peacemaker92

My dad sent forward this photo to me and I was amazed by it! What kind of fish has hands and legs? I wish I could get one!

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ShaynaB

That's called an axolotl and it's a salamander!

I think they're cute in a weird kinda way.

peacemaker92

A salamander? That's cool! I've never heard of them. Many people call them a fish. Weird but nice! I agree, it's very cute!

Alasse

Axolotl or Mexican Walking Fish. It's not a fish though, but rather an amphibian. They can very very rarely morph into a salamander, but usually they require hormones to assist the change, and it shortens their life quite a bit.

The axolotl remains in its larval form throughout its life.

I currently have baby axolotls i'm hoping to raise to adults.

Allie

We have had those at our LFS. I am not a fan of too many oddities tho.

sirdarksol

Okay, I knew that they were salamanders, but I didn't realize that they remain in "larval" form for their whole life. Are they capable of breeding without reaching amphibian maturity?

Devon

Wow! Their little faces are cute, they look so sweet and innocent with those little salamander smiles. Definitely neat little creatures!

COBettaCouple

I'd love to have some of those!

Alasse

Yes, they breed as they are, the young are mini versions of mum and dad

MissMTS

Those are so cute! I would love to have some. I have never seen them at any of the LFS near me. I wonder if I could special order some. Yeah right. My husband would NOT be okay with another tank, lol.

peacemaker92

I don't think they're very common. I've never seen any in my local pet shops.

seedy

Hi everyone
Here are my 2 .
They really are freaks .

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peacemaker92

Nice Seedy! They're cute but don't have much color! If you don't mind me asking, how much did you get them for?

seedy

Hi peacemaker
They were a freebie / rescue , but are usually between $20-30 Aus retail .
Came in a 5g , they now share a 75g .
They are not for everyone , they do a whole lot of nothing most of the time , are hand fed live worms and they make danios disappear .
Maybe this is what a fish alien looks like .

peacemaker92

Wow! The way you describe them, they are cool! To me, it doesn't matter whether they are boring or not. All that matters is that they're so cute to have! lol

Blub

I really love these critters and I must have a go at keeping them at one point or another. They get quite big I think, about 20cm I'd say.

seedy

They get bigger than that . One is just under 30cm ( 12" ) , the other about 26cm .

Blub

Ouch! They are big critters. I wonder how they'd get on with live plants? I think they're carnivores, right?

Alasse

They don't get on with live plants, they are like bulldozers *L* The guy i had was just over 30cm and he took great delight in uprooting everything i planted

I used to tap the water surface gently and he'd come up his branch for a pat and a feed, they really are an awesome critter. They are readily available in Australian lfs, my next will be a golden and a black one, possibly also a albino. Though that will be a while off as i want to get a tank made specifically to house them (long and low)

They are meat eaters yes

seedy

Carnivores alright .
Yep, what Alasse said about the plants is true . They do have a habit of uprooting the plants and damaging fragile leaves .
I have stuck with Hair Grass in small clumps and so far it has survived .

Blub

That sucks... They would make really cool planted paludarium tankmates.

Red wag platy

Yep. They aren't that hard to take care of. You guys already know about water chemistry from fish keeping. This is a great website axolotl.org There are actually some that have morphed, but this is probably due to poor conditions in the water http://axolotl.org/tiger_salamander.htm There are different morphs available. Albino, melanoid, wild type, gold albino, leucistic, and even some piebald albinos. They are commonly kept. You can keep them with some plants. You could put them in planted aquarium.

Alasse

Plants need a finer gravel (pea sized) or similar to grow properly. That sized gravel is not compatible with axolotls. Axolotls need to be kept on, preferably, rocks larger than their mouth. When the feed, they suck in rapidly, taking food and substrate with it if it is too fine, this can lead to compaction in the axolotl and it can be fatal. Definately most plants would be a waste of time, as they do bulldoze, couple that with the substrate issue, well its just not a good idea.

Naturally you can try Anubias and Java Fern as they are not substrate plants, they attach to rocks or wood, the axolotl generally will not trash those.

But a properly substrate planted tank, trust me, you would be wasting your money and risking the death of your critter.

Blub

Floating plants would be compatible to.

Alasse

Yep HatchetHaven, very true.

sirdarksol

Another thing about keeping them is that they can't live in a typical tropical tank. Temps above 72 degrees are generally considered very stressful. The lake these guys come from rarely gets above 68 degrees.
They are endangered species, so please try to verify that any you are buying are captive-bred. In theory, it is illegal to capture them from their native lakes, but in practice, the lure of easy money will cause people to try to skirt these laws.

Alasse

In Oz they certainly would be captive bred i'm sure.

They are a food source in their native land...ewwww, not sure i'd wanna eat one *L*

rileyrk190

wow great looking salamanders..i love the oddballs in my tank

peacemaker92

Hmm... They're not rare huh? How come I can't find any in my local pet shops. I've checked everywhere in my state.

Alasse

Have you asked your lfs if they can get them??

In Australia they are readily available and definately not rare