Question: Best lives plants and mosses for a Lotl tank?

[AmandaLush]

I haven't started cycling yet, but once I am, I'd like to include as many live plants and mosses as possible! I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS.

best plants for a low light/~60 degree tank? the more variety the better! I can find tons of things at the local shops, but the employees are worthless for helping me choose things... and of course i always forget to write down scientific names/common names when i do find something I'm fond of.

 

[Kaini]

Axolotls are notorious for destroying live plants XD I have some Anubias in Zion's tank right now and he's already torn into some of it XD I'm hoping it lives though.

Low-light plants are best in an Axolotl tank because obviously the Axolotl doesn't like a lot of light. Java Fern, Anubias, Java Moss, Marimo moss balls... are the low-light and low maintenance plants I can think of off the top of my head.

Never use plant fertilizer or anything like that in an Axolotl tank; it's dangerous to the Axolotl so obviously plants that require 'food' like that or co2 are out.

 

[Lianne]

Just google 'low light aquarium plants' and you'll find a whole list of awesome plants! Google the individual names to see what they look like and check the temperature range they require and make your selection

 

[Smoxolotl]

My Amazon Swords and Elodea/Anacharis are thriving in virtually no direct lighting. And the moss balls are doing well too. Worms love to burrow into them,however, and that can mess with your water quality if they become established in them.

 

[Leukloki]

Amanda,
I planted my tank fully and had marimo balls all over, it took 6mo to grow the tank and about a week for her to destroy/arrange to her liking. I think the only thing she didn't completely destroy were the Marimo balls. Which is why its the only thing I left live planted in the tank to keep small sources of live food in there for her. The plants, if she is fed correctly shouldn't be a source of food, but that doesn't mean they don't like to snack just like us.
When I planted I looked for plants native to the location of my ax. If I were gonna do it again, I would specifically look up plants that have large root systems, and plan on either planting in an appropriate substrate, or keeping them potted as your ax will want to move them around.
I am currently a member on plantedtankforum and there is so much good information about correctly setting up a planted tank that will really help with keeping your tank low maintenance and healthy for your ax, you have to be careful because there is a lot to think about such as some substrates/even plants can hold nitrates and then release them randomly causing bubble to rise that if they don't dissipate can become deadly.

this is my link to the write up (shortened) that I did on my planted tank for my Greater Siren and what Im doing now, at least there are pics to show you what you can do and how some of it can look.
Hope this helps!

 

[keiko]

I have mostly different types of Anubias, Java Fern and Marimo balls and they work great. I also have some type of Echinodorus placed right under an LED spotlight. It's doing ok but not growing very fast in the cold water and without fertilizers. There's also some Pistia Stratiotes to give a bit more shade.

My axies sometimes like to rip out some plants, but I just plant them in another spot and they leave it alone. I guess they just like their usual paths to be free of any obstacles.

 

[kjnorman]

I have a few different varieties of plants in my tank and aside from occasionally uprooting the very small plants, my axies don't seem to bother them much.

Java fern is far and away the best performer for me. I actually don't know what all the plants are as I traded another hobbyist for them (rather than buying them in a store), but nothing else does as well as the java fern, which just keeps trucking away no matter what happens to it

I find a couple larger river rocks holding down at least part of the root system (I have sand and river rocks as a substrate) does the trick well enough.

But maybe my axies just aren't that into gardening, lol.