Question: Would this be an okay set-up for my axolotl

So less than a month ago I went into my local fish store to find a lonely axolotl with his cute little face!!! :lick: (yeah, I am actually smiling). I knew I had to have him so I bought him for $100.00. I put him in a tall 25 gallon tank with a lot of fake plants with leaves and tall fake grass. The water in the tank was previously used for my fish but I moved them to another 30 gallon tank to make room for King. I completely changed all the plants out of the aquarium and let the water filter through for about 2 days. I put him in about 3 weeks ago and he seems really happy !! I have fed him mostly bloodworms every day (a frozen cube). He also has white cloud minnows swimming around and they seem to be disappearing so I assume he eats them? I have given him one mealworm every saturday (I crushed their head.. i know its gross but you gotta). I also just recently found this krill treat.. it is freeze dried though. I have given him one and he seemed to like it. I would really like to change up his tank set-up but after reading about how touchy axolotl's are to change I am scared to. He seems happy with his current set up but I would love to add some live plants like anarchis, cabomba, vallisneria, and java fern. I also want to add some big rocks to kind of make climbing and hiding spots with the live plants around. He has a gravel substrate right now and I think it is big enough that he won't swallow it so I was going to leave that and cover it with the vallisneria eventually. Would this be an okay set-up for an axolotl? Are these plants safe, or would they cause a lot of algae, I have heard a lot of that happening in the beginning of live plant addition.
Also, would all this change stress King? Should I take him out and put him in a large container while I change everything? Can I add him right away after making the changes? Thanks everyone !!

Generally your set up seems fine, and we would love to see a photo.
The gravel however is a potential problem. Axolotl feed by gulping in their food...unfortunately anything else can be swallowed too, including gravel and even quite large stones.A rough guide is if the stones should be smaller than your axolotl's head. Accidentally swallowing stones and gravel can cause some rather nasty problems for your axolotl. Generally we advise you to use sand, play sand well rinsed is good. I personally use a a bare bottomed tank as this is very easy to keep clean.
If you choose to change your set up drastically, I would take your axolotl out . Return him once every thing has settled down afterwards.

bellabelloo said:

A rough guide is if the stones should be smaller than your axolotl's head.

Click to expand...

I think there was a typo and what was meant to be said is "A rough guide is there should be no stones smaller than your axolotl's head."

Thanks Eric..what an awful mistake to make . I really should not respond to posts whilst being terrorised by my son.

not too sure how to post photo's yet !!!