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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 |
| Water Hardness |
6-16 °d |
| Stocking Ratio | 1:1 M:F |
| Availability | Uncommon |
| Diet | |
| Life Span |
5-17 years |
Contents |
[edit] Alternative names
- Mexican Walking Fish, Axolotl, Mudpuppy
[edit] Sexing
- Mature females will have a very rounded abdomen, mature males cloaca 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 recommended 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 be 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 to third day. Larvae should be feed with baby brine shrimp every 2 hours.
[edit] Environment Specifics
- They require coldwater temperatures, and consistent at that. The tank should be mature and fully cycled. 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.
- Substrate must be carefully considered for Axolotls, they are capable of eating small gravel that can cause impaction. Axolotls have been known to live happily on a bare bottom tank which makes cleaning more efficient. However, river pebbles or 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.
- Avoid using filtration techniques which will heavily oxygenate the water as the natural environment of axolotls is at high elevations and low in oxygen. Over-aerated water will cause external gills to shrink and wither. If the aquatic environment is too low in oxygen, the axolotl will rise to the surface to take a short breath, therefore never being in great danger of suffocation. Try using canister or submersible filters to reduce surface agitation of water.
[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 initiates 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 fertilizes 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] Videos
