Indoor Pond for Axies, Have a few questions.

We have decided to turn our garage into a hangout(bar, beer pong, poker, etc.) and I want to build a small indoor pond feature in the back corner. I was hoping to put some axolotls in the pond along with a breeding colony of ghost shrimp, snails, and guppies to give them a variety of live food to hunt(supplemented by worms). The pond would have live plants and plenty of decor to provide hiding spots for everyone. (Pond size will be roughly 250-400 gallons, which I believe should give plenty of room for everyone to co-exist)

My questions are:

1. What type of substrate works best in ponds? I've been looking online and most people seem to say bare bottom. But without substrate I am unsure how I will be able to maintain a healthy planted pond.

2. Would fountains/waterfalls be safe to use with axolotls? Or would it cause too much stress and water movement?

3. Any suggestions on plant life for an indoor pond? (That are safe for axolotls?)

Extremely interested in this topic. Thanks for posting


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Ok for anyone interested in this topic I have been shopping around in the pond sections and have discovered they do make underwater planters for ponds. You can fill them with aquatic potting soil and let your plants grow inside. So if you wanted to do bare-bottom you would still have the ability to maintain live plants.

I have been looking into substrates and in all honesty I think I am going to go with sand, I am ok with vacuuming the pond out every couple weeks and the bio-load should be low enough that it wouldn't cause too many problems. (Looking at getting about 10 axolotls for the pond, giving them 25-40 gallons each).

Anyone have suggestions for easy keeping/larger plants to put in?(Can add the planters with potting soil if needed)

In my experience axolotls tend to dig up plants and mine would even eat them (they loved duck weed and java moss lol). That being said, keeping the plants in pots would probably be the best bet. You can use regular potting soil that has NO chemicals or fertilizers added, which is what I use in my planted tanks. Adding a layer of sand (about an inch or two thick) on top of the soil keeps it from turning into a muddy mess.

Adding a water fall or fountain would cause a lot of water turbulence and stress the axolotls out, if you could set up a water fall in a way where it doesnt cause a ton of current or turbulence that would be fine.

It is not advisable to keep guppies in with the axolotls as they could pick at the slime coat and gills on the axolotl and cause problems. Not to mention guppies are tropical fish and axolotls are cold water animals.

As far as plants for ponds, I'd have to research that. What were you going to use as a light source?