Healthy Weight for Axolotl?

Hello, again!
I've had Puck for about two years now (I think his age is around 2.5-3).
There aren't any anomalous signs or anything (his gills are a bit dinky but thats mostly the product of genetics + ample water oxygenation according to a vet I saw), he seems healthy and has a good enough energy to enjoy a bit of back-and-forth swimming every other night.
I just wanted to double check that his weight looked good. If I recall correctly, rule of thumb is that his body should be no wider than his head, but he seems slightly on the skinny side. I feed him thawed cubes of frozen brine shrimp, mysis shrimp or blood worms every two days (or every four if I feed him a live nightcrawler).
Attached are some photos just from today. Does his weight look ok? Any other things strike you as odd or of note?

He should be eating worms every other day.
You can also give him Repashy grub pie ... pellets ... frozen/thawed salmon or cod.

Bloodworms have no nutritional value .... They can be given, but only as treats, not as staple diet.

LuLu Manzana said:

He should be eating worms every other day.
You can also give him Repashy grub pie ... pellets ... frozen/thawed salmon or cod.

Bloodworms have no nutritional value .... They can be given, but only as treats, not as staple diet.

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Gotcha. I'll make the adjustments to his diet right away.

For full clarification, nightcrawlers are the best food to give an axolotl as far as nutritional value is concerned, right? I've been mixing that up between mysis shrimp, brine shrimp and bloodworms, so it hasn't been just bloodworms. Going to integrate frozen tubifex into his diet (they aren't available live where I live).
Also, I was under the impression that salmon was a treat, not a staple (at least, that's what I saw in some of my research and consulting a vet)? Is that not the case?

the1banana said:

For full clarification, nightcrawlers are the best food to give an axolotl as far as nutritional value is concerned, right? I've been mixing that up between mysis shrimp, brine shrimp and bloodworms, so it hasn't been just bloodworms. Going to integrate frozen tubifex into his diet (they aren't available live where I live).
Also, I was under the impression that salmon was a treat, not a staple (at least, that's what I saw in some of my research and consulting a vet)? Is that not the case?

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Yes, nightcrawlers are generally considered to be the best staple for axies in terms of nutritional value. I feed mine every other night, and I do it until they are full / no longer want the worms. Every axolotl is slightly different depending on temperament and water parameters obviously, but for my little ones, that tends to be roughly 2 - 3 medium-size worms each (around 6 - 7cm long). I give them bloodworms and brine shrimp as a change-up every now and then. They are about 1.5 - 2 years old and seem very happy! ( Tank is a steady 18/19 degrees C )

As for the salmon, I've never fed them that myself but you definitely can feed them that! Though it is definitely a treat, not a staple.

Axolou said:

Yes, nightcrawlers are generally considered to be the best staple for axies in terms of nutritional value. I feed mine every other night, and I do it until they are full / no longer want the worms. Every axolotl is slightly different depending on temperament and water parameters obviously, but for my little ones, that tends to be roughly 2 - 3 medium-size worms each (around 6 - 7cm long). I give them bloodworms and brine shrimp as a change-up every now and then. They are about 1.5 - 2 years old and seem very happy! ( Tank is a steady 18/19 degrees C )

As for the salmon, I've never fed them that myself but you definitely can feed them that! Though it is definitely a treat, not a staple.

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That's more or less how I feed him. Nightcrawlers pretty on the regular, and alternating between bloodworms, brine shrimp and mysis shrimp.
I guess its just a matter of feeding him a bit more now that he's bigger.

Yeah, you'll know when enough is enough with the worms as he'll just stop eating them when he's full as you're trying to bulk him up a bit. Though to add, they are opportunistic feeders so might eat more than they can handle, as your axie gets older, he will take longer to digest the food, so you will probably only need to feed every 2 - 3 days with worms. Good luck with your food regime!