What other animals can you put into an axolotl tank?

[Quinny Jay]

Hello im relatively new and was wondering if i can put other animals such as snails or algae eater or bristle-nose catfish in my axolotl tank(to keep it cleaner) if not any suggestions on how to keep it cleaner?

Cheers, Quinn.

 

[Zenna]

Ummm i think your axie will eat the pleco & catfish =X im not sure about snails. maybe someone more experianced can help more. but yeah.

 

[iSuzie]

The answer to cleaning is a turkey baster!! Suck up un-eaten food and waste as soon as you see it.. Problem solved

 

[Loobylou]

Cherry shrimp are good, they clean up after your axies, and are a tasty snack! You might want to breed them yourself though, as they can disappear quite quick!

 

[Mandy6]

Cherry Shrimp are the only option to help keep your tank clean, but as mentioned you will need to breed them as they make tasty axie snacks.

Axies can choke on snails, they can easily get lodged in their mouths when the axies try to make a meal of them

Plecos and Catfish will often suck on the axies skin causing nasty injuries so they are a no go as well.

 

[iSuzie]

Also if you decide to get some cherry shrimp u will need to quarantine them for 30 days to make sure they don't have any nasty parasites or other nasty's before adding them to the tank, this should be done with everything alive added to a tank including feeder fish {I don't recommend u feed feeder fish to axolotls anyway as earthworms are way better for them}
Also some people have guppy's in their tank as a food source but this doesn't help cleaning at all and they will also nip at your axies gills. But the best rule is not to mix species.

 

[Quinny Jay]

Thanks for all your help guys.
cherry shrimp it is then

Cheers Quinn.

 

[triny]

Hi Quinn,

Im new to this forum, we have 2 axolots in a 3 foot tank, we have had 2 bristle-nose catfish in with them for about 4 months with no problems! They are not bothered by the catfis. Both the axolots and catfish have had babies, the catfish were about 5 cm long when we got them.

Hope this helps
triny

 

[ZoeT94]

If your axie's are still young then it's fine, but once they grow up, they might try and eat the plecos or catfish. Don't forget they have bed eyesight, so anything moving is a possible food option for an axie!

 

[Kaysie]

Catfish have sharp spines that have been known to impale salamanders. They say the proof is in the pictures, so have a look here for why mixing salamanders and fish is a bad idea.

 

[Sven]

You can use applesnails, they get big enough not to fit in the axolotls mouth (5cm, 2 inch), they don't reproduce as fast as other snails and if they do reproduce you can take away the eggs because they lay them above the water. They are very good cleaners and fascinating and beautiful creatures. They will not get eaten by the axolotl but a shrimp will (I have experienced this myself) and a catfish is just to dangerous because of the spines. I have 4 of these snails in every tank and I'm very satisfied with them.

 

[Bellabelloo]

I have had cherry shrimp in with my three adults until they where all eaten. I fed guppies as feeder fish and had one survive for nearly a year before it disappeared. They also had an explosion of those small aquarium snails that hitched a ride in with some plants,they have all been eaten by the axolotl. Currently they have a small hoard of cloud minnow in with them. These where placed in as feeder fish ( quarantined for three months in a maturing newt tank ) but these are merrily reproducing.... only one has been eaten.

 

[iSuzie]

Please don't keep bristle nose catfish with your axolotls.. As said by Kaysie they have sharp spines that will cause a lot of pain to an axolotl... The best thing to keep with another axolotl is another axoltol!
Cherry shrimp are good room mates but will be eaten and need to be quarantined {like any other living animal} anything that you add to your axolotl aquarium carry's risk of nipping biting at axolotls gills, sucking on their skin, impartation and blockages. The number one rule for an axolotl aquarium is never add anything smaller than its head because it can and will eat it.. When adding something smaller than its head that's alive be prepared for it to be eaten! Its only a matter of time before your axolotl finds it!

 

[Blaze]

Is everyone forgetting that most of those animals are tropical whilst Axolotls should be under 20degrees?

 

[iSuzie]

Cherry shrimp guppy's snails and catfish can all live fine under 20degree's.
Cherry shrimp can be kept between 14–30 °C (57–86 °F)
Guppy's can be kept between 17–28 °C (64–81°F)
Catfish can be kept between 16–28 °C
Snails can be kept around the same as the rest also

All these types of fish/shrimp can be both tropical and cold water. Must of witch do better at warmer temps.

But still most are not recommend to put with axolotls {as seen above}

 

[Blaze]

If you can keep a bristle nose catfish under 20 degrees i'm impressed. I am yet to see one live under that degree. Would you like to live being cold constantly? just because someone was too lazy to clean around you when it's such a basic task of owning a fish tank?

 

[mthom211]

There are lots of species of Catfish, some need higher or lower temperatures than what suzie suggested. Bristlenose should be fine at lower temperatures.

What do you gus do if you get snails hitchhike and breed in your tanks? MTS could cause impaction as they are big enough and very hard.

 

[totallyrad]

why risk adding anything to the tank with axies? There really isn't much if anything you can properly house with axolotls that won't harm either the axolotl or the tank mate. I even read about a incident where mixing shrimp and axolotls went bad. (I think it was some where on the forum here) I think there were too many shrimp and something happened but I can't remember lol. I have no idea where I read that on here.

All I know is my axie is staying alone until I get another axie and won't be mixing any other animals in there. Better safe than sorry. Honestly, it's just not a good idea. I think of anything the shrimp would be safest but even then you have to make sure they are not harboring disease or parasites because inevitably they will become food.

 

[Marian]

What about amano shrimps? They grow pretty big, they tolerate lower temps and they will eat small snails like there is no tomorrow.

 

[mthom211]

They don't breed in freshwater so the axies would soon finish them all off. We don't have them in Australia anyway. Darwin algae shrimp might be an option but I don't think they reproduce well in freshwater either.