Players want to tame axolotls in Minecraft – Here’s how to catch them

Axolotls are a new creature in Minecraft Patch 1.17. We will tell you how to catch these water creatures and what they are useful for.

The “Caves & Cliffs” update did not bring the desired caves, but plenty of other content. One of them is the Axolotls. You can now find these cute creatures in the world of Minecraft. We will reveal how to catch the new animals and what benefits they have.

Update: The article originally comes from June 2021. We have updated it on 20.02.2023 for the Patch 1.19.

Where to find Axolotls? Axolotls can generally only occur in the “Lush Caves” and only as long as clay blocks are nearby.

What do Axolotls eat? Although Axolotls hunt all kinds of water creatures in the world, they can only be guided by feeding them tropical fish. The tropical fish must be in a bucket for this. You can find tropical fish mainly in warm ocean biomes and can transport them in a bucket.

How to breed Axolotls: Breeding Axolotls is quite challenging, as buckets with tropical fish cannot be stacked. To start breeding Axolotls, you need at least 2 buckets of tropical fish or more if you want to breed multiple Axolotls at the same time.

Note that each Axolotl can only mate once every 5 minutes. Only after this cooldown period can the mating process be initiated again.

How to tame Axolotls? Axolotls cannot be tamed in the traditional sense. Unlike wolves, Axolotls can only be lured with food and thus guided – for example, to an aquarium where the animals are then “imprisoned” to breed.

You can lead Axolotls with a leash. Alternatively, you can also lure them with a tropical fish in a bucket, as this is their favorite food that is also used for breeding.

What benefits do Axolotls have? The purely gameplay benefit of Axolotls is generally low. They mainly serve as a nice decorative element, but should be kept away from most other water creatures, as they will attack and kill them.

However, Axolotls can be used for hunting in water or when cleaning an ocean monument, as they also help in fighting drowned and guardians after being fed.

What colors do Axolotls have? Overall, there are 5 colors for Axolotls, but you will mostly see only 4 of them. The following colors are represented at about 25 % each:

• leucistic (lucy)
• brown (wild)
• turquoise (cyan)
• gold (gold)

The last color, blue, is extremely rare. It can appear in nature with a chance of 0.08 % or when two Axolotls are bred together (regardless of the color of the parents).

This is how Axolotls behave: Like most creatures in Minecraft, Axolotls have relatively complex behavior and respond to different stimuli. The following key points are particularly important:

• Axolotls are generally neutral towards the player.
• If the player helps an Axolotl to take down one of its prey, the Axolotl heals the “Mining Fatigue” and applies “Regeneration I” to the player.
• Axolotls attack all other water creatures (exceptions: turtles, dolphins, and frogs). After a creature is taken down, the Axolotl pauses for 2 minutes before going hunting again.
• Axolotls can play dead when attacked. They lie still for 10 seconds but heal themselves thanks to “Regeneration I” during this time. If an Axolotl plays dead, it is ignored by other creatures.
• If Axolotls are released on land, they will try to reach the nearest water body, as they die on land after exactly 5 minutes. However, they survive if it is thundering or raining.

This is how to prevent Axolotls from despawning: Like most passive mobs in Minecraft, Axolotls can despawn after a while. This can be prevented by picking up Axolotls with a bucket and then releasing them back into the world. Then the Axolotl counts as “player-generated” and stays indefinitely in the world (or until the creature dies).

Alternatively, you can also name Axolotls with a name tag, as this also prevents the automatic despawn – just like with all compatible creatures.

Do you have any questions about Axolotls? Have you caught a few of these strangely cute creatures yet?