Blue Axolotl in Minecraft: How to Get One

The axolotl is the most endearing aquatic creature in Minecraft, and its blue version has become a true collector's item. Added in the 1.17 "Caves & Cliffs" update, it lives in lush caves, fits in a bucket and fights by your side underwater. The blue one, however, refuses to show up on its own: you have to breed it, with a little luck.

This guide covers the five colours, the fastest way to get a blue axolotl, the breeding rules and everything these companions can do. The mechanics are identical in singleplayer and on a multiplayer Minecraft server, where an axolotl farm quickly becomes a community project.

📑 Table of contents

• Axolotl colours
• Getting a blue axolotl
• Breeding axolotls
• Where to find axolotls
• What axolotls are for
• Axolotls on your server
• FAQ

🎨 Axolotl colours

There are five axolotl variants. Four spawn naturally, in equal shares, in lush caves. The fifth, blue, only exists through breeding.

No colour has special stats. Every axolotl has 14 health points (7 hearts), deals 2 damage per bite, swims fast in water and crawls slowly on land. The colour only changes the look, and that is exactly why blue is sought after: it proves you spent time on your breeding farm.

💙 Getting a blue axolotl

The birth rule

When two axolotls breed, the baby inherits the colour of one of its two parents, at random, with a 50% chance for each. But before that roll, the game runs a test: a 1 in 1,200 chance that the baby is blue, whatever the parents' colours. With two pink parents you will therefore get pink babies 1,199 times out of 1,200, and a blue one every now and then.

The fastest method

1. Catch two axolotls in water buckets in a lush cave (or more, to multiply the litters).
2. Build a pond at least two blocks deep, enclosed with blocks so they cannot escape, with no fish inside: they would attack their neighbours.
3. Stock up on buckets of tropical fish. Each breeding uses one bucket per adult, and you get a water bucket back.
4. Feed both adults: hearts appear and a baby is born. The parents cannot breed again for 5 minutes.
5. Repeat. With around ten pairs, births come thick and fast and the odds eventually work in your favour.

Once you have your first blue

This is where everything speeds up. A baby inherits a parent's colour half of the time: breed your blue axolotl with any other and half of the babies will be blue. With two blue parents, every baby is blue. The first blue is the hard one; the next ones only cost buckets of tropical fish.

🥚 Breeding axolotls

A few rules to keep your farm running smoothly:

• Food. Only the bucket of tropical fish works. Catch tropical fish in warm oceans or lush caves with a water bucket, one fish at a time.
• Growth. A baby becomes an adult in 20 minutes. Each bucket of tropical fish you give it cuts the remaining time by about 10%.
• Cooldown. After breeding, each adult waits 5 minutes before it can breed again.
• Space. Axolotls need water to breed and to live. A 5 by 5 pond, 2 blocks deep, holds around ten adults with no trouble.
• Persistence. An axolotl released from a bucket never despawns, even when you travel far away. A name-tagged axolotl stays put as well.
• Out of water. After about 5 minutes on dry land, an axolotl starts losing health, unless it is raining. Keep that in mind if you move them with a lead rather than a bucket.

🧭 Where to find axolotls

Axolotls spawn in a single biome: lush caves. You can spot these caverns from the surface thanks to azalea trees, the small pink-flowered trees that grow right above them. Below, you will find moss, glow berry vines, dripleaf plants and pools of clear water.

The exact conditions are fairly strict: axolotls spawn in water, below sea level (Y = 63), and only when a clay block sits a few blocks underneath. That is why you mostly meet them in the puddles and small lakes at the bottom of lush caves, often in groups of 1 to 4. To bring them home, use an empty water bucket on the axolotl: you get a bucket of axolotl that keeps its colour and its name.

If your world has no lush cave near spawn, our guide to the best Minecraft seeds will help you start a game with the right biome within reach.

🐟 What axolotls are for

Beyond collecting, axolotls are genuine allies underwater:

• They fight at your side. An axolotl spontaneously attacks fish, squid (regular and glow squid), drowned, guardians and elder guardians. It leaves dolphins and turtles alone.
• They heal you. If you kill a mob an axolotl was fighting, you get the Regeneration effect for a few seconds and your Mining Fatigue is removed. It is the ideal tool for raiding an ocean monument: elder guardians inflict Mining Fatigue, axolotls wipe it away.
• They play dead. When an axolotl is hurt underwater, it has a one in three chance of freezing and playing dead for about ten seconds. Mobs stop targeting it and it regenerates health in the meantime.
• They travel anywhere. In a bucket of axolotl, it fits in your inventory and can be released wherever you like: a decorative pond, a base aquarium, an escort for a monument raid.

For an ocean monument trip, bring four or five buckets of axolotl, release them at the entrance and let them deal with the guardians while you break the prismarine blocks.

🧰 Axolotls on your server

On a server, a blue axolotl farm is an excellent group project, and admins have a few handy commands (operator status required):

A few admin tips: keep farms reasonably sized so they do not overload the server, since dozens of axolotls in a single chunk cost resources like any other mob. On a pure survival server, resist the temptation of /summon: the rarity of blue is its whole appeal, and your players will hold it against you. For the rest of the admin commands, see our list of Minecraft Java commands.

⚙ Going further

• Minecraft seeds: the best seeds: worlds with lush caves near spawn to find your first axolotls.
• Minecraft Java commands: /summon, /locate, /gamerule and every command you need to manage your world.
• Minecraft Warden: the complete guide: the other star creature of the depths, far less friendly.
• How much RAM for a Minecraft server: size your server if your players keep building mob farms.
• Create a Minecraft server: complete guide: everything you need to launch a shared world with friends.

🎮 Breed your axolotls with friends

An axolotl farm is a team effort: one player brings back the tropical fish, another catches adults in the lush caves, the rest of the crew watches over the births. Launch your Minecraft server at Lordhosting, delivered in under a minute with a free 24-hour trial, and start hunting for blue.

❓ Need help?

Our support team can help you configure your server, its gamerules or its backups: 👉 Contact LordHosting support