Can you keep axolotls with fish? The answer, surprisingly, is yes — you just need to choose your fish carefully.
One thing to keep in mind when keeping fish with axolotls is that those long flowy gills can start to look like food to just about any fish who’s hungry enough. Make sure to keep your fish well-fed, and be ready to move them out at the first sign of gill damage.
Ideal tankmates
My personal success stories! These peaceful fish enjoy cold, hard, neutral pH water. In addition, they are either too fast for axolotls to catch, too big to make an attractive meal, or they reproduce fast enough that the population should be able to maintain itself.
- Golden skiffia
- Orange-finned danio (extra aeration & aquarium cover required)
- White cloud mountain minnow
- Zebra danio
Potentially good tankmates
These fish sound like they could be good axolotl tankmates in theory, but I have not tried them personally, or they did not work for me, for various reasons.
- Bengal danio (extra aeration & aquarium cover required)
- Checkered barb
- Dusky millions fish
- Frail gourami
- Giant chinese bitterling (non-breeding, large aquarium required)
- Golden barb
- Green swordtail
- Indian glass barb
- Inle loach
- Maharaja barb
- Moustached danio
- Pearl danio
- Peninsular danio (extra aeration required)
- Playfair’s panchax
- Rainbow characodon
- Red-line torpedo barb
- Red-spotted panchax
- Rosy barb
- Rosy danio (extra aeration & aquarium cover required)
Swimming buffet
These are fish who enjoy the same water parameters as your axolotls, but are likely to become dinner very fast. If you breed them in a separate tank, they could be an attractive option as a source of cheap live food.
- Golden dwarf barb
- Medaka (japanese ricefish)
- Northern glowlight danio
- Odessa barb
- Shalyni barb
- Two-spotted barb
Experienced fishkeepers only!
These species could potentially be a good match, provided that you are able to maintain your water temperatures at a steady 20°C ±1°C. Do read the fish’s care requirements carefully before you make the plunge, as you may need to modify your tank setup or maintenance routine. Do keep an eye out for signs of stress in both species, and be ready to separate or adjust your setup as needed.
- Black-barred danio
- Blue danio
- Blue moon danio
- Clown barb
- Dwarf spotted danio
- Glass barb
- Gold ring danio
- Greenstripe barb
- Guppy (here’s why)
- Hikari danio
- Onespot barb
- Scarlet badis
- Spotted barb
- Swamp barb
Not recommended
While these fish can be kept at room temperature, they should not be kept at temperatures below 21°C for extended periods of time.
- Banded epiplatys
- Banded leporinus
- Beardless barb
- Black neon tetra
- Black paradise fish
- Black phantom tetra
- Black ruby barb
- Blackwing hatchetfish
- Bleeding heart tetra
- Bluefin nothobranch
- Brown spike-tailed paradise fish
- Celestial pearl danio
- Cherry barb
- Chocolate gourami
- Columbian tetra
- Common hatchetfish (silver hatchetfish)
- Crossband chocolate gourami
- Crystal red tetra
- Cuming’s barb
- Dadio
- Discus tetra
- Dwarf barb
- Dwarf panchax
- Dwarf rasbora
- Ember tetra
- Emerald dwarf rasbora
- Empire gudgeon
- Eyespot rasbora
- False spanner barb
- False x-ray tetra
- Filament barb
- Fire bar danio
- Fireline devario
- Five-banded barb
- Flag tetra
- Flame red rasbora
- Flame tetra
- Flying barb
- Flying minnow
- Glowlight rasbora
- Golden pencilfish
- Green line lizard tetra
- Green neon tetra
- Green panchax
- Harlequin
- Honey gourami
- Indian glass fish
- Jelly bean tetra
- Least killifish
- Lemon tetra
- Lined barb
- Lipstick leporinus
- Lyretail killi
- Mad barb
- Madagascar panchax
- Marbled hatchetfish
- Mayan tetra
- Mosquito rasbora
- Narayan barb
- Neon tetra
- Ornate tetra
- Pookode lake barb
- Powder-blue panchax
- Queen danio
- Rainbow tetra
- Red dwarf rasbora
- Red phantom tetra
- Red-chinned panchax
- Red-striped killifish
- Red-tailed tinfoil barb
- Rosy loach
- Savanna tetra
- Siamese algae eater
- Silver hatchetfish
- Six-barred panchax
- Snakeskin barb
- Spanner barb
- Spiketail paradisefish
- Spotfin hatchetfish
- Spotted headstander
- Steel-blue killifish
- Steindacher’s apisto (A138)
- Striped flying barb
- Striped headstander
- Tasseled-mouth loach
- Three-striped apisto (A204)
- Threespot leporinus
- Variable platy
- Whitespot eartheater
- Yellow phantom tetra
- Yellow tetra
Direct competitors
These bottom-dwelling fish would infringe on your axolotl’s turf, which could lead to stress and aggressive behaviors. This includes most loaches and catfish.
- Badis
- Black-lined loach
- Chinese false gudgeon
- Horse face loach
- Kansu loach
- Mini dragon loach
- Moose-faced loach
- Panda loach
- Peacock loach
- Ring loach
- Yo-yo loach
- Zebra loach
Probably too aggressive
While these guys enjoy cold hard water, I’m not sure about their temperaments. Based on what I know of their close relatives, I would expect them to be too aggressive to be kept with axolotls.
