Planting Substrate

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Goldibug

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I'm thinking I want to add plants to my tank once everything is set up. I was wondering if organic potting soil would be safe? I don't see why not but thought I'd ask. Would I need to cap it off with something if I did user it?
 
Use miracle grow organic soil (usually comes in an orange bag). The Organic soil should not contain any manure. You should rinse it and remove any floating sticks and stuff. A sand cap will work but make sure to keep some sand on hand if the axolotls start digging.
 
Is there something wrong with the axolotls digging/burying themselves in it? Or is it an issue of it getting stirred up in the water?
 
Just getting stirred up. Some stuff might float up or it'll just get messy. It will also turn the water a slight yellow. It's not terrible. A way to avoid this is to establish the plants first for a few months to let them root into the soil and hold stuff in place.
 
Would a Java moss carpet work without lightning? The only plant I've ever successfully grew was an anubius so plants are still pretty new to me.
 
Boomsloth said:
Use miracle grow organic soil (usually comes in an orange bag). The Organic soil should not contain any manure.
Click to expand...
Miracle Grow contains some poultry litter as a source of nitrogen (instead of using synthetic fertilizers).

Because of this, it will need to either be cycled and established with plants in the tank, or 'minerilized' (which really would just break the organics down into humus) by soaking and drying several times. Otherwise the inhabitants would be harmed by an initial ammonia spike.
 
Goldibug said:
Would a Java moss carpet work without lightning? The only plant I've ever successfully grew was an anubius so plants are still pretty new to me.
Click to expand...

The moss will require some lighting to carpet well. I would recommend tying the moss to pieces of mesh or slate so you can have a movable carpet, which would help with cleaning.
 
For moss carpets, I would use a bare bottom tank and cut two layers of knitting mesh (at craft stores, plastic small grid like sheets)
Then you put a THIN layer in between your two layers then tie the outer edges together with something like fishing line or thread. I emphasize thin because if the moss is too thick, a lot will die. The thin layer will in time begin to grow through the mesh, creating your carpet.

Java moss is a low light requiring moss, but all plants need some light to grow. You can try with just ambient room light, but it will grow faster lit.
 
If I went bare bottom with the mesh and moss where would the fertilizer come from for the moss? Would the axolotls pull any of it out while it's trying to get established?
 
Fertilizers shouldn't be used in axie tanks, because they're bad for them. Plants need to be chosen so that fertilizers won't be needed. Java moss will do fine with just the nitrates from the water.
 
Thanks guys! I'll try bare bottom to start then. Hopefully the lfs here has some java moss in stock. I know they have fish in some of their plant tanks. All the fish I've purchased from them are healthy though. Should I still quarantine the plants before adding them to the axi's tank? If so how would I go about that?
 
Everything you put in the tank should be cleaned or quarantined before going in. You can just put the moss in a bucket with some old tank water for two weeks or so. Remember to change the water every couple of days.
 
Yes - you should definitely quarantine, as you could introduce something that would not make fish ill, but that axolotls have no natural immunity or defences against.
 
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