Plants!

[Star]

Looking for some live plants for Xochi's tank, I've been nosing over Axolotl Sanctuary but all the plants mentioned there seem to need attaching to rock or driftwood. I don't want either in his tank. Does anyone know of any suitable axie plants that will survive just by being in sand? I know when he's bigger he'll uproot them but I doubt he will for a while as he's still so small :)

[pookiewn]

I have elodea and Blyxa Japonica in my tank, they both are planted in the sand and seem to be doing well. Having said that, my tank is cycling at the mo, so have time to establish before the full on axie attack.

[Star]

Ooh they both look lovely and the type I was looking for thank you!

[pookiewn]

No problems :) They both look fantastic against the purple :)

[Meredyth]

Don't count on him/her being a plant puller I have 4 Axie tanks filled with 2 adults 1 sub adult and about 40 10-15cm juvies ALL filled with plants and NONE of them dig up the plants or even knock them loose in a startled dash around the tank.


Where your tank is and how much light it gets will greatly influence the options open to you as far as plants go. I know everyone here is very anti-light but if you give your axies a few nice dark hides there is no reason at all that you can't have an aquarium light on for 4-6 hours each day or have the tank is a nice bright room where it get's sunlight or is lit but the room's light each day. My guys actually come out to sunbath each day in the sunlight that comes through the window into their tanks.

If you want to keep your tank in a wardrobe or in a room with the window blocked out and never ever turn a light on then your only option really, is plastic. Real plats NEED light.
If however you keep your tank in a well used room in the house, the family/lounge room for example and your tank gets some light each day, say enough for you to be able to see into it clearly or if you were happy to have an aquarium light on for a few hours then you can have some real plants.

Here's a few plants for the tank that gets a few hours of light and you can google these if you want pictures You can plant all these in sand without a problem.

Java MOSS (I've just started to try 'planting' this in the sand in one tank and it's started to do a bit of a ground cover thing growing up through the sand which looks cool but may make it hard to clean the tank if it spreads.)

anubias nana (prefers 21-30 degrees C though)

Vallisneria but avoid any corkscrew/twisted varieties Ammericana Gigantica is excellent for these conditions.

Elodea but this one is illegal over here because of it's weed like tendency to take over if it gets into waterways.

and my personal faves....

Ambulia (Limnophila sessiliflora or Asian Ambulia and NOT its cousin Limnophila aquaticum which requires more light and slightly warmer water)

Water sprite - (ceratopteris thalictroides) my guys LOVE this one. It's under water leaves are VERY different to it's out of water ones which is what it will have in the shops since they are usually grown emersed to be sold as it's faster. But the submerged leaves are beautiful and very fern like. My babies in particular love sitting in the huge cluster of leaves that sit just below the surface of the water. It is a nice fast growing plant that sends it's leaves to the surface quickly which gives great shade underneath and wonderful hiding spaces. It also multiplies by producing plantlets from it's leaves which you can plant as you find them and they quite quickly turn into big adult plants. LOVE LOVE LOVE this plant.

You might be able to grow a few of the Echinodorus (sword plants) but avoid any that have variegated leaves particularly of they are green and RED Red plants require a lot of light. The regular old Amazon swords and maybe the melon swords are probably your best bet but these do require some light.

Plants where the tank is lit for 6 or more hours a day with relatively good light.
all of the above PLUS the medium light loving plants
Echinodorus - including some of the variegated varieties but avoiding the pygmy chains and any that are predominantly red they like very strong light from my experience

Lilaeopsis (a cute little grass like ground cover)

Java FERN

Cabomba caroliniana (pH up to about 7)

Bacopa (Australis, monnieri, and maybe Carolinana if you have the 7 hours but not if less than that)

You could try the Blyxa family if you're feeling confident but they may fail the thrive in the slightly too cold water.

There are bound to be others though that are available overseas and not here
Have fun axiescaping!

