How genetic are gills?

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slipperem

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I have 3 axolotls, male, living in a chilled 55 gallon and eating, healthy, active, all that good stuff. They never nip each other or have conflict. I know their gills could be fluffier but I'm doing my best to keep their water as high quality as possible. However, one of them has much fluffier/longer gills despite being in the same exact water. The other one is 6 years old and has just never had long fluffy gills no matter how hard I've tried and how good the water parameters are - just fluffy nubs always. I know genetics are a component and he was an abused, backyard bred rescue and the other was from a high quality breeder. He also had his gills cannibalized as a baby at his breeders. Could genetics/scarring be the culprit or is he just more sensitive to water quality? It has never seemed to affect him negatively in any other way. Please be kind.
 

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slipperem said:
I have 3 axolotls, male, living in a chilled 55 gallon and eating, healthy, active, all that good stuff. They never nip each other or have conflict. I know their gills could be fluffier but I'm doing my best to keep their water as high quality as possible. However, one of them has much fluffier/longer gills despite being in the same exact water. The other one is 6 years old and has just never had long fluffy gills no matter how hard I've tried and how good the water parameters are - just fluffy nubs always. I know genetics are a component and he was an abused, backyard bred rescue and the other was from a high quality breeder. He also had his gills cannibalized as a baby at his breeders. Could genetics/scarring be the culprit or is he just more sensitive to water quality? It has never seemed to affect him negatively in any other way. Please be kind.
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Also I know the substrate is often heavily discouraged but they are not fed on it and have never had any digestive issues. Not seeking advice on this, I know some have very strong opinions on it lol but it works for us
 
genetics can play a large part in how an axolotl grows develops and looks, because there is mostly nurture rather than nature when it comes to pets it means that animals that wouldn't survive in the wild are allowed to breed which can pass on weaknesses and deformities, it also doesn't help that axolotls tend to be highly inbred.
salt has been known to help encourage gill growth, although it will effect you plants (some may not be able to tolerate salt), there was a short experiment done to test how salt levels effected growth and also egg development (have attached article), the level most suitable for keeping axolotls in is around 2g/l which around the same as 50% holfreters solution (a solution that is used to make the water more axolotl suitable)
 

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wolfen said:
genetics can play a large part in how an axolotl grows develops and looks, because there is mostly nurture rather than nature when it comes to pets it means that animals that wouldn't survive in the wild are allowed to breed which can pass on weaknesses and deformities, it also doesn't help that axolotls tend to be highly inbred.
salt has been known to help encourage gill growth, although it will effect you plants (some may not be able to tolerate salt), there was a short experiment done to test how salt levels effected growth and also egg development (have attached article), the level most suitable for keeping axolotls in is around 2g/l which around the same as 50% holfreters solution (a solution that is used to make the water more axolotl suitable)
Click to expand...
Super interesting, thanks for that info! I'm not concerned about the looks of his gills, just curious if it's possible for him to still be healthy and happy with such short gills or if I should be concerned. If it's within normal genetic range for them to look like that, I'm happy as long as he is. I am mostly wondering if I need a reality check that there's is probably some external problem affecting him causing the short gills, even if it isn't affecting my others.
 
provided there are enough filaments on the gills to provide gas exchange then he will be fine, things to watch out for are frequents surface gulping which can also lead to floating (this is where there will be an increased chance of gravel swallowing),
 
wolfen said:
provided there are enough filaments on the gills to provide gas exchange then he will be fine, things to watch out for are frequents surface gulping which can also lead to floating (this is where there will be an increased chance of gravel swallowing),
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I have never noticed frequent gulping or floating but I will definitely keep an eye out for it! Thanks
 
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