Ambystoma mexicanum

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Axolotl
Axolotl
Species	Ambystoma mexicanum
Difficulty	Moderate
Min. Tank Size	75.708 liters 75,708.236 mL 20 US Gallons (75.7L)
Size	15.24 cm 10-6 " (25.4-15.2cm)
pH	6.5 - 8.0
Temp.	288.706 K 15.556 °C 519.67 °R 290.928 K 17.778 °C 523.67 °R60 -64 °F (15.6-17.8°C)
Water Hardness	6-16
Stocking Ratio	1:1 M:F
Availability	Uncommon
Diet	Carnivore Pellet Foods Flake Foods Live Foods
Life Span	5-17 years

[edit] Alternative names

Mexican Walking Fish, Axolotl

[edit] Sexing

Mature females will have a very rounded abdomen, mature males cloacal region tends to be swollen.

[edit] Tank compatibility

These amphibians should be kept in species tanks only, and when more than one is kept the tank should be large and well-filtered. Fish small enough will be eaten, or fish too large to be eaten are likely to nibble on the Axolotl's gill feathers. Axolotls should be kept with other axolotls of similar size to reduce the chance of bitten limbs.

[edit] Diet

Axolotls are carnivores and do best with a meaty diet. Food must be carefully considered so as to not pass on any parasites to the Axolotl. Feed them live foods such as bloodworm, earthworms, blackworm and daphnia. Earthworms are reccommended to form the basis of their diet. Foods such as [[tubifex, feeder fish and beef heart are not recommended as they are not of much nutritional value to the Axolotl. Soft salmon pellets have been shown to highly nutritional to axolotls. Axolotls will also generally not accept floating foods.

[edit] Feeding regime

Juvenile axolotls should be feed once a day and sexually mature axolotls should be fed every second day. Larvae should be feed with baby brine shrimp every 2 hours.

[edit] Environment Specifics

These fish require coldwater temperatures, and consistant at that. The minimum tank size for the Axolotl is 18" long for a single adult. It is best to have the tank only half-filled, as these creatures can be excellent escape artists and it may be necessary to have a mesh lid on the tank to maintain their temperature needs. The water must also be very well filtered as these are messy animals, however, they must not have a tank with a strong current. Strong currents and poor water quality are the major causes of stress in axolotls which then generally leads to disease.

In order to maintain wellbeing in axolotls, the tank must be fully cycled.

Substrate must be carefully considered for Axolotls, they are capable of eating small gravel that can cause impactation. Axolotls have been known to live happily on a bare bottom tank which makes cleaning more efficient. However, clean play sand is advised because they like to dig similarly to other salamanders. Sand must not be deeper than 1 inch otherwise anaerobic bacteria build up causing harm to the axolotl. They also must have places to hide and these can be in the form of silk plants and pvc pipes. Axolotls tend to destroy living plants.

[edit] Behaviour

Axolotls are curious but sometimes shy creatures. They are generally not aggressive. Any bitten limbs are caused by the axolotl thinking the limb was food.

[edit] Breeding

The sexually mature male inniates reproduction by nudging a sexually mature female. The male then releases small, cone shaped jelly masses that contain sperm called spermatophores. The female picks up one of the sperm parcels and fertilises her eggs internally. Eggs are laid on any surface but plants are preferred.

It is advisable to use fake plants instead of live plants as live plants tend to rot as the eggs develop.

In water at 20 degrees celcius, the eggs will develop and hatch in approximately 17 days.

[edit] Identification

Axolotls can be confused for other salamanders that are in a juvenile neotonic state.

An Axolotl is a very unusual phenomenon in the animal world, it is a Mexican Mole Salamander that never loses it's gills and can reproduce in what is effectively still a larval stage. It's rare, but sometimes an Axolotl will metamorph into a true Salamander which behaves and looks very similar to the Tiger Salamander.

[edit] Pictures

Leucistic Axolotl

Leucistic Axolotl

Axolotl - wild type

[edit] External links

• Axolotl.org