Is it ok to feed axies fish?

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stephen

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Stephen
I have been feeding my axie just beef heart as i can't find any worms in the garden and the bloodworms just make to much of a mess. But my axie has started to get skinner. It was fat when I bought it as the man at the schop said he fed them feeder fish. My dad has a fishing boat so he has lots of bait so it is easy for me to get some fish. So would it be ok for me to feed my axie some chopped up bits of bait fish?
 
feeder fish

Hi,

I feed my axie feeder fish (live), I get them from the pet shop, they say they are bred specifically for feeding larger fish and axolotls, mine ate feeder fish at the pet shop too and was quite plump when I bought him. I just add a few to the tank and let them swim around, by morning one or two are usually missing, he hunts at night. It's good to vary the diet, I also give him brine shrimp and beef heart (frozen).

Cheers
Sharon
 
I have 5 feeder fish swimming around the tank now, but my axie has never caught one. Those fish have been in there before i got my axie I have now because my old axie used to eat them but it has died. I guess my new axie is just a bad hunter. The man at the pet shop would catch the fish and then hand feed them to my axie. What I was wondering was if it was ok to feed them fish that you would use as bait to go fishing. I would cut the meat off and feed it that not the whole fish. Would that be ok?
 
Sharon - Where feeder fish are concerned, especially when brought from the petshop, they should be quarantined for minimum 30 days, to ensure they are disease free and have no parasites or anything that could affect your axolotl. This should be standard practice to ensure your axolotl is kept healthy. After the 30 day period, ideally you should then attempt to breed them yourself so that you can then feed the live offspring from your own source directly without fear of contamination or making your axie sick.

Some people also make the mistake when introducing companions/fish etc... of pouring the water that the fish/companions travelled in from the petshop directly into their tanks. This should be avoided, as the water, despite it being from the petshop could contaminate your own axolotl tankwater = invariably causing your axie to become sick.

Stephen - I know some people feed small chunks or slivers of raw fish to their axolotls. You could try a little, just make sure there's no bones in it. As for worms, have you tried phoning garden centres or hardware stores that sell the compost or wormfarm bins? These places should be able to tell you where you can get a large container of worms so you can setup your own wormfarm.

What is your tank temperature and water parameters = ammonia/nitrite/nitrates? Maybe there's some other thing that could be affecting it?

Also, another thing with adding feeder fish and leaving them there (if they're uneaten) = if they remain in the tank, they also add more waste to the tank, so you have to be vigilant about checking your water parameters, especially if you have a small tank and when the weather starts heating up.
 
I just took my water to an aquarium resently to see if the water was what was causing it to become skinny but they guy said everything was normal. I don't remember what all the reading were. The fish that my dad has are pilchards and squid. he said he could get all the bones out of the pilchards and would it be ok to feed an axie squid?
 
Regarding squid, not sure how easily it will be digested. It may be on a par , similar to feeding oxheart/liver, so you could try cutting it up in wormlike thin slivers to test out. Don't put in chunks.

As for the watertesting. When you next take your water to be tested, make sure to take a wee notebook and write down ammonia/nitrite/nitrate and get them to write the figures in with the date. Keep this close to your tank so you can refer back to it when you need to. I'm sure you realise by now, as you've owned a few axolotls, that when getting any testing done at all especially by a petshop you should try and keep a record of the figures rather than having one of them say "it's normal". What's normal to the petshop person will not give you any idea nor teach you about what the actual tankwater parameters are and should be.

I also found the following online website in Australia, that will ship cans of worms australiawide (cheapest price $8/per can for 30 worms or approx 1000 worms for $25 + $10postage). www.wormstowaste.com.au It might be worthwhile to order some online if not through this one through another online aussie site and setup your own wormfarm/compost area. You may be even be able to find one closer to you. Another place you can try is your local council will have a recycling/composting place that can sell you worms as well.
 
People feeding fish should take note that the kind of fish you are feeding does play into their nutritional value. Goldfish, of which there are many used as feeders, are high in saturated fats and therefore not a very good staple. They are also an extremely messy fish and add a lot to the bioload of a tank. Livebearing fish such as guppies and platies are much healthier as a food item. They also have the benefit of being easily bred. A 10 gallon aquarium stocked with feeder guppies will provide a decent amount of food and since they are being bred at home the risk of introducing something infectious to the axolotl tank is lower.

Whole fish are generally more nutritious than fish pieces if I remember correctly. Frozen fish can also cause problem in axolotls as they are high in thiaminase which can cause thiamine deficiencies in your animals.
 
I have fed mine raw slivers of squid ( rarely as I like squid too!!) . I rinse first to remove any glaze , salt etc. . This seems to be easily digested .
 
I agree with Abrahm. There is a nutritional difference between whole fish (which give the benefit of calcium from the bones + vitamins from the internal organs) versus fish filet. Using just the fish "meat" gives the axolotl a diet that is deficient in the SAME things that are deficient in beef heart! Squid is acceptable food, but also deficient in calcium and vitamins. All of these foods are low in fat, which may sound like a good thing, but if your axie is too thin it would be better to get a food that has a bit more fat.

If you dad is into fishing, does he have access to earthworms sold as fish bait? These would be a much better choice. Another option would be live waxworms (sold in many pet shops). And even a good-quality pellet food would offer more compete nutrition than meat or fish filet.
 
So if i want to get my axie fatter i should feed it worms? What other foods are high in fat so my axie can put on some more weight? What is the best way besides holding the worm to feed an axie worms? i have tried once but the worm just wiggles into my hand and then my axie tries to bite my hand. Then the worm got away and started going under a rock.
 
Hello Stephen,
I feed my axolotl mainly live earth worm, now every 2-3 days. I hold the worm towards an end ( I don't look too closely ...just grab it befor it toodles off) reasonably tightly..like a pinch and then dangle it in front of the axolotl. When they are hungry they just pounce and I release the worm. Sometimes they try to convince me that they would rather not have worm so then I let the worm touch the axolotl face until he is irratated enough to snap ..and the worm is gone.
 
Here is a page where you can compare the protein/fat content and the calcium of commonly used foods:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml
Note that for calcium, the important thing is the Ca:p ratio, as explained in the article.
 
Thanks for that page Jennifer it helped me out a lot. I now know what foods i should feed my axie. Does anybody else know a way you can feed an axie a worm but without actually holding the worm in your hand?
 
We drop them in, works better if you have no substrate, handfeed or use a kebab skewer - angled so the axie grabs the worm rather than impales itself - or you can use tweezers/tongs or something similar to hold it.
 
if you get something flat but with sides suck as a plate or a bowl feeding bloodworms isnt messy at all. Just slowly put the cube down to the dish (with axie attacking you probably :p) and if bits come off they wll tend to go on the plate. Seen a few people on here mentioning things like turkey basters too as it doesnt disrupt the water.
 
Hi all

Just to say that I feed my both axolotls with defrozen meat (a slice of beef to be precise)... And they seem healthy... What's more is that I have to feed them in their mouth (Never :frog: je je...)so it's also fun!!:wacko:
 
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