Plant ideas

Hi everyone,
i'm planning to redecorate my tank by getting some different plants and was wondering if anyone has ideas? they would need to be low light and work with a sand
thanks!

greta try this site its great for plants
http://www.plantgeek.net/

Thanks Denise that's a great site!
I bought some 'java fern' today and also what I think is a moss ball, but it's attached to string and a weight to keep it from floating. How can I use it so my axies can play with it?

How odd.
Take the weight off for a start.
Try squeezing it gently and allowing it to suck the water in again a few times - this should help.

Care to describe it?

My personal favourite is the Banana Lilly.

Mine took a little while to establish but now i have little lilly pads floating on the top of the water and my axie's love it!

Another good one is Elodea ( think i spelt it correctly ) it can drop a few leaves at first but once the new growth starts this reduces.

Hope that helps,

Regards Eastern_axle

mine love sitting in the CRYPTOCORYNE WENDTII and moving java moss arround. They put the java moss into their caves, out of their caves, they just like to move it arround. That java moss, you can make lots of neat things with it, like java moss walls, or tie it rocks and let the new growth cover it. Its really fun for people and axolotls, it does ok in axolotl waters. Its easy to divided, and for the most part a hard plant to mess up growing. It even does well living with betta fish.

I believe those items marketed as "moss balls" are little round algae balls native to lakes native in Japan and Russia. You can make more by splitting them in half, I have heard.

If it's Japanese Marimo moss, then yes, you can split them, bind them gently but firmly with plain cotton, and they will grow into two new ones.

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I hope to post some pics of my gradually developing set up.
Amber, I think what i thought was a moss ball is an actual ball that has had java moss grown around it, but oh well!

I have just been advised by a very experienced aquarium keeper to buy a normal houseplant called Spider Plant. She said this will be of big help with cycling and generally will remove ammonia and nitrite from the water with its roots.Roots are to be cleaned properly. Then wrap some net around the roots to stop axie eating them.Even if they do, this plant is non poisonous. Use a clip to secure it to the side of aquarium with roots in the water, and the plant itself above water.

Anybody tried this? I'll buy one tomorrow

spider plants grow really well in water, but you have to be carefull because they can grow wildly out of control. and get rid of any loose leaves because they will root very easily. my house is absolutely full of spider plants where i didnt have the heart to throw the cuttings away.

*laughs*
I would love one for my froggery, but they get HUGE!
All my tanks have lids over, but I might try it in my fish tank - the lid is raised on that one.
That's if my monster Koi doesn't work out how to drag it under and eat it.

I have a Echinodorus parviflorus that hasn't died . It looks quite nice.

what kinds of plants can i put in and how many??

I took this out of my old post I did about plants:

There are many plants that can be kept with axolotl!
I will give you a list of cool water plants. You dont want tropicals because it is too cold for them and none of those terrestial plants that stores pass off as aquatic, we don't want any dead plants.
Here we go!

Valisneria spiralis
Eloda
Lysimachia Nummularia (creeping jenny)
Sagittaria platypylla
Potamogeton crispus
Eleocharis parvula
Ludwiga
Duckweed
Hornwort (good at combating algae, fast grower)
Various aquatic mosses, such as java moss
Saururus cernuus
Salvinia
Riccia Fluitans
Spatterdock
java fern


Plants NOT to buy that are often sold as aquatic:
anything that is a Dracaena, such as lucky bamboo, Caladium, Mondo grass, fountain plant

this is not a complete list, but a nice sampling of plants to keep with Mr. Axolotl!Remeber, plants need about 10-12 hours of light so make sure you have a light above your tank for healthy plants.

Anubias barteri var. barteri