Question: How often/how much should I feed?

Hi Guys

I've had a look on here and a few other websites and also got info from my local aquarium but I am getting really conflicting information about how often to feed my guy.

For the first few weeks I was really worried because I couldn't get him to eat, but now that he's settled and he's turned into a real guts!

When we got him the guy at the shop said that they were like snakes - to feed him a big meal every couple of days. The packet of axolotl pellets says to feed twice a day. I've read varying things on this forum from once a day, twice a day and then every second day.

Basically, I don't want him to get constipated or sick from too much food and not being able to digest it and I don't want him to get hungry either. He eats a varied diet of axolotl pellets, raw white fish, fresh live mosquito larvae and back swimmers, frozen blood worms, earth worms (when I can get them) and the occasional feeder guppy - but since he's been getting fed the pellets/dead food he doesn't seem that interested in hunting, lazy bugger!

His water is about 16 degrees at the moment (it does go up to just under 20 at night when we have the central heating on) and he is generally happy and healthy. At present we are feeding him every day (eg. yesterday he had 2 pieces of baramundi about the size of my index fingernail and 3 pellets) and his belly got really fat - he could barley swim off the sand for about an hour after wards but he always looks like he's sniffing around in the sand for more food after he's eaten everything and i don't know if he's still hungry or just being a guts!

So any advice on how much and how often would be great!

Feeding frequency depends on how old you axie is. Adults don't need feeding every day. A general guide is that females' bellies should be about the same width as their heads (easily seen from above), but males are a bit thinner. Axies do tend to be rather geedy though + would happily eat until their feet don't touch the floor any more
Of course, it also depends on their diet, as an axolotl feed soley on beef heart would be tubbier than 1 fed on the same weight worth of earthworms (beef, lamb, e.t.c. are fattier than worms)

I think the general rule is every 2-3 days for feeding adults (every day for younger + a couple of times per day for little tiny hatchlings) Because I also have corn snakes, my axolotls get a pinky (baby mouse) once a month, or once every 2 months + when they have the pinky, they only get fed twice that week, instead of 3 or 4 times, as pinkies are a larger food + more fatty food than a combination of several worms.

Congrats on your axi first off!!!

and i agree lots of conflicting information.

i think the general consensus is what Mojo said. I feed my axi 2 small earthworms twice a week, and the days i don't feed him earthworms i give him some blood worms. the more time you spend with you axi the more you'll know when its hungry!!!