A cute and quirky amphibian

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Caring for axolotl as a pet can be ‘a gratifying experience’

Octane inside its aquarium.

KEEPING an axolotl as a pet can be a gratifying experience for an animal lover.

I would describe this amphibian, named after a deity in ancient Aztec mythology, as ‘cute and quirky’.

I have two – a gold albino that I have named ‘Octane’, and a black melanoid named ‘Gustavo’ after Gustavo ‘Gus’ Fring from television series ‘Breaking Bad’, and both are enjoying laidback life in a water-cooled aquarium measuring about 1m in length, and around half-metre in width and height.

Octane is ‘hopefully a female’ (too young to tell) – the name derives from my son’s main character in ‘Apex Legends’, an online ‘Battle Royale’ available on PS4 and PC platforms.

I bought Octane at a local aquatic pet shop in early December; I saw it inside a small aquarium together with four other axolotls.
Feeling bad for it, I decided to take Octane home — after paying RM148 for it.

Gustavo appears to be ‘peeping’ through the divider, which separates its area and Octane’s inside the tank.

Studies and researches

I remember that Octane was not in its best shape when we took her home; it was rather skinny for its size and its gills appeared to have been damaged.

It took me days of Googling and referring to YouTube tutorials to find ways to help bring Octane to recovery.

Throughout this learning process, I observed its daily eating habits and also its overall physical condition, in which I looked for signs of injuries and fungal infection.

A theme that popped up time and time again during my research was about axolotls having the ability to regenerate – they could regrow severed limbs, reattach broken spinal cords and even restore parts of their brains.

Just think of comic book superheroes ‘Deadpool’ or ‘Wolverine’, but in a cuter form.

Relying on sight, one can roughly determine an axolotl’s well-being by looking at the gills – if they curled forward, forming like the letter ‘C’, this might indicate stress and illness.

To keep this salamander species happy, the petkeeper must ensure that the water temperature inside the aquarium would be maintained between 16°C and 20°C – should the temperature go above 24°C, it could pose various health risks, and even death, to the creature.

Photo shows Gustavo being acclimatised to the water’s temperature before being released into the aquarium.

In Octane’s case, I am using an aquarium chiller that is running round-the-clock, to ensure that the temperature inside the tank would remain within the recommended range and not fluctuate.

However, temperature is only one of many aspects that a keeper must be attentive to.

Other key parameters include pH and ammonia levels, water hardness, as well as nitrate and nitrite concentration.

This chiller is being used to maintain the temperature inside the tank at between 16°C and 20°C.

The good news is you do not have to be a scientist to address these things, as tests can be easily done using the water test-kit that can be bought at many aquarium shops.

Origin and traits

The name ‘axolotl’ derives from ‘Xolotl’, the Aztec god of fire and lightning – according to the legend, he disguised himself as a salamander to avoid being sacrificed.

As indicated by this ancient story and also its scientific name (Ambystoma mexicanum), this cute critter is native to Mexico.

Axolotl is categorised under the ‘Ambystomatidae’ family (salamanders) but unlike a typical amphibian, it does not undergo metamorphosis; in fact, it never outgrows its larval, juvenile stage – a phenomenon called ‘neoteny’.

Axolotls are, by nature, solitary creatures. They reach sexual maturity at a year old, and their spawning season in the wild is in February.

A female can lay up to a thousand eggs, although the average is around 300. In the wild, the eggs are placed on plants or rocks, which serve protects them from predators.

After two weeks, they hatch and, with no parental care, the larvae are off on their own.

Back to neoteny, there is a theory for why axolotls do not change appearance as adults.

Because their native lakes (in Mexico) never dry up, as is the case for many other water bodies, axolotls do not have to trade in their aquatic traits, such as a tadpole-like tail, for terrestrial ones, such as legs.

As far as lifespan goes, it is between 10 and 15 years – in the wild.

Axolotls were first brought to Paris from Mexico in 1864 and from then on, the Europeans began breeding them, marking the advent of an active pet trade.

