What do you feed your juveniles, specifically?

Hey yal. Just wondering if any experienced axolotl owner could give me a more specific example of a proper juvenile diet. I have been feeding my live blackworms twice a day, everyday for about three weeks. Just yesterday I switched to baby nightcrawlers because they were demolishing blackworms like chips :rofl: Now they are each getting a whole baby nightcrawler once a day plus about 10 blackworms as a treat. I feel much more confident that they are receiving better nutrition with these nightcrawlers, however they seem to ALWAYS be looking for more food. Little oinkers! I've read multiple blogs and sites, but generally they tell you what they recommend you feed them, and leave the amounts very vague... So what are yals juvenile diets/amounts?

Both axies are about 5 inches long with plump tummies the width of their heads. I would just like to prevent any snapping/aggression towards each other due to hunger, as well as encourage proper growth. Thanks!

Feed juveniles as much as they want to eat. Just don't let left-over dead food stay in the tank. Live blackworms are great if you have small axies, since they are can live with them for between-meal snacks. Nightcrawlers are a a good staple food.

When they are adult, you will want to be careful not to overfeed. As long as their tummy is about as wide as their head, they are getting enough.

Thank you, you actually answered my follow up question. Uneaten live blackworms have made a home out of my substrate and I always wondered if they were detrimental uneaten food or fine to chill out until they found their ways into my axies mouths. Today I woke to find that a "poop bomb" had went off in their tank... The earthworms, although tidier to feed, are significantly more clean up on the tail-end.

I'm thinking earthworm every other day and blackworms in between.

As they get bigger, you will find that the earth worms make for a very solid poop, which is easier to get out of the tank. Poops that disintegrate polluting the water more.

Also, your axies are outgrowing the blackworms, and nightcrawlers have more calcium, which axies need. So you will probably want to switch all the way over to night crawlers. I alternate nightcrawlers and pellets, so they have two kinds of food they are trained to accept.

Blackworms in the substrate ... the problem is, if they are in the substrate, the axie isn't eating them. (You have a sand substrate, right?) And the larger the axie is, the less appealing a little blackworm is. So, unless you remove the substrate and get the black worms out, you will have black worms forever.

Are blackworms in the substrate a problem? I am not sure - I haven't researched it. I have seen a few on-line posting saying that they were "bad" because they would pollute the water. But those postings did not feel reputable. It seems to me that they would only be a problem if there were a lot and they all died at once for some reason. And if there are a lot, once must ask, "what are they eating?" And I suspect that if there are a lot, then the pollution isn't from the black worms but rather waste food that they are eating. But this is all surmise. I'd love to hear from others with better data.

Having said all that, I had black worms in my sand substrate and got rid of the substrate to get rid of the blackworms. I didn't like the blackworms sticking up out of the sand, and the axies were too big to be interested in them.