Question: Ace wont eat

Ok . . . So this is my first post.

First things first you should know that I am currently living in China, so access to the things you guys probably take for granted by being able to pop down the road to your local store really isn't so simple here. For me at least.
Anyway, long story short, I have ended up with a Golden Albino (I think) called Ace.

I have had a search on here for 2 days now because I didn't want to post without trying, I hate to be one of those annoying guys who doesn't look first and posts the most obvious questions.

So then the question. Ace is not eating.
I have two options of food for him, dried bloodworm's (it says FD Bloodworm's so I am guessing that means freeze dried? but im in China and things do tend to take on completely different meanings . . . oh and i have looked at them closely, they are def bloodworm's not something labelled wrong).The other option is small pellets, labelled as parrot fish feed, and I am assured its fine for all fish, so I was guessing its a something nice and standard that Ace could digest.
He doesn't surface feed obviously, which is the first problem, having to drop them in, wait till they go soggy, then squishing the air out of them and letting them free fall near his head.
He DOES take the food, nearly always in fact if aimed correctly, his pretty lazy, but then after a few seconds he spits them out. And these pellets are real small by the way so they are not to big for sure, I have even ripped them into teeny tiny pieces.
Originally the place I got him from (a garden centre not a fish store) said feed him rice and bread . . I tried these at first, the bread was a no go and the rice was the same as the pellets, taken in then spat out.

I have tried the whole manual thing with the blood worms, but normally he just nuzzles my hand (loves me right? haha) and then moves away. he did finally take in a bloodworm earlier today when I moved him to a small bowl in order to make feeding easier (rather than my arm getting completely soaked all evening) but then the same as the other foods, takes it in, has a think, and then back out it comes.
I think maybe, just maybe he has eaten 1 blood worm since I got him on Sunday, so coming up to a week soon with essentially no food, and I am pretty sure he wasn't overly fed in the Chinese garden centre (which is why I took him, I felt so sorry, cute lil fella), but now I don;t even feel like I have done him much of a favour, his out of the small bowl with 5 other axies, into a nice big tank, with real plants and filter etc, no substrate etc.
the water DOES look a little murky, but im trying to keep on top of that best I can, only been set up as long as I have had him so obviously the cycles are still trying to kick into gear.

Anyway, that's not the problem cos I can get that under control, and have taken him out for the time being.
However, my main problem still stands.
His obviously hungry because his taking the food not ignoring (although I do have to try damn hard to get him to go for it). So I cant see many other factors coming into play besides trying yet another source of food? Although what that will be on my limited Chinese market I don't know . . . anybody tried them on tofu thats softer than meat and easy to swallow? (and of course everywhere out here and much better flavoured than in the west) haha . . . I am going to have to try and find some live food I guess, but where oh where I do not know
Anybody got ideas for the problem?
Sorry if this has been posted but I really did look hard before posting.
I just want Ace back on form as soon as possible.

p.s - sorry if this is written weird, and theirs probably loads of info I left out, but it is 2:30 am and I am shattered, not least from spending many, many hours trying to get Ace happy the past few days.

Thanks guys, I appreciated in advance!!!

Tin-Tin

Welcome to the forum.

My first thought is you may not be feeding your axolotl the correct food. Rice, bread and tofu are not at all suitable, do bare in mind axolotl generally do not consume any vegetable base food. Ideally you should offer live earthworm, maybe you could find some from a bait shop. I get mine either over the internet or from my garden ( I don't use any chemicals etc). Have a look at the link below.

Axolotls - Feeding

No no.
You read it wrong.
1 - do not feed him tofu, it was a joke because I am living in China.
2 - I said I only "tried" to feed him rice and bread when I first got him, of which I never agreed with either but just went with what the previous owner said before I found the right food.
3 - I did mention that I have bloodworm's and pellets.

And I have spent so much time on axolotl.org, I don't think there is much more I can read to be honest. There are no bait shops here, and I live in an apartment (China), the internet may be the only option but I am not hopeful of a Chinese delivery.

Thanks for your thoughts all the same though I am guessing his just fussy on flavours?

p.s - his about 140mm long (I am at work so just guessing from memory) . . . somewhere between 120mm to 150mm anyway . . from head to end of tail . . in case this makes a big difference in his feed?

hey. You can feed them bits of lean meat, and they love it. Its not reomended as a staple though because it contains too much fat and not enough calcium. Its better than him eating nothing for now and its available even in china.

I would say try that, and try to get some earthwors delivered. If the post fails at leist you tried, and they will survive on meat. I feed mine heart occasionally. its lean if you cut the fat off and has a lot of iron. Chop into bits and freeze, then defrost in some warm water before feeding. Even iff only a few worms survive the post, start a wom farm with them and hopefully they will breed.

You could also try getting axolotl pellets posted. Any pellet for fish will not be taken by axolotls. 99% of fish food is for omnivores, ie it has wheat or soy fillers wich axolotls can't eat. Axolotl pellets are for axolotls, and you do not have to worry about them dying in the post.

IS there any way you can track the parcel in china?

well the good news

he finally ate
I went hunting on my lunch break
and found some live bloodworms, after much confusion in the translations etc
so the good news is
he avoided them at first then took in the scope, i wobbled the live ball of them near him a little and he snapped for it
like a little alligator now . . albeit golden and with not very sharp teeth
just hope he keeps it up
water temp is around 20 and water is looking nice and clean now

lets hope it all stays this way and I can post up some pics soon
I will def try invest in axolotl pellets though, my parents are flying to China in 20 days so I may ask to bring some from UK if they can.

