Axolotls, with their perpetually smiling faces and delicate, feathery gills, are captivating aquatic pets. While their wild counterparts sport darker hues that provide camouflage in their natural environments, pet axolotls dazzle in a spectrum of colors – known as morphs. Choosing your favorite axolotl morph might be a delightful challenge, but understanding what to feed your axolotl is refreshingly straightforward. So, let’s dive into the essential question: what is an axolotl’s diet?
Axolotl Diet: Understanding Their Carnivorous Needs
Axolotls are inherently carnivores. This means their diet in captivity and the wild must be rich in protein and diverse enough to provide all the necessary nutrients for optimal health. A well-balanced diet is crucial for these fascinating amphibians to thrive, contributing significantly to their overall well-being and resilience against stress and illness. Remember, a healthy axolotl starts with a healthy gut!
What Do Axolotls Eat in Their Natural Habitat?
In the wild, the axolotl, native to the ancient lake system of Xochimilco near Mexico City, is an opportunistic feeder. They are essentially scavengers, consuming anything they can fit into their mouths. Their teeth, small and peg-like, are not designed for tearing or chewing; therefore, axolotls must swallow their prey whole.
The feeding process of an axolotl is quite unique. They employ a suction-feeding technique, rapidly opening their mouths to create a vacuum that pulls in food – and anything else nearby! This vacuum action means that along with their intended meal, wild axolotls inadvertently ingest water, algae, and sometimes even small pebbles from the lakebed.
Wild axolotls are far from picky eaters, consuming a varied diet based on availability. Their natural diet includes:
- Insects and Insect Larvae: A readily available protein source in their aquatic environment.
- Worms: Various types of worms found in the lake system.
- Slugs and Snails: Soft-bodied invertebrates they can easily swallow.
- Small Crustaceans: Such as tiny shrimp and other aquatic crustaceans.
- Small Fish: Opportunistically, they may prey on very small fish.
- Other Salamanders: In some cases, they might consume smaller salamanders.
- Tadpoles: Another easily accessible food source in their habitat.
Alt text: A dark-colored wild axolotl blending into its murky natural habitat, showcasing its camouflage.
What Should Pet Axolotls Eat? Replicating the Wild Diet in Captivity
As responsible axolotl pet parents, our goal is to mimic the nutritional diversity that axolotls would encounter in the wild. Fortunately, providing a balanced and appropriate diet for pet axolotls is quite achievable. A healthy diet for a pet axolotl mirrors their wild diet, focusing on insect larvae, worms, and crustaceans.
The good news is that most of these food sources are easily accessible and affordable. You can find suitable axolotl food at local pet stores specializing in aquatics, and many options are also available online. For those dedicated to ensuring a constant fresh food supply, culturing or growing your own brine shrimp, earthworms, and daphnia (water fleas) is a viable option.
Pet axolotls, much like their wild relatives, are not fussy eaters and will readily accept a variety of foods. Here are some excellent food choices you can purchase for your pet axolotl:
- Daphnia: Small crustaceans, often called water fleas, are a nutritious and readily accepted food.
- White Worms: Small, easily digestible worms that are a good source of protein.
- Grindal Worms: Similar to white worms but slightly larger, also a great protein source.
- Bloodworms: A favorite treat for many axolotls, these are actually midge larvae and are highly palatable.
- Fresh or Freeze-Dried Brine Shrimp: Brine shrimp are another excellent option. If using freeze-dried brine shrimp, it’s best to rehydrate them first to make them easier to swallow and digest.
- Blackworms: Another type of small worm that axolotls enjoy and provides good nutrition.
- Earthworms: A staple food for many axolotl keepers, earthworms are packed with protein and easy to source. Ensure they are pesticide-free if sourced from your garden.
Alt text: A golden albino axolotl swimming in a clean aquarium, highlighting its bright color morph as a pet.
What to Feed Baby Axolotls: Catering to Juvenile Needs
Young axolotls, or larvae, have a particularly strong preference for live food. In fact, movement is often what triggers their feeding response. Live food is crucial for stimulating their appetite and ensuring they get the nutrition they need for rapid growth.
Daphnia is an ideal first food for growing axolotls due to their small size and nutritional value. You can also offer newly hatched brine shrimp, which are tiny and easily consumed by baby axolotls. Another option is to cut earthworms into very small, bite-sized pieces that are appropriate for their small mouths.
Can Axolotls Eat Gravel? Understanding Substrate Safety
The question of whether to use gravel or sand in an axolotl tank is a topic of ongoing debate among axolotl enthusiasts. Small gravel or fine sand presents a potential risk of impaction in their digestive system if ingested. Therefore, any substrate that is small enough for an axolotl to accidentally swallow should ideally be avoided to prevent potential health issues.
However, interestingly, there’s anecdotal evidence suggesting that axolotls sometimes consume sand and gravel intentionally. Observations of captive axolotls show them actively seeking out and eating small pebbles and sand, though the exact reason for this behavior remains a mystery.
To feed, axolotls quickly open their mouths, sucking their food in—vacuum-style. Along with food, axolotls inhale water, algae, and sometimes small pebbles.
One theory proposes that axolotls ingest small stones and sand to aid in buoyancy control. Unlike many fish, axolotls lack a swim bladder or other natural mechanism to regulate their buoyancy. Therefore, some believe they use sand and gravel to help stabilize themselves in the water.
While fine sand and small, smooth pebbles are generally considered relatively safe for adult axolotls, it’s crucial to ensure that any rocks or pebbles are significantly larger than their head – at least twice the size – to prevent accidental ingestion. For juvenile axolotls, especially those under 3-4 inches in length, it’s generally safest to avoid using any substrate at all and opt for a bare-bottom tank.
How to Feed an Axolotl: A Step-by-Step Guide
Although axolotls can briefly venture out of the water, they are entirely aquatic creatures. They live, breathe, and feed underwater throughout their entire lives. Therefore, all feeding must be done within their aquarium.
Axolotls are crepuscular, meaning they are most active during twilight hours – after sunset and before sunrise. This often aligns perfectly with typical dinner times, making feeding your axolotl convenient.
Feeding adult axolotls is remarkably simple. You can directly drop food into their aquarium water. Adult axolotls are usually comfortable accepting both live and dead food and are generally not picky eaters.
Younger axolotls, on the other hand, rely more on visual cues to locate food. This is why live, wriggling food is particularly important for them. If you’re offering non-live food to a juvenile axolotl, you can use feeding tongs to gently wiggle the food in front of them, mimicking movement and enticing them to eat. As long as the food is moving, most young axolotls will readily accept it.
Determining the precise amount of food your axolotl needs will require some observation and adjustment. Each axolotl has individual preferences and appetites. Keeping feeding notes can be helpful in tracking what works best for your pet.
Axolotl Feeding Frequency and Quantity Across Life Stages
Just as nutritional needs vary throughout human life stages, axolotls also require different feeding regimes as they grow.
Regardless of age, a general rule of thumb is to feed axolotls as much as they can consume within approximately three to five minutes per feeding session. Always ensure that the food pieces are smaller than the width of their head to prevent choking, as axolotls cannot chew their food.
After each feeding, it’s beneficial to use a turkey baster or similar tool to remove any uneaten food from the tank. While not strictly mandatory, this practice helps maintain cleaner water and prevents food from decaying and impacting water quality.
Here’s a guide to adjust feeding frequency based on your axolotl’s size and age:
- Juvenile Axolotls (up to 3 inches long): Feed them daily, and ideally up to three times per day to support their rapid growth phase.
- Growing Axolotls (3-7 inches long): Reduce feeding frequency to twice per day, and then gradually to once daily as they continue to grow.
- Adult Axolotls (over 7 inches long): Adult axolotls only need to be fed every two to three days. They have slower metabolisms and require more time to digest food in their cool water environment.
Gauging the Right Amount of Food: Observation is Key
It’s perfectly normal if your axolotl doesn’t finish all the food offered or still seems interested in more. The key is to observe their body condition and adjust the amount of food accordingly. It’s a learning process to find the “just right” balance – neither overfeeding nor underfeeding. A healthy axolotl should be plump but not excessively fat.
What is the Best Food for Axolotls? Prioritizing Nutrition
While axolotls are known for their remarkable regeneration abilities, research into their dietary needs highlights the importance of a diet that is low in fat and high in protein. One study demonstrated excellent growth rates in juvenile axolotls fed soft salmon pellets containing a 45% protein content.
If you choose to supplement your axolotl’s diet with commercial axolotl food pellets, select soft pellets that contain at least 40% protein and less than 10% fat. Avoid pellets that contain artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.
Although axolotls may accept soft food pellets, the most nutritionally complete and beneficial diet for axolotls consists of a combination of live and frozen/thawed foods like brine shrimp, earthworms, and daphnia. These natural food sources provide all the essential nutrients axolotls need to thrive.
What Can Axolotls Not Eat? Foods to Avoid
Despite their willingness to eat almost anything, certain foods are not suitable for axolotls and should be avoided.
Insects with hard exoskeletons, such as crickets, waxworms, and hornworms, are difficult for axolotls to digest. Their digestive systems struggle with the hard chitinous parts, which can lead to digestive issues and potentially make it difficult for the axolotl to defecate.
While some keepers offer hornworms with the horns removed, it’s generally safer to avoid these insects and others with hard exoskeletons altogether.
Axolotl Feeding FAQs
How small should axolotl food be?
Always ensure that any food you offer your axolotl is smaller than the width of their head to prevent choking hazards and ensure easy swallowing.
How often do axolotls eat?
Feeding frequency varies with age. Young axolotls need to eat as often as three times a day, while adult axolotls only require feeding every two to three days.
What is an axolotl’s favorite food?
Individual preferences vary among axolotls! However, bloodworms and brine shrimp are universally popular and often considered a favorite treat by many axolotls.
What do axolotls eat in the wild?
In their natural environment, axolotls consume a varied diet of worms, insects, insect larvae, and opportunistically, small fish and parts of fish, along with anything else small enough and edible they encounter.
References
Manjarrez-Alcivar I, Vega-Villasante F, Montoya-Martínez C, Lopez-Felix E, Badillo D, & Martinez-Cardenas L. New findings in the searching of an optimal diet for the axolotl Ambystoma mexicanum: protein levels. Agro Productividad. 2022.
Axolotls — Feeding. caudata.org.
WRITTEN BY
Gail Baker Nelson
