My First Axolotls | Two Melanoids & A Wildtype

[KingCam]

I picked up my first three axies from a craigslist ad on Monday. After a bit of haggling I got my three axolotls, 2 melanoid 1 wildtype, ~3 inch juveniles, for a total of $35

I've had a 10 gallon tank set up with water, plants, hides, and a sponge filter for a couple of weeks now. I cut up a plastic lid from a sterilite tub, drilled holes in the pieces, and used them as tank dividers.

Now I have all 3 juvenile axies in this 10-gallon, which seems kinda small to me, but I was told they can get stressed if you put them in a big area as juveniles. I also have a ~45 gallon tank with plants, hides, drift wood, & a sponge filter setup and standing by for when they are bigger.

The guy who sold them to me said it would be safe-ish to put them back together at around 5-6 inches. If anyone has an opinion on that please feel free to chime in.

I'm going to name them when I can tell their genders, but for now they are Mel1, Mel2, and WildT.

This is Mel1, as you can see it is missing both left feet, but they appear to be regenerating and in good health. This is also my hungriest axie :P Monday night I brought them home and Mel1 immediately ate two medium lobster roaches from forceps. Mel1 then ate another small lobster roach the following (Tuesday) morning.


This is WildT. When I got home with them Monday night, I offered WildT a roach. It bit onto the roach, but then spit it out and ignored it. So far I haven't managed to get WildT to eat.






Here's Mel1 & WildT contemplating how delicious each other's legs are on the other side of the barrier.


This is Mel2, I love love love its gills! Mel2 ate 1 roach Monday night when we got home, and then another yesterday (Tuesday) morning.






And here is the tank they currently reside in




Tell me what I'm doing wrong if you notice anything that should be different!! Thanks

[Pluke]

Those things regenerate their limbs if they lose them? o_O Cool new pets man. If I knew anything about them I'd dime in, but I've got nothing.

[KingCam]

Those things regenerate their limbs if they lose them? o_O Cool new pets man. If I knew anything about them I'd dime in, but I've got nothing.

Yeah, in fact they do it quite fast as juveniles. The breeder told me he figured it would have its feet back in a week, two weeks tops. So we'll see! Pretty crazy if you ask me O_O

[Pluke]

Yeah, that is pretty crazy.. I thought only lizards grew limbs back like that. Just think, there could have been a spider-man villain called "The Axolotl" instead of "The Lizard". I suppose that wouldn't be very threatening though.

[toxxxickitten]

Axolotls are neat. I had a few before. It really isn't true juveniles will stress out in a big space - as long as you have amble places for them to hide to feel safe. In all honesty, the bigger the better. I also want to touch on their feeding. I haven't heard anything about roaches being a good staple for them, however nightcrawlers make an excellent staple - so I would suggest starting to feed them nightcrawlers instead of roaches. You can also feed them a specially formulated pellet, but if not fed at a young age they usually just ignore them. $35 was a great deal for them all. They usually go for about $35/ea.

[Jenste]

I warn you! Axolotls are quite addictive!!

Congrats on right now having no substrate. They are little hoovers and when young they often suck of any type of substrate, sand included. Once over 4 inches, they can be somewhat trusted on sand.
Sand, bare bottom, very large rocks or slate tiles (siliconed to the bottom to prevent waste from being trapped or lifted out at each water change) are the only substrate choices you have. Gravel, small rocks, marbles etc will all end up swallowed eventually and can cause impaction and possibly be fatal.

I have raised juveniles from birth to adulthood together and have not had any problems keeping them together in small groups (knock on wood) when they are properly fed and when there are adequate hides and space.
They are probably going to get stressed in the 10 gallon from the crammed conditions. They are not highly active but they do appreciate space.
Once all limbs are healed, I would put them right into the 45 gallon.

Rather than roaches (they can't digest the shell) I recommend earth worms, cut to bite size pieces. This is what they should be eating for life. At this size feed daily, once they are 6-7+ inches or over 9 month, switch to every other day.
As adults, feed 2-3 times a week, 1-2 worms depending on the size of both axolotl and worm.

Be diligent about temperature - 70 and under is best, up to 72*F is fine. Over 75* is a serious cause for concern and needs to be immediately addressed.

[Heatheranne]

Very pretty! I've always liked these. Never had any as pets though. I'll be enjoying them vicariously through you and your posts .

[AquaticJess]

Those Melanoids are beautiful! I've been keeping an eye out for one at the reptile shows around here. So far, no luck :\