Question: A Few First Time Owner Questions...

Hello all. I'm Apis. First time poster and first time axolotl keeper here. I got my kiddos back in December and I'm loving every minute of it--aside from the occasional moment of "new owner" panic. Being as how I'm new to all of this, I have a few questions I'd like to air out. I apologize in advance for the very real possibility that you've seen all of these many, many times before. (a TL;DR at the end for those who don't want to read through my rambling)

+ My little ones (one GFP, the other leucistic) are currently being kept on opposite sides of a 20 gallon tank--a long one, so they have a bit more swimming room. Both of them are about four inches long now (my GFP is just shy of four, and my leucistic is a little bit more than four) and I'm wondering when it'll be safe for me to remove their tank divider. I've heard mixed opinions on this, so I'm hesitant to do anything until I know for certain it's safe for them to be together.

+ I'm currently feeding them each half a cube of blood worms every day, with both getting a full cube on Saturdays when I do their water change. Do I need to be feeding them more? Less? Additionally, when can I start to transition them from their diet of just worms to a diet of pellets with worms serving as a treat now and then?

+ Are there any reliable methods to help your axies transition from eating solely from the tongs I use to hand them their worms? My little ones are quite spoiled and... they haven't yet learned how to get food unless I hand it to them. (not that I'm complaining!! I love hand feeding them, and will happily continue to do so!)

+ My leucistic baby somehow ended up with a few small chunks taken out of their tail and I have no clue as to how that happened. The tank decor on their side of the tank is the same as the tank decor on their sibling's side, and my GFP hasn't had this problem. Could they have gotten their tail nicked by the divider somehow? (if so, I'm definitely even more anxious to remove it...)

That's all I can think of right now, but I'm sure more questions will arrive within the next several months--I have much yet to learn! Thanks in advance for the help!

TL;DR:
+ Both axolotls are about four inches long. When can I remove the tank divider?
+ Do I need to be feeding them more than half a cube of blood worms a day? Less? And when can I transition them to feeding on pellets?
+ What can I do to help wean them off of the tongs I use to feed them?
+ One of them has a few small nicks in their tail. What could've caused this?

I recently raised three axis from eggs, but only separated one as the other two grew at about the same rate. I’ve found that if your axis are the same size then they tend to nip much less, but if you do want to stick to the cautious side then I would say they’d be safe to keep together when the smallest is at least six inches, that’s when I put all mine in the same tank and everything has been fine. As for the food, well you can start feeding them worms pretty much whenever they feel comfortable with eating them, but you should start by cutting the worm no longer than the width of the axis head. I’m not sure about how your axi got those cuts but you might have to watch her for a bit and see if there’s anything that she might be getting caught on in her tank. P.s, my little guys are now all just over 8 inches and are happy and healthy, so I hope this advice helps.

Thanks for the input, una! I appreciate it. Hearing from someone with more experience than me is a welcome occurrence, to be sure. (Three axies... how wonderful! What kind are they, if you don't mind me asking?)

Small update: Chorizo (my leucistic kiddo) seems to be healing up just fine. No new nicks have appeared, and they're not showing any signs of discomfort or stress, which I'm most certainly pleased about. And Horchata (GFP) is doing, ahem, swimmingly too. I'm planning on taking a trip to the pet store tomorrow to see if I can start updating their diet and maybe get both of them some new decor while I'm at it (they could both use another hide, I think.)

You can start feeding them pellets at any time, just make sure they are special soft axolotl pellets, I can give you some contact information from a few people who sell them.
You dont want to feed JUST pellets, do Pellets and BloodWorms, annd Axolotls have pretty good noses, so you can just put the bloodworms in a reptile food bowl at the bottom of your tank, or just put it on the bottom of your tank and they should find it within 30 minutes

Thank you for the reply Eternie! :> I would definitely appreciate the contact information--want to make sure my little ones get the nutrients they need, after all. The pet store where I got them generally has everything I need (frozen bloodworms, hides, staff that generally knows quite a lot about axolotls, etc etc) but it wouldn't surprise me if they don't have the correct pellets.

Pellets and bloodworms, got it! I'll be on the lookout for some food bowls later today... Chorizo and Horchata are in for a bit of a learning curve, but I'm sure they'll figure it out with time. I'm going away on a trip in two weeks and leaving them in the care of a family member, so hopefully they'll have it all under control by then.

Great! I will send you a PM on his contact information!

Apis said:

Both axolotls are about four inches long. When can I remove the tank divider?

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I would say 5-6 inches if they are growing at the same rate; however, I'd wait until the smallest is 6 inches if one is noticeably bigger.

Apis said:

Do I need to be feeding them more than half a cube of blood worms a day? Less? And when can I transition them to feeding on pellets?

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Just make sure your Axolotls don't look emaciated or bulging at the stomachs. A healthy Axolotl will have a pleasant curve down its sides. When in doubt, the belly should be about the width of the head in the widest place. I think a half cube sounds good! Make sure you supplement your diet with other foods besides bloodworms. Brine shrimp, black worms, and salmon pellets are all great options as well. Some frozen foods even come spirulina enhanced now. Axolotls can also be kind of picky, so you might want to have a food rotation.

Apis said:

What can I do to help wean them off of the tongs I use to feed them?

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I used a mason jar, I've found it works much better than placing a dish in the tank. What I do is: (1) Take a clean mason jar and dip it into the aquarium. Fill it as high as possible without it overflowing and place the frozen food in the jar to defrost, (2) When it's thawed it will collect at the bottom, (3) Take the jar and lower it into the water right side up. Do this slowly, as to not let the food drift out, (4) Place the jar on its side and your Axolotls will wander over to inspect the food they smell. This method is very easy to clean up after as well!:ufo:

Apis said:

One of them has a few small nicks in their tail. What could've caused this?

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Do you have fake plants? I've seen other similar things happen to owners with non-silky plastic plants. Otherwise it could've been a rough rock? I would watch him/her just to see if you catch them doing something that could potentially be harmful!

Thank you for your helpful response rhotle! Might have to try the mason jar method sometime soon! I'll keep my eyes peeled in regards to the plants... Horchata hasn't had that problem (even though they both have the same kind of plants) so maybe Chorizo is just a bit more clumsy than their sibling. Seems to be doing fine now though, so that's a relief.