If anything gets hurt in this tank it'd be the snail, my axolotls won't let it touch them lol.
I had a small ramshorn in there once and the mummy axie nearly swallowed it whole :
But I saved it in time.. Kind of.. Then my loaches at it lol..
What's a good size tank for oxolotls? Planted or no? Caves? So they do get along with snails, what about plecos or khuli loaches? I'm dead set on getting some and taking good care of them.
What's a good size tank for oxolotls? Planted or no? Caves? So they do get along with snails, what about plecos or khuli loaches? I'm dead set on getting some and taking good care of them.
Axolotls require about 10 gallons per animal in larger setups. I have 4 in a 55.
1 in a 10 is problematic however as it's difficult to maintain water parameters in such a small tank. I tried it in a rehab tank when my GFP Melanoid lost a leg in a feeding mishap and it was very tough to do. He still suffered some gill shrinkage even with all of the water changes and monitoring.
Axolotls are VERY messy and can grown up to 12". You can keep 1 adult pretty easily in a 20 long. In an established 10 gallon you will need a lot of filtration and daily water changes. The fun part is that the filtration cannot provide much in the way of current as they can't stand that either.
The other thing to consider is water temps. Axolotls like colder water with 70° F (21° C) being about as warm as you can safely go without developing problems with the animals health. I live in Florida and I keep mine at a steady 68.2° F with some effort.
Most Axolotl people recommend species only tanks. I keep mine with Apple Snails (too large to eat), Ghost Shrimp, and a few feeder guppies. I started out with 60 Shrimp and 12 guppies a few months ago and there are 14 Shrimp and two guppies left. The slow do not survive as Axolotls will swallow anything that they can get down. Small Plecos will be eaten and will damage the Axolotl. Many fish will nibble on their gills. If you can see my Avatar well enough you can understand why they would be appealing to fish. Axolotls have very delicate Amphibian skin. :duh:
They do require hides... and lighting is a problem as they don't have eyelids and do not like bright lights. Tough on plants.
One other thing. The optimum food for Axolotls is earthworms. Nightcrawlers generally have to be chopped. Red Wigglers can be taken whole... though some Axies don't like them as they can emit a foul taste as a defense mechanism.
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