Hi Donna,
This is my first post, I'm fairly new to axies too, I've had my little leucistic male Puck for 2 months and my black female Elvira for a week. My experience when it came to feeding took me some time to get down pat - when I first got puck he wouldn't eat for about a week which terrified me, but then he started chucking up live snails. Genuinely. The shop I got him from were horrific and had him in with lots of things he was eating! But that's true of everywhere - unless you're an axie lover then you don't spend the time researching these guys properly. Anyway, now Puck never stops eating, and he will have a go at pretty much any thing I dangle at him. Mostly he loves worms, those river shrimp you can buy "out the back" at aquatic or reptile shops, and the odd minnow as a treat. As you're new I will give you a bit of advice - DON'T go into British pet shops asking for 'feeder fish'. I have been booted out of a few even when I'm like "Oh, hello, I'm just looking for some guppies for my lovely tank, not planning on feeding them to anything, oh no, lovely guppies lalala"
I think they must have some kind of blacklist that I'm on as they always know now and refuse to sell me even a baby goldfish. I had to order a little school of native minnows (grey horrible things) and quarantine them for a week, prioritising getting them healthy for my axie and feeding them highly nutritious foods. They have gorgeous metallic scales now, and look so healthy I'd smother them in ketchup and have them on toast myself (almost pilchards, right?)....
But anyway, you're doing the right thing with worms, they are fantastically nutrient filled, I just like to give a little fishie every so often for a bit of variety and a little omega 3.
However - When we got Elvira (as in, Mistress of the Dark, she's a funny little goth) she absolutely refused to eat. I know she was highly stressed when we got her, in a tank with 2 HUGE girls, her pretty burgundy gills curled right forward and heat marks all over, and she'd been eating absolute **** at her petstore. I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd been on the KFC in there - the place had that kind of feel to it. Anyway myself and the Mr, well we were losing sleep about it big time and really didn't want to put her in the big tank with Puck when she hadn't eaten since we'd got her, in case she got in the mood for snacking whilst we weren't there and had a nibble on Puck! But eventually we had to move her over as she just didn't have enough room in the little tank. She lurked around the bottom of the tank, not showing any interest in food, and when she eventually went to bite at a worm, the minute it wriggled, she freaked completely. So we came to the conclusion that she was frightened of live foods, as she's only ever eaten things that were past human consumption previously. Anyway, enough of all the back story and hijacking your thread, I'm getting to my point. Whilst washing off a worm for Puck last night, I couldn't face getting my hands under the cold tap as I was freezing, so I just rinsed it under a warm- not hot- tap. It died immediately - but it also gave off this kind of (please don't be sick) 'cooked' smell. Lightning struck, and I thought I'd let Elvy have a go. As soon as she got a whiff of it she perked up, and after a few attempts sucking it in and spitting it out, she eventually wrestled it in and she's been a different axie since. She seems happier, and keen to eat more... I literally just watched her snap at a random floating bit of plant - she's discovered eating and I don't think she's going to stop now! ^_^
I'll try her again a bit later today, as I want them both fed up before I'm away for the weekend, and will chuck in a few river shrimps before I'm off.
Anyway, the point of all of that was, if your axies don't immediately take to worms, rinse them in warm water to begin with to get them used to it, then try them on live ones after a while so they learn to fight for their food. And don't try and buy feeder fish - ever!
