What do you feed your axolotls?

[Deadpixels]

I plan on feeding my lil guy (when I get him home) canadian nightcrawlers (easily available here in Nova Scotia), and frozen brine shrimp cubes and frozen bloodworm cubes.

Pellets are harder to come by here. I can't find any at the LFS. I wanted Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets, but alas, no luck. I did find Nutrafin Bug Bites Cichlid Pellets. Does anyone know if these are okay? They're for cichlids, yeah. But the primary ingredients are Black Soldier Fly Larvae and Salmon. There's other stuff in them too though, like Green Peas, Potato, Wheat. I wouldn't think those are any good to feed them. Fat content Fat Content 12.5% and Crude Protein (min) 40.0% and some vitamins. Opinions?

Petsmart link to Bug Bites

I can probably find the hikari stuff online, but shipping is always a killer for me.

 

[byrdbioteacher]

Can I feed my axolotl freeze dried bloodworms, or do they have to be frozen? And are these the same bloodworms that you feed to a betta fish?

 

[Holly12]

Can I feed my axolotl freeze dried bloodworms, or do they have to be frozen? And are these the same bloodworms that you feed to a betta fish?

Don't do freeze dried. There's basically no nutrients and they just float.

 

[byrdbioteacher]

One more question...can I use an automatic feeder during the weekends? My axolotl is a high school class pet and I can't lug it back and forth each weekend. I'm sure I can find one that I can load pellets into and then on Monday and during the week I can feed it some bloodworms and other food. Thanks!

 

[Elphick]

I've always kept it simple. Dendrobaena.

 

[Irrlich]

Mine get a staple diet of JBL axolotl pellets with live buffalo worms, live earthworms and frozen smelt (thawed) to get them some variation.

I see some of you are feeding your axolotls beefheart. I'm just wondering if red meat isn't too heavy to digest for an amphibian?

 

[Irrlich]

One more question...can I use an automatic feeder during the weekends? My axolotl is a high school class pet and I can't lug it back and forth each weekend. I'm sure I can find one that I can load pellets into and then on Monday and during the week I can feed it some bloodworms and other food. Thanks!

If they are adults I think it's ok to skip food in the weekends. In my experience they can handle it and it's better to fast them then risking the feeder malfunctioning and polluting the water with too much food.

 

[Axolotlmomma88]

I thought you couldn't feed snails to axolotl???

 

[FreckledLottles]

The thing is they can't digest the shell too well, so snails are a no go. I just feed mine (adult) night crawlers I get from a fishing shop down the road or petco/petsmart (depending on the week, but 99% of the time from the fishing shop). When he was a baby, he got frozen bloodworms. As an adolescent, he got red wrigglers until he was taking like 5 at a time.

 

[Lady Kiri]

I feed from a bowl too. I have a exo terra bowl that I use for mine. I make sure worms and pellet fall into it that way he sucks up as little sand as possible.
I have my own worm farm with European Nightcrawlers so this is his main diet. But I also feed Hikari carnivore Sinking Pellets once a week.
When he matures in another 6 months I'll try him on some feeder guppies I am currently breeding. But these will only be a treat. Worms will remain as his main diet.

 

[Axolo]

I just got my two axolotls, they are just small so I feed them a mixture of bloodworms and chopped up cricket. I am getting pellet food soon and breeding worms so I hope I can get a more varied diet.:happy: