Best Axolotl Diet and Water Temperature
As we’re coming into the new season of juveniles being available in Australia, we are seeing different advice from different people offering them. I’d like to talk about two key areas, FOOD and TEMPARATURE, and why I follow the latest recommendations.
Food
Lets look at food. My recommendation is to feed adults earthworms as the main diet, along with prawns, salmon and some treats of bloodworm, blackworms, shrimp and pellets on occasion.
Other recommendations that I have heard include beef heart, beef flesh, chicken, crickets.
What makes one food better than the other and why are there different suggestions going around?
There was a paper, some 30years ago that I have seen people refer to, that told people that beef was the right food. People have referred to that paper and said this was right, even now. However, since then, there has been new research and advice from a number of sources and breeders.
Animals should be fed what they would normally eat in their natural habitat. Axolotls don’t eat cow or any other mammal in the wild. That should be an initial indication that it’s not the right food, but let’s dig deeper and look at the actual scientific facts and reasons why one view is more suitable.
Nutritional facts
We can all agree that axolotls are carnivores, but are all proteins equal?
Apart from the water that needs to be much higher in calcium for an axolotl to thrive, the staple food axolotls consume should have a calcium to phosphorus ratio of 2:1
Lets have a look at this table
| Food | Protein (% dry wt) |
Fat (% dry wt) |
Calcium (% dry wt) |
Phos. (% dry wt) |
Ca:Phos Ratio |
Ref. |
| Blackworms | 47.8 | 20.1 | 0.11 | 0.85 | 0.12 | 1 |
| Bloodworms | 52.8 | 9.7 | 0.38 | 0.90 | 0.42 | 1 |
| Crickets, adult | 64.9 | 13.8 | 0.14 | 0.99 | 0.14 | 1 |
| Earthworms | 62.2 | 17.7 | 1.72 | 0.90 | 1.91 | 1 |
| Nightcrawlers | 60.7 | 4.4 | 1.52 | 0.96 | 1.58 | 1 |
| Daphnia | 55.2 | 6.6 | 0.10 | 1.17 | 0.08 | 1 |
| Shrimp, raw | 83.3 | 8.3 | 0.22 | 0.85 | 0.26 | 4 |
| Squid, raw | 84.2 | 5.3 | 0.47 | 2.03 | 0.23 | 4 |
| Salmon, raw | 63.5 | 34.2 | 0.039 | 0.75 | 0.05 | 4 |
| Codfish, raw | 93.4 | 4.56 | 0.084 | 1.07 | 0.08 | 4 |
| Anchovy, raw, wholec | 74.0 | 18.5 | 0.544 | 0.644 | 0.84 | 4 |
| Beef heart, raw | 76.9 | 20.0 | 0.030 | 0.92 | 0.03 | 4 |
| Beef liver, rawd | 69.0 | 13.8 | 0.017 | 1.33 | 0.01 | 4 |
| Beef sirloin, raw | 79.4 | 16.1 | 0.081 | 0.756 | 0.11 | 4 |
| Chicken breast, raw | 92.0 | 4.0 | 0.044 | 0.784 | 0.06 | 4 |
This clearly shows that beef and chicken have far too little calcium for an axolotl. Whereas earthworms and nightcrawlers are nice and high.
What happens to an axolotl that is calcium deficient?
They develop Metabolic Bone Disease!
From a young age, axolotls have a high need for calcium as they grow. When calcium is not high enough in their diet, they start to remove calcium from their own bones. This causes them to become soft and rubbery and they fracture easily. Muscle also needs calcium to function properly. A calcium deficient axolotl will tremor, have difficulty eating, walking, defecating, and urinating.
I have personally seen this early on in my axolotl journey, to an axolotl that I got from an inexperienced breeder who raised them on beef heart and then advised me to continue feeding them this diet. The axolotl started by not wanting to eat, hiding a lot and then turned a corner one day and literally broke her back. The vet recommended putting her down as she was in too much pain and her bones were too weak.
Temperature
The other main cause for debate that I have seen in recent times is the temperature the water should be.
I have seen comments that say Mexico is hot, so axolotls are not cold water creatures, however, the average annual temperature is 20.6°C, with monthly temperatures ranging from 15°C in January to 25°C in June.
Axolotls are native to Lake Xochimilco Mexico City. The water temperature in this lake ranges from 12°C in the winter to 20°C in the summer.
*The recommendation is to keep them above 16°C because if they get too cold their metabolism will slow down and they won’t eat as much.*
Just this is enough for me to believe that the recommendation to keep your axolotl within this range is accurate, but again, lets dig deeper and ask what happens when axolotls get hot?
Hot axolotls
If the water temperature rises and maintains above 22°C, axolotls will experience heat stress and experience the following symptoms: loss of appetite, ascites (a condition where fluid builds up in the abdomen, between the two layers of tissue that cover the abdominal organs), uncontrollable floating, develop fungal infections and even die.
High water temperatures can also increase the toxicity of ammonia in your water, which is very harmful to axolotls.
Conclusion
In my view, based on all the evidence available via a quick google search, the latest recommendations are the ones that make sense. Its not based on opinion or emotion, this is based on scientific fact.
If you are keeping your axolotl in an unsuitable environment, please remember that the past can’t be undone, but the future is in your hands to change. Know better and do better.