around the aquarium on tip-toes with arched back, he looked like something from a refugee camp!

Zoe: Thanks for the advise. The small axies are now in another tank and I have now seen small shrimps at the red cherry shrimps =)

 

[DavidF]

I love the pics. Nice one. Full bellies = happy in my book. My RCS would probably breed in my axie tank if the damn axies stopped eating them. So I can't really tell if it the cold water (my axie chiller is on 18 deg) versus the RCS tank heater on 24 deg or simply being eaten. A handful do survive don't seem to breed though. My axie tank is growing a java moss wall so that might change things up when it is thick with moss as shrimp like hiding places.

 

[Lone]

Yes, it will be interesting if that makes a difference. I guess it would, when the moss is long enough. Do you know how long it takes from setting up, till it looks acceptable? I have been looking at the mosses from Aquarium plants - aquatic plants - Java moss a lot of times.

 

[DavidF]

I dont know how long it takes. I figure it is like little seedlings you put in the garden. If they double in size they are still small. Give it time and the amount of moss growing will accelerate.

Mine has been growing for about 3 months. Whilst encouraging, the moss wall still looks mainly like a plastic mesh wall with some moss poking through. Some bits are a good 3-4 cms. Others patches are more or less bare as I think one of my batches of moss that I used from another tank wasn't that healthy.

I'm thinking if you developed the wall in ideal growing conditions in a separate tank you'd fare better - I do none of this -

proper plant lighting v nothing
place the mesh horizontal facing the overhead light v vertical
plant fertilisers v axie poop.

At the pace it is going, I'd have to say it will take at least a year, quite possibly 2 years.

I'd be interested in hearing others experiences.