[mewsie]

lilaeopsis and vallisneria are growing like goodness-knows-what in my tank! +1 vote for these!

i also have anubias nana, java fern and java moss, all which are doing well - but i have these attached to rocks and logs with hair ties and small rocks

[Star]

Thanks Mere! Settled on 8 bunches of Elodea for now, see how that goes I looked at a few you've mentioned but they all seemed to need a fair bit of light The tank I'm planting them in is basically in the middle of a big room as a sort of room divider. I can keep one or both sets of curtains open all day to let the plants get light but I think I'll stick with just the back, keep it darker for my other axies since they are accustomed to it (I enjoy seeing them in the day when I'm at the PC or watching Scylla stalk me around the room ) I'll see how it goes with these and definitely look into the others as the anubis look lovely!

[blackdog]

I have a light on a timer.

After some experimenting, i have the light on for 2 x shifts of 3 hours per day. I dose the tank every now and again with seachem flourish, and i have a nice balance of thriving low light plants and no algae.

You'd have to do a little experimenting of your own to get the right balance of enough light for the plants, and too much to create an algae bloom. It depends on how much natural light the room will get. My tank is in a fairly subdued light room.

I just tried some lucky bamboo as well, i have a pot somone gave me sitting on the window sill, and it thrives when you just plonk it in some water. So after someone suggested it goes ok in a freshwater tank i thought i'd try it. It hasnt gone as well as some of the other plants, i'd say "surviving, not thriving". But i have a lot on the window sill, so i'll be able to replace it fairly often.

Why dont you like attaching anything? You have hides for the axies don't you? I had some really good fake rocks made to order (google "ronnies rocks" if you are in AU). I simply dab a little bit of supperglue on, stick the plant on and she's done! The beauty of the superglue is it will work on wet surfaces, sticks almost any substrate to anything, dries quick so doesnt leach into the water, and the last benefit i found by accident is, if the plant dies and needs removing, the old glue simply breaks off the fibre glass rock leaving no marks at all. So again, a little experimenting might be in order with your hides to see what works.

Last word on super glue, it turns white and becomes visible when it goes under the water, so use it sparingly, and be neat.

I have anubia nana, java moss, java ferns, riccia, wysteria, xmas moss, and lucky bamboo

bren

[Star]

It's not that I don't like attaching anything it's that I don't have rocks or wood or anything in there :) I've got 2 little hides but the way I want the tank set up would mean it's a bit pointless to attach plants to the hides :)

[Star]

Got my plants today! BUT how on earth do I make them stay put?? My sand is only very thin, I've managed to somehow make some stay put in the sand but not very well shoved some into a hide and more under a rock for now. Any suggestions? If not I guess I'll go hunting for pretty stones

[pookiewn]

I have very thin sand too and sort of mounded up a bit of sand around the base of it so it's a couple of cms up the stem. Took a while but it worked :)

[Mojo]

I'm in negotiations to get some stones that have holes drilled in + can have plants inserted, to be used instead of weights. I obviously can't comment on how good they are, since I haven't actually bought any yet (I've asked about some made-to-order stones + the seller seems very helpful!) - AQUASTONES - Aquarium Plant Weights (Small/medium size) on eBay (end time 02-Jul-11 09:10:43 BST)

[Star]

They look really nice! Just a bit too much for my budget at the moment

[mewsie]

Originally Posted by pookiewn

I have very thin sand too and sort of mounded up a bit of sand around the base of it so it's a couple of cms up the stem. Took a while but it worked :)

Thats what I've done too - I also stuck some big stones around the base until the roots took hold.

Originally Posted by memojo1979

AQUASTONES - Aquarium Plant Weights (Small/medium size) on eBay (end time 02-Jul-11 09:10:43 BST)

Excellent link Jo!

[Mojo]

I find lots of "different" ideas, LoL! Can't get my grass mat for the 4ft tanks though, as my previous seller doesn't stock it anymore + I'm not convinced the others I've seen are suitable However, reverting to sand means I'll actually be able to see Canaq for once, LoL!