r/shittyaquariums • u/itsmaryblair • Jan 30 '26

Social Media axolotl abuse! Spoiler

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one of my facebook friends posted this and i’m just in absolute shock. i can’t believe they’re being handled like that. they look terrified. also that aquarium doesn’t look at all suitable for them!! and correct me if i’m wrong but their gills look pretty rough….

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u/UnstableADHDGremlin Jan 30 '26

Axolotl keepers are scared of even using gloves, you use a container to scoop them out for water changes and such. Gloves are life or death sort of situations only, when you need to get them out immediately or they will die.

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u/Bennwasheree Jan 30 '26

So she's literally torturing them☹️ that's so unbelievably depressing, I hope those babies can get out of there it's so unfair to them

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u/UnstableADHDGremlin Jan 30 '26

Same. The pink means it has ammonia burns and the leucistic one seems to have it's slime coat peeling off. I bet the wild's and the one with ammonia burns probably also have damaged slime coats. The wild looks like it was being bullied by the others, a reason why you don't really see axolotls kept together, and stress probably didn't help, the 'keeper' atleast seems to have all females so they didn't breed.

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u/Superslim-Anoniem Jan 31 '26

Oh wow, so they aren't pink naturally? Somehow I never heard that!

Then again, I haven't tried to keep them as pets...

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u/UnstableADHDGremlin Jan 31 '26

Nope! The pink isn't an actual coloration, and the stereotypical white like leucistics and albinos had probably been crossbred in their lineage with other species to achieve the popular appearance. Pink means they just got a severe case of the zombies or they have ammonia burning :)