What sort of fish pellets to feed?

I realize now that buying freeze dried brine-shrimp and freeze dried bloodworms was a bad move. They float instead of sinking, which isn't working because my axie stays at the bottom all the time. It is a very young, very small axie *a couple inches long or so* and I still have time to get him used to a new diet, seeing as how he hasn't eaten the freeze dried stuff.

I've read a few times that it is possible to make a staple food of fish pellets. But what kind, and where would you get some? Due to his small size, I'll probably have to break the pellets up before dropping them in and letting them sink, but that shouldn't be a problem.

P.S.--On an unrelated but frustrating note, my first axolotl--who died recently at the age of about six--was fed nothing but goldfish flakes, which is what the man said to feed them. >_< I know now it takes more. Just happy Butch lasted that long on flakes... anyway, advice on fish pellets for my New axie, Glacier, would be appreciated.

Quick tip.

I use a glass candleholder - a plain bowl one.

I laid it on it's side, so it has a "hood".
I pop the food under said hood - food stays put.
Food melts if frozen, sinks if dried (frozen is better - more nutritional value), hits the floor of the bowl - axolotl eats happily.

Or axolotl scarfs food whilst it's sat in the hood.

You want the pellets you feed to salmon or large carp - but always feed your pet a varied diet.

Personally, I reccommend frozen food - there is so much variety in it, and it's really easy to keep.

Hope that helps.

Hm... Alright, thank you! I'll see if I can find some frozen food today.

As far as the hood thing, would a small cup laying on its side work? I'm not sure we have any candleholders to speak of...

The best axie pellets I've tried are the soft salmon pellets, which are sold by the Axolotl Colony, and by Michael Shrom:
http://bigapple.uky.edu/~axolotl/food.htm
http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/24563/68839.html?1158196344

You can use virtually any of the pellets sold for tropical fish/cichlids. They are sold in graduated sizes and although they are almost all floating, pre-soaking and squeezing them a bit allow them to sink quite well. I feed a variety of 4 different cichlid pellets to my newts, toads (Pipa parva) and axolotl for their morning feeding and they've always relished them. I like the idea of the variety as I feel that there's a better chance of supplying them with a complete nutritional diet. They also usually get some sort of frozen food for their evening feeding such as mysis shrimp, bloodworms, brine shrimp, and glassworms. I've tried trout pellets but find them too messy, and the cichlid pellets are very clean with very little if any debris. I would like to give the salmon pellets a try sometime.

I've fed trout pellets (to trout), and they tend to be oily and smell rather gross. The soft moist salmon pellets are much nicer, and have a slightly soft texture which is helpful for amphibians.

In general, I'd recommend pellets that are made for carnivorous fish, as axolotls and newts are carnivores. I've experimented with various fish foods, choosing them based on the ingredients list. I would stay away from ones that have vegetarian ingredients (algae, corn meal, alfalfa) near the top of the list.