Question: Should I be switching to actual worms?

Hi! I am a fairly new axie dad, having only had my juvenile for about three weeks now. In that time, he's gone from being about an inch and a half long, to being almost three inches. He has been on bloodworms, but recently he's stopped eating as many, and I fear he's losing weight. He's not as round as he was. I've tried supplementing with brine shrimp to get him more interested, and while that works, I worry about the nutritional value of the shrimp, because I've heard they're not very nutritious.

He eats when I use a baster to get them in front of his face, but other than that he doesn't seem particularly interested. I've been keeping up on his water changes, monitoring the water temp (other than the other day, when it got to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, it's been sitting nicely in the mid 60s), there's plenty of hides and he's not showing any discernible signs of stress. He's active, as a juvenile should be. He's just not as interested in eating as he was when I first got him.

My question is, is three inches a good size to start feeding panfish worms diced up, or even earthworms diced up? And how much should I feed to him daily? If now isn't a good time to start him on live worms, when should I do that?

Thank you for any responses!

Totally fine to start feeding pieces of earthworms! I started feeding my juvie European nightcrawlers when he was 2.4 inches... grew like a weed after that!

Thank you Karayna! I'll pick up some panfish worms when I'm at work tomorrow.

For now, he's eating some more bloodworms- I'm putting them directly in his mouth- and looking a little rounder. Thanks for the advice!

Twigwise said:

For now, he's eating some more bloodworms- I'm putting them directly in his mouth- and looking a little rounder.

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That is great! Hopefully he will get a renewed interest in food when he eats the worms - they seem to taste very nice! I think you'll see a great increase in his growth rate too.

You're welcome! I'd love to read an update on how he reacted to the new food. He may be a little sceptical at first, but don't give up!

He has taken to the panfish worms MARVELOUSLY. Not as happy with the tongs, but we'll get there. I've fed him half a worm (in smaller pieces so he can eat them) so far, and will feed him more in a bit.

EDIT: Roughly half an hour / 45 minutes after feeding him, he threw up the worm pieces I gave him, and his gills are turned forward. Were the pieces just too big, or did I do something else wrong?

Twigwise said:

He has taken to the panfish worms MARVELOUSLY. Not as happy with the tongs, but we'll get there. I've fed him half a worm (in smaller pieces so he can eat them) so far, and will feed him more in a bit.

EDIT: Roughly half an hour / 45 minutes after feeding him, he threw up the worm pieces I gave him, and his gills are turned forward. Were the pieces just too big, or did I do something else wrong?

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One step forward...! It's a really good sign that he liked them. Don't worry, either he just ate too much, or the pieces were too big. Try again with a smaller amount!

I did just that, and he's been receiving them just fine now! I stepped up to roughly one whole worm, chopped into very small pieces (about 1/8th an inch- 3mm or so) and I'm keeping a close eye on him. He seems to be doing really well, though! Thank you for the advice and encouragement!

Congrats on the great progress!? Sounds great! I hope you continue to share about your little dude here. ?