- Florida flagfish
- Mekong tiger perch
- New guinea tiger perch
- Roundtail paradise fish
- Sharphead eartheater
Too endangered
Given their precarious conservation status, it wouldn’t make sense to keep these fish in the same tank as a potential predator.
- Eyespot gourami
- Siamese tiger perch
- Spanish toothcarp
Don’t even think about it!
These fish have a tendency to nip at flowy fins and gills, or have environmental needs that differ greatly from those of axolotls. This includes most bettas, cichlids, piranhas, pacus and sharks. I’m not including obligate brackish or saltwater fish, but it goes without saying that those would not be a good match either!
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- African blackfin barb
- African butterfly barb
- African red-eyed tetra
- Ajime loach
- Amapa tetra
- Apistogramma spp. (A52, A164, A165, A167, A174, A188, A208, A218, A220, A221, A222)
- Arrow loach
- Arulius barb
- Banded tiger loach
- Barred danio
- Barred pencilfish
- Bengal loach
- Betta (siamese fighting fish)
- Biara
- Black darter tetra
- Black kuhli loach
- Black shark
- Black spot pirhana
- Black tiger dario
- Blackstripe pencilfish
- Blind cave tetra
- Bloodfin tetra
- Blue-faced peacock
- Brichardi
- Broken-line killifish
- Brunei beauty
- Buenos aires tetra
- Burmese badis
- Burmese red-tailed garra
- Butterfly goodeid
- Butterfly loach
- Canara pearlspot cichlid
- Cardinal tetra
- Chameleon loach
- Cherry-fin loach
- Ceylonese combtail
- Climbing perch
- Clown loach
- Congo barb
- Crescent betta
- Croaking gourami
- Cupid cichlid
- Dawn tetra
- Deissner’s liquorice gourami
- Doctor fish
- Drape fin barb
- Dwarf chain loach
- Dwarf pencilfish
- Emerald betta
- Emperor botia
- Emperor cichlid
- Emperor tetra
- Fire rasbora
- Flame-back bleeding heart tetra
- Flying fox
- Forktailed loach
- Gabon killifish
- Gar characin
- Giant chocolate gourami
- Giant danio
- Giant kuhli loach
- Glowlight danio
- Golden zebra loach
- Goldfish (!!!)
- Goulding’s piranha
- Grant’s peacock
- Green throat mouthbrooder
- Green tiger loach
- Greenstripe pencilfish
- Grizzled loach
- Half-banded loach
- Hampala barb
- Hockeystick pencilfish
- Hummingbird tetra
- Imperial flower loach
- Indonesian tiger perch
- Java combtail
- Kennedy’s tetra
- Kissing gourami
- Knife livebearer
- Kuhli loach
- Lambchop rasbora
- Laos blackline torpedo loach
- Laos redtail loach
- Least pencilfish
- Leopard bushfish
- Leopold’s tetra
- Lesser bleeding heart tetra
- Lipstick barb
- Long-finned tetra
- Loreto tetra
- Malawi butterfly
- Manipur baril
- Marbled headstander
- Melon barb
- New yellow regal peacock
- Northern aulonocara
- Oiapoque eartheater
- One-lined pencilfish
- Orinoco eartheater
- Ornate paradisefish
- Ornate tiger sand loach
- Oscar
- Panamanian eartheater
- Panda garra
- Panda loach
- Panther danio
- Paradise fish
- Payara
- Pearl cichlid
- Peruvian tetra
- Piraya
- Polka-dot loach
- Purple pencilfish
- Purple tetra
- Pygmy hatchetfish
- Rainbow shark
- Red bellied piranha
- Red-shouldered peacock
- Red-spotted tetra
- Red-spotted splashing tetra
- Red-tailed black shark
- Red-tailed freshwater barracuda
- Redfin tiger loach
- Redflanked bloodfin
- Redspot cichlid
- Retail loach
- Rhino garra
- Rosy tetra
- Ruby tetra
- Saddle cichlid
- Saddle-back loach
- Sailfin characin
- Serpae tetra
- Sheep pacu
- Shining pencilfish
- Silver loach
- Silver shark
- Silver tiger perch
- Skunk loach
- Slender betta
- Smudge spot cory
- Snakehead betta
- Soda cichlid
- Sparkling gourami
- Speckle-tailed loach
- Splash tetra
- Splendid killifish
- Spotscale barb
- Spotted betta
- Spotted butterfly loach
- Spotted hampala barb
- Spotted metynnis
- Striped anostomus
- Striped flying barb
- Striped pike characin
- Sucking loach
- Sulphurhead peacock
- Sumo loach II
- Sun loach
- Sunshine peacock
- Super convict loach
- Ternetz’s anostomus
- Tiger barb
- Tiger hillstream loach
- Tinfoil barb
- Two spot astyanax
- Three-lined pencilfish
- Two-stripe pencilfish
- Two-striped apisto
- Vaillant’s chocolate gourami
- Vampire tetra
- Vietnamese marbled hog-faced loach
- Violet shark
- White piranha
- Yellow-tailed congo tetra
- Yellowhump eartheater
- Yoma danio
- Western mosquitofish
- X-ray tetra
- Zipper loach
- Zodiac loach