Minecraft Axolotls: how to get the Blue Axolotl, and how to tame and breed an Axolotl

Want to know how to breed Axolotls in Minecraft? Then get your fishing hat on and your buckets at the ready, as we’ll explain everything that you need to know to get the aquatic mob loved up. This guide will also cover how to get the rare blue Axolotl, so that you can head back to the village and brag to all of your friends.

On this page:

• How to tame and breed Axolotls in Minecraft
• How to get a Blue Axolotl
• How to spawn a Blue Axolotl using commands (Java and Bedrock)
• Axolotl behaviour explained
• Where do Axolotls spawn?

How to tame and breed Axolotls in Minecraft

You cannot tame an Axolotl, but you can force it to breed with another Axolotl to produce a baby.

To get two Axolotls to breed, you need to get them near each other, and feed each of them a Bucket of Tropical Fish to get them to enter "Love Mode". At this point they will breed with one another, producing a baby Axolotl. This is the same process by which you can breed many other animals, such as Foxes.

Baby Axolotls will follow their parents until fully grown, which happens 20 minutes after birth. You can speed up the journey to adulthood by feeding the baby more Buckets of Tropical Fish.

You can also lead an Axolotl in a direction by approaching it and holding a Bucket of Tropical Fish in your hand, much like how a Pig will follow a carrot on a stick. This will help you when it comes to getting both Axolotls in the same place ready for breeding.

Note: Tropical Fish on its own does not do anything. You need to use a Bucket of Tropical Fish to have any effect on nearby Axolotls.

How to get a Blue Axolotl

As of Minecraft version 1.17.1, the only way you can get a Blue Axolotl without using commands is by breeding one.

There are five different colors of Axolotl: pink, brown, gold, cyan, and blue. The baby Axolotl will usually take after one of its parents in colour, but there is a 1 in 1,200 (0.083%) chance that it will instead become a rare Blue Axolotl.

The colour has no effect on the creature itself. All Axolotl are functionally and behaviourally identical; even the ultra-rare blue variant has nothing which sets it apart from the other types besides its hue.

Of course, there are probably already dozens of texture packs which will change Axolotl colours to whatever the author likes.

How to spawn a Blue Axolotl using commands

To spawn a Blue Axolotl using commands in Java Edition, type the following into the console:

/summon axolotl ~ ~ ~ {Variant:4}

To spawn a Blue Axolotl using commands in Bedrock Edition, here's what you need to type into the console:

/summon axolotl ~ ~ ~ minecraft:entity_born

Both of these will specifically spawn a Blue Axolotl rather than any of the other colours. So if you're happy to use cheats to get your hands on the rarest Axolotl type, these commands are all you need.

Axolotl behaviour explained

Axolotls are naturally passive towards players but hostile towards all aquatic mobs except dolphins and turtles. If damaged, there is a high chance that an Axolotl will play dead, so don't expect them to help you fight the Wither boss or Slimes. During this time it will heal any hit points lost, and it cannot be attacked by other mobs.

Axolotls can be attached to leads, and they can also be picked up in a Bucket of Water. An Axolotl that is picked up in this way, and then released later on, will never de-spawn, so that's a great way to fill up a moat around your castle or towers.

Where do Axolotls spawn?

Axolotls spawn mostly in underwater caves in any biome, so they're not so rare that you'll need to hunt for a specific Minecraft seed in order to see one. The exact rules for their spawning are as follows:

• They must spawn in a water block below Y-level 63;
• There must be a solid block of some sort above where it spawns;
• They can only spawn in pitch darkness (Light Level 0);
• They can only spawn within 5 blocks of a stone-type block (Stone, Deepslate, Granite, Diorite, Andesite, or Tuff).

This may seem like a fair few criteria, but Axolotls aren't an uncommon sight in Minecraft 1.17, particularly if you're in a very coastal location. Of course, if you really want to see one, you can always spawn one in Creative Mode using an Axolotl Egg. Just don't expect to find any blue Axolotls using this method, because as I mentioned above, blue variants are only spawned through breeding since the 1.17.1 update.

That's everything you need to know about finding, taming, and breeding Axolotls in Minecraft 1.17. Be sure to brush up on your knowledge of other 1.17 additions with our pages on how to find and use Copper, how to make Candles, and how to find and use Amethyst. Or take a look ahead and see what's coming with 1.18 and the other half of the Caves and Cliffs update, such as Dripstone. Looking ahead to 2022, you can expect The Wild Update to bring frogs, the mangrove swamp, and the Allay.