Question: Help feeding axolotl?

Hi, I'm new to having an axolotl, and I have some questions. My little guy is about the size of my pinkie finger, so I assume he's a juvenile. My tank is pretty big, 30 gallons, and feeding him is difficult. My hands are very shaky, and I struggle to hand feed. I've been taking him out and feeding him in a separate container, but I know this stresses them out and don't want to do that if I don't have to.

Is there any easier way I can feed him without having to worry about my shaky hands? Would moving him to a smaller tank for now be better? I have a 10 gallon, I don't know that it's cycled or not but it should be close. I don't have any substrate for it though...

Any advice?

Yes, you have a juvenile How deep is your water? I don't find it is usually an issue but since he is so small you might want to watch that he is okay swimming up to the surface and back down.
What are you feeding him? If it's something he can hunt out you can try a feeding jar. It's just a cleaned glass jar (like a pasta sauce or jam one). Put the food in there and he might learn to eat from it.
Do you have tweezers? You can get really long ones from pet supply stores. That may help!

Yes I second a feeding jar, I've seen lots of people use them with their axolotls, it avoids them inhaling substrate too.
I have a small ceramic feeding dish in my tank, one that was for a reptile. I try to feed by hand but if one of them is uninterested I'll drop the food in the dish and one of them usually eats it after I walk away. The only issue is I can't know for sure who ate what. Just make sure whatever you use, you don't let uneaten food sit in the tank for too long as it will foul the water.

I agree with the dish, I'm using a reptile one too. It hasn't had much use because Bucky is always waiting at the glass for his worm, and gulps it down before it sinks :rofl:

Hayleyy said:

Yes, you have a juvenile How deep is your water? I don't find it is usually an issue but since he is so small you might want to watch that he is okay swimming up to the surface and back down.
What are you feeding him? If it's something he can hunt out you can try a feeding jar. It's just a cleaned glass jar (like a pasta sauce or jam one). Put the food in there and he might learn to eat from it.
Do you have tweezers? You can get really long ones from pet supply stores. That may help!

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I don't have the depth off the top of my head, but I see him swim up once in a while just fine! He's actually quite fast and likes to zip around, it's hard to get him in his feeding container.

I ordered a pair of longer ones online, I'm going to try and use them once they arrive!

Tye said:

Yes I second a feeding jar, I've seen lots of people use them with their axolotls, it avoids them inhaling substrate too.
I have a small ceramic feeding dish in my tank, one that was for a reptile. I try to feed by hand but if one of them is uninterested I'll drop the food in the dish and one of them usually eats it after I walk away. The only issue is I can't know for sure who ate what. Just make sure whatever you use, you don't let uneaten food sit in the tank for too long as it will foul the water.

Click to expand...

Hayleyy said:

I agree with the dish, I'm using a reptile one too. It hasn't had much use because Bucky is always waiting at the glass for his worm, and gulps it down before it sinks :rofl:

Click to expand...

Thank you, until the tweezers arrive I'll stick with this, as it seems to be working okay. My biggest concern is him finding the food dish, it's really hard to get him to go somewhere he doesn't want to go.