Julia - do you know a good place my parents can order from in the UK? Are Axie pellets better than live bloodworms? Im guessing more of a mix so to use it as treats or something? he really doesn't bother with things unless they move though, he is still a juvenile I believe? (at about 10 -12 cm long?)

they also sold me what looks to be meal worms, but these look a little to big for him to me? I can try picking out smaller ones for him?

if he's small even frozen bloodworms will work for now. Meal worms aren't the best food, an axies can't digest their touch exoskeleton too well. If you do feed them to him, make sure to cut off the head, the pincers have been known to harm an axolotls stomach if not cut off

yeah i did wonder about that, not sure i could digest them let alone him (not that I will try)
hmm
the frozen ones really dont work for him though
his super lazy
really if it isnt moving
he wont even give it half a second thought
i spent about 5 hours with my arm in the tank last night (and the same the night before)
wobbling the dead ones around, he would then take them, but because they no longer move when i let go he spits them back out
I hope he grows out this
however, now I have found live bloodworms I guess problem is solved, for now anyway, he seemed pretty savage with them when he noticed they were for real this time

so, fingers crossed this is onward and upward!

thanks for the comments though, appreciate the extra info, I will be very sparing with the mealies

also, I think I remember the meal worms being mostly fat too right? so not so much nutrients?
ie - pretty much a waste
anyway a hand full of both cost me the equivalent of about $1.5 altogether so not too bad if the meal worms go to waste

ok update
so actually its not bloodworm
upon further inspection these are tubifex for sure (no wonder it was cheap)
I never gave it much thought when I bought them because there were no other options available
either way Ace seems to be enjoying them . . . anything I should know?

Question though . . . how on earth do you look after tubifex?
I don't want to put them all in because that would be catastrophic to my cycles im sure? and i am no way putting them in the fridge, they smell bad right?
so is my only option to put them in a bowl and leave them in my room somewhere?
I mean they are pretty hardy right? literally just leave them in a bowl of water (change once a day) and use them as I please? I haven't got the space to set up more tanks for this and that etc what's the suggestion, i've always used pellets n flakes with my previous pets (fish) so this feeding style is new to me.

thanks guys =]

hey! thats fantastic tubifex is a great food for axolotls if its live. I dont know how to look after them though, google?

they are indeed live, and smelly as hell

currently ace has a minor problem haha
he tried excreting, but whilst doing so, sat over a few worms
which then decided . . hmmm new food
and now has a ball of worms tagging along behind his but
actually attached
im considering taking them off manually but id rather he just finished going a toilet
anybody else experienced this? worms trying to go in the wrong way?
haha
poor ace
I'll go help him haha

you coult try a feeding jar? Hopefully they wont crawl out and attach to the poop again :S

well
as of today
he now has a friend to help him with his food
=]

ok
so today I went back to my local store to pick up some tubifex for my lil guys
and whilst there i noticed some neon tetras (or more precisely the guy brought my attention to them)
and now, although it seems a bit of a shame as tetras are pretty
it was the equivalent of 10p in english money per tetra
so I thought what the hell
and Ace seems to be enjoying them
his not really an active feeder
so I still have a few floating about (although im sure the water temp wont keep them for long . . i did read they normal water is 20-26 . . and my water is normally about 20 (chinese summer is crazy hard to keep it much lower at the moment)
unfortunately for them though, they happen to be rather inquisitive
and curiosity has in fact killed many tetras it would seem
if they swim near his face, its good night mr tetra
I thought it was a suitable size for my axies, not too big, and ace doesn't seem too comfortable usually with having to struggle with food, so i thought it was a good thing for him to learn on?
I wont do it too often
but maybe once a month I will give them some tetra . . is this ok? or do they have problems with these?
Im not sure on the nutrition of a tetra
but im thinking its gotta be more than a tubfex worm?
my only worry are the bones, are these likely to cause internal problems?

thanks!!

first off neon tetras are not appropriate feeders for axolotls. The temp differences alone make them not suitable to be in the same tank.
Secondly, always quarantine new additions for a month before adding them to the tank. Neon tetras from a pet store will probably have some form of illness/parasite. Introducing them to the new tank without quarantining will make it more likely for your axolotl to become sick.
I also agree that tubifex worms are not the best diet, because if they are actually tubifex worms(most places confuse them with blackworms) they are known for carrying parasites.
If getting earthworms are simply not an option, the best thing to do is to get some pellets, and train your axolotl to eat the pellets.

my parents are bringing some pellets over from the UK in a few weeks, but until then, not really possible, they have to eat something
im not sure the temp diff is so bad though, my tank is at 20, its crazy hard to keep it less than that with using frozen bottles, and what vies read in the past is that in their natural habitat tetras go from 20-26 degrees, so 20 should really be fine for them
I was more worried about the nutritional content
agreed though about the whole disease thing
but again
I am in china and these guys were eating themselves before I managed to salvage them into a nice big tank, and def not blackworms, tubifex are everywhere in asia
and i think these tubifex are clean at least, they are constantly washed all day long in the store with constant fresh water
and its my only real source of food I can buy them to be honest, until they are bigger, then i may have more problems

thanks anyway though carson, sorry for delayed message, i had to get off the computer at work
I will avoid neons whilst I can find tubifex

They eat slugs, snails without the shells, Mealworms, Maggots, earthworms, bloodworms, blackworms, pellets, small fish,prawn fry, brine shrimp and though i don't recommend you do it to often they'll eat meat. once i had to feed my axolotl on a piece of liver i cut it into a long thin strip like a worm and he seemed ok but as i said dont do it unless you really have too. im sure china has plenty of slugs, snails and maggots to go around so try one of those.