This species is also a common research subject for biologists, thanks to its ability to regenerate lost or damaged limbs, hearts, spinal cords, and even parts of their brains — all without permanent scarring.

An aerial view of Lake Xochimilco in southern Mexico City.

A ‘Photo Ark’ feature about axolotl on www.nationalgeographic.com states that since scarring prevents tissue from regenerating, finding out how and why axolotls do not scar could unlock human’s ability to regenerate tissue.

It also cites a study conducted in April 2021 as having deciphered how the axolotl’s molecules communicate to promote regeneration.
Axolotls breed easily in captivity, but in the wild, their numbers indicate them being critically endangered.

According to National Geographic, habitat degradation has limited axolotls to only in a few inland canals around Mexico City, where they once thrived in the high-altitude lakes.

A 2019 assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) found only between 50 and 1,000 axolotls left in the wild. This prompted the union to include axolotls on the ‘IUCN Red List of Threatened Species’.

Combo photo shows the different types of axolotls.

Quick decision

A few weeks after bringing Octane home, I decided to stop by at the same petshop to buy some decorations for the aquarium.

That was when I saw Gustavo, all by itself inside the same small tank that held Octane.

“Seems like all of his tankmates are gone; maybe they’re bought by other exotic pet enthusiasts,” I thought.

At that moment, I knew I could not abandon Gustavo.

Once at home, I quickly Googled on ways to introduce to Octane a new tankmate, but the results were mixed.

Some sources said it should not be a problem to have the axolotls share the aquarium immediately, but there were also those that suggested aquarium dividers for a few weeks just to get them to know each other better.

I took the latter’s recommendation, where I set up a divider inside Octane’s tank and at the same time, I slowly get Gustavo to become acclimatised to the water’s temperature before releasing it into its new home.

Well, until now I have yet to decide whether or not I should remove the divider; my concern is that once Octane and Gustavo meet in the flesh, they might tear each other apart.

Feeding Octane and Gustavo

For Octane and Gustavo, their daily diet consists of bloodworms and sinking pellets, which I feel should provide sufficient protein to them.
There are, however, other just-as-viable options like brine shrimps, small strips of beef or liver, earthworms and other frozen fish-food products.

Octane’s diet consists of bloodworms and sinking pellets.

One thing to remember, though, is that young axolotls must be fed daily – the adult ones only need to eat two to three times a week.

By nature, axolotls are carnivores – in the wild, they prey on worms, snails and other smaller crustaceans, small fish, and also other small amphibians.

Aquarium housekeeping

To those wanting to keep axolotls as pets, be warned – these critters are messy; from their pooping to flying bloodworms in the water during feeding time.

Thus, daily maintenance is a must to ensure that the environment inside the aquarium and the key water parameters remain conducive to their well-being.

I would recommended that any excess food be filtered out of the tank right after feeding time, as decomposition would trigger the production of ammonia, which can be fatally toxic to them.

It is also important to have your aquarium be fitted with a filter that allows bacterial colonies to form and provide a chemical filtration that could protect the axolotl from harmful substances like ammonia and nitrites.

Apart from a good filtration system, throwing in some organic balls should also do the trick nicely.

As axolotls hate strong water currents, a spray bar that can disperse water and provide a good hiding spot is highly recommended.

Popularity of axolotls

Remember my previous research on axolotls via the web?

It turns out that these critters are actually a big hit on TikTok, with an accumulated views of 1.7 billion to date.

The most viewed amongst these TikTok video posts is one featuring a leucistic (less-pigmented, usually pallid and near-translucent) axolotl that ‘gets dressed up’ as it sits still close to the glass wall of its aquarium.

This is done by the owner drawing or sticking the outfits on the outside of the tank.

The clip of the axolotl ‘wearing’ a cowboy hat and a pair of sunglasses alone has garnered a whopping 47.9 million views so far.

In relation to this, it is a paradox that while the population of axolotls continues to drop, they are also listed among the most widely-distributed animals for laboratories and exotic pet shops around the world.