feeding my hand is great! the only problem is they might not want to go back to eating from the bottom if the tank if you decide to switch back!
Worms are a great staple, if your axie hates them you are probably feeding him the wrong type. The most common in AUST are red wigglers, and axolotls dont like them due to a gross substance they produce, they just spit them out again. Apparently you can soak them for a while and they will loose their gross taste, but that has never worked for mine they still don't like them.
Ty to find some nightcrawlers, i have had luck at fishing and bait shops. If you axie likes them, buy a hundred or so and start a worm bin - put them in a big container with some soil, some veggie scraps and old newspaper and they will multiply.
another good staple is axolotl pellets which can be found at any pet store. Its not very interesting though and mine get bored of them. You can give them the occasional treat of lean beef strips or bloodworm which you can get in frozen cubes from petbarn.