Bowl Feeding in action

[charlie]

said a while ago that i'd get photos of my axies feeding from their bowl (or around it, if the food floats out!)

so heres a few. Juliet has a better understanding of it than pedro, but he's learning slowly (she learnt while he was in the fridge)

 

[hailz]

I like the colour of your tan axie(juliet?)

 

[jojo]

Ohhh how cute!!
i love the first and the third pic!!

 

[charlie]

hailz - yeah, she's a wildtype with some pretty nice colourings. Great gills and a decent size too (from a LFS.)

Just hope she turns out to be a she!!!

 

[joanne]

They look so cute. Like when I feed my doggies LOL Especially the third picture!! Do they nip at each other at dinner time? I have to make sure my little ones are at opposite ends of the tank when I feed them. I had a couple of stressful encounters when Lotle was smaller than Falkor and her head ended up in his mouth momentarily

It's so cute that they eat together out of the bowl like that!!

 

[kylie]

that' awesome. what do you use for their little bowl? Was it hard to teach them to eat out of it? I'm new by the way. That's a really good idea. Are they blackworms in the photo?

 

[charlie]

Because I got both of them together they seem reasonably used to eating together. Pedro (the white guy) was in the fridge for a few days, but other than that they generally eat together joanne. Because pedro is so much smaller I try to put the food near him, and juliet will always find it eventually. I'm worried about pedro missing out so he gets priority. (I'll put the food in the bowl when he's closest, or drop worms near him etc.)

And Kylie - they're bloodworms that I used in those shots, but I also use earthworms and the pisces blackworms as well. (mix of earthworms and either of one of the other worms.) If I'm using bloodworms I defrost a little cube in a little bit of tank water inside a shotglass and pour it out to the bowl. The bowl was bought cheaply from Pets Paradise, I think its for lizards or other amphibians, but it seemed the perfect size and its just made out of glazed pottery I think.
Because my two are used to having to look a little for their food, they got the hang of it in a matter of days. I leave the bowl in there permanently. My two seem to have ok eyesight though, and spot the food as it drops in or wriggles around, even for half a foot away or so

Makes my life a whole lot easier!

 

[rheann]

That's great, you have them trained very well

 

[samantha]

wow thats soo cute! is there an article or something that you can direct me to so that i can try it? im not sure i understand how you get the food in2 the water without it going all over the tank? sorry i know that probably sounds a bit dumb, so if you can direct me to anything that will stop u from having to explain it to me, please do! lol

 

[charlie]

Basically just an idea I got from people talking about training their axies etc, and feeding them in certain places.

For the food - some of it WILL float out of the bowl or miss the bowl, but be in the general area of the bowl. This is actually good to begin with because in a kinda hansel and gretal way, they follow the trail tofind where the bulk of the food is (bowl) by picking up the stuff that came loose.

For what I'd suggest using - pretty much any of the stuff you normally feed your axie, except floating foods.
So - pellets can be dropped into the bowl, As can earthworms and liver/heart (if you use it, mine is a rarity) For black worms I use the pisces packets, so you can put the nozzle right in the bowl and squeeze gently (I usually use half a packet of that and some other foods) so they squirt into the bowl. Frozen blackworms are the hardest, but I put a cube into a shotglass, about 1/3 full with tankwater. Wait for them to defrost completely, then cover it with my fingers, let it slowly fill up on the surface, then (while still covered) put it right over the bowl, letting them float down out of the shotglass, into the food bowl.

Because of the location of the bowl (see my other thread with full tank pics) it means that anything that gets away/floats away doesn't go too far, and doesn't get caught in hard-to-syphon-out places.
You'll get a little sand in the bowl from time to time, but you just syphon it out as well.
Hope that helps

 

[rheann]

I'm actually looking for a pretty soysauce dish to use as a feeding dish, but I might go with something else like a small sushi tray.

I want to start training my axolotls to eat from one area rather than just hunting about for their food.

 

[charlie]

yeah, that was my motivation rheann - not to have food all over the tank. My bowl was a small amphibian water one I think. I'd bought a plastic dish in the past, and was told it'd sink, but no! it floats!
was all of about $4 australian, and does the job nicely.
I'd just make sure it has reasonable height on the sides to keep the food in!

 

[samantha]

Thanks 4 the explanation! Im going to try the methods you've described when my new tank is finished. Its a good way of feeding i think!

 

[rob]

i got these from where i work Furniture/homewares store, but havn't used em as of yet...