Common Questions

How do I care for my axolotl? Provide a clean tank, maintain water quality, and ensure a balanced diet for optimal health.

We offer step by step instructions to help you through the process of cycling your tank before bringing home your new axolotl. Uncycled tanks are the most common source of health problems for all aquatic animals, and axolotls are no exception!

How often should I feed my axolotl? Feed schedules will vary depending on the size and life stage of the axolotl. Babies and juveniles require 1-2 feedings of cut earthworms, blackworms or high quality sinking carnivore pellets daily. Once they reach adulthood, feeding frequency will decrease due to them no longer being in the 'rapid growth' life stage. Whole earthworms should still be offered daily, but they may not choose to eat daily. Provided they are still eating several times a week and their body condition remains ideal, there's nothing to worry about. 

Can axolotls live together? Yes, but only in same sex and same size groups. Ensuring they are similar in size is vital to prevent nipping injuries, as is keeping them all well fed. Only axolotls of the same sex should be housed together to prevent unnecessary stress to females from unintentional breeding. 

What is a lethal recessive gene? Lethal recessive genes are deleterious genes that can cause severe genetic syndromes resulting in death of the affected axolotl (an axolotl that receives a recessive copy of the gene from both parents). Lethal recessives are relatively common in the captive axolotl genome, so we put a great deal of time and effort into testing our breeding stock to ensure they do not carry any of these genes. Axolotls that are confirmed as a carrier of any lethal gene remain with us to help test future breeding generations. 

How do you eliminate these genes? Preventing the spread of lethal recessive genes is much more difficult when closely related animals are bred without first verifying they are not carriers. For this reason, we always recommend culling eggs from any unintentional breeding that may occur where the genetic history of the parents is unknown.