Feeding young Axolotl

[Gaternix]

Hey, I've had my Axolotl for 1 week now, he's maybe 3 inches, he has all legs but they're still small. I've been feeding him blood worms everyday, around half a cube, he never finishes it but today he has barely had any I was wondering if it's normal for them to sometimes not eat and they'll eat the next day, maybe he's stressed? Also I was wondering if it's normal that I have to hand feed him around one blood worm at a time, I can get him on top of and right next to the pile of them but he won't eat them unless I hold them individually in front of his face, just wondering if this is normal. Thanks for any help

 

[DiscusDream]

Was he raised on bloodworms, or is he accustomed to eating them? If he was raised on live food, he may not be interested in the bloodworms because they don't move. At that age/size, their feeding response is triggered primarily by the movement of the live food. Try some live blackworms or earthworms. The earthworms may need to be broken up into small pieces for him to be able to eat them.

 

[Cacique]

I like the live worm idea from DiscusDream. I got my axie at about the same size/age as yours and he ate live black worms readily. He would scavenge the tank for it or go to his feeding dish to look or beg. When he grew up too big for them to do much, I swapped to pellets but had the same issue. He doesn't really look for them, but I can just hold a couple of soaked pellets in front of him and he'll gulp them up with my fingers and everything.

Once he gets older he might figure it out, but I don't mine ever did lol.

 

[Gaternix]

Okay thanks guys, will try cut up earth worms probably since I don't know where to get black worms. But I don't think he was brought up on live food because he was in a small tank with like 15 other axoltols. It was quite cruel I thought but they don't have live food there