Axlotl?

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

Probably spelled this wrong, sorry. Can anyone who has one help me out.
DD is very keen to get a pet once we return to the UK. DH suggested an axalotl, he doesn't know what one is , but someone told him that they could walk around even though they are fish.
Can this be true. I would yahoogle it, but I am just off to collect DD from school.
Many thanks in advance and apologies if this shows my D but gullible H in a poor light.

[EauRouge]

They are aquatic but they aren't fish (although one of their nicknames is 'Mexican walking fish') so I only know a little about them. They are aquatic salamanders and are sort of like half-developed tadpoles- they still have gills but they also have legs. They don't grow into anything though. They are fairly popular pets and from what I can tell they are pretty easy to look after.

[thisisyesterday]

yep they're salamanders. but strangely they reach maturity without undergoing metamorphosis, so stay in their gilled fishy state. so they need to be basically kept as a fish although they have legs so can walk around on the bottom of the tank

I believe you can induce metamorphosis, but it's not something you'd probably do at home

[readinginsteadnow]

I always wanted one, for years, s a kid; never got one. They're so cute, I think it's their kinda fat wide faces Get one!!!

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

thisisyesterday, you know a lot about them . Would we need special tools [vivarium for example] or would a fish tank be OK?
I should add this won't happend until July at the earliest when she and I return to England.
Are there specialist Axolotl breeders?

[thisisyesterday]

no special things, you'd just want a really lovely big fish tank- around 15 gallons upwards (70 litres or more)

They can be a bit um, cannibalistic, so you'd only want one.
they can't really be handled either as their skin and gills are sensitive.. you're basically keeping a cool looking fish with legs!

[thisisyesterday]

there's some good information on them here actually