HELP - our axolotyl ate some snails!

L

leeandcharyl

Registered Member
Jan 22, 2006
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Today we bought an axolotyl. We were in the pet store to buy some snails for our tank that has a small school of White Cloud Mountain Minnows and while we were there, my husband spotted an axolotyl that he was intrigued by. I asked the girl in the store some questions about keeping axolotyls and she told me that he would be fine in the tank with our other fish.

So I bought the axolotyl, our snails and we brought them home and introduced the axolotyl to our tank.

About an hour ago I was watching him and he ate a snail - after counting how many snails were left in the tank, it turns out he's eaten 3.

I'm quite worried about this and hoped someone could tell me what is likely to happen and offer some advice on the best thing to do.

Hopefully someone can help. Thanks

PS - We've now separated him from our other fish
 
well he will probably eat the rest I dont think it will hurt him my cichlids eat them all the time and there fine.
 
Thanks for that - I wasn't sure what to expect because as I said I didn't know anything about them when I bought "Joe" today. I was just a bit worried about the shells and whether they would break down in his digestive system.

Thanks again for that
 
I am pretty sure they will I used to catch "Newts" and they would sometimes eat little pond snails w/ out any problems, so I am pretty sure he will be ok. At worst I think he would spit them back up.
 
My kuhli loach ate some baby snails last week and it killed him. He couldn't pass the shells and he got all swollen first, then listless, then finally started floating belly up and gas bubbles were coming out his ... before finally he stopped breathing. There was nothing I could do for him.

I would figure some animals could pass the shells, but as for breaking down the calcium digestively it is unlikely.

I could see a black mass in my kuhli's stomach, and just to be sure when he died I autopsied him and he was packed with shells. Is there any way to make a fish expell a blockage like this? I thought about trying to force the shells out but I figured I would do more harm than good... :sick:

Good luck. I would, on a positive note, say that the axolotl should have a better chance to survive/pass shells than a small fish.
 
There is a good likelihood he'll pass them or digest them. My pictus cats digest MTS shells frequently. It would seem natural that the Axolotyl eats snails in the wild, try googling for infolrmation on food sources. I'll bet snails come up as typical food.
Dave
 
I did some curiosity research, and one of the food sources commonly mentioned is feeder guppies and goldfish. Some people reported having trouble getting their axolotyl to eat these but other claim they work well.
With that in mind, I'd watch the white clouds closely. They could become lunch.
Dave
 
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