Question: I can't walk on this...

[Squid]

I have a question.
What do you guys have on the floor of your tanks?
I have some large-ish river stones, which are brilliant at hiding uneaten food and excrements between them...
I'd like to take them away. But I don't know what to put there instead? I heard that the Axy's don't really like just sliding over glass...

 

[lea]

hi squid

you can leave the tank with a bottom bare or you can put sand on it.......i have very small gravel under 1mm and that is small enough to go though if the axie eats it by accident.......
lea

 

[Shizeric]

Or have pieces of tile cut to the size of your aquarium floor....as easy as bare bottom, but with some texture and better looking

 

[mifuneaxie]

I have slate tiles covering my tank bottom. I got them cut (like shizeric suggested ), and the slate looks really nice because it looks so much like rock.

 

[Bellabelloo]

My tank has no substrate at all, and my three axolotl have no problem moving around. If you look closely at the tips of their toes they have a soft tip, this looks to me like very small suction cups..Have a look next time they put their feet on the glass side.

 

[shoegal]

I use black sand, and my axies seem to really enjoy it. It doesn't get stuck in their tummies when they hoover it up, and my goldens stand out nicely against the dark background.

 

[Squid]

Hey i'm liking the tile idea. I never would have thought of that.

 

[Shizeric]

Yeah, and you can pretty much find tile of ANY design, so you can get whatever you want to match your setup.

 

[Truffs]

Hi, I'm still deciding what base to go for too - i tried big pebbles/stones and found the same as you - they look good but hide all kinds of stuff that suddenly emerges at cleaning time or at the swish of a tail!

I'm looking into using slate tiles right now, i have removed the pebbles and have a bare base at the moment and have to say my axies don't seem bothered by it at all to be honest, but i'd like to try slate as i think it looks great as well as being practical.

 

[Squid]

Ooh. Let me know how that goes for you. With the tiles though. Doesn't anyone worry about the putty substance between the individual tiles? Or the mesh beneath them? Or does that not hide any dangerous chemicals?

 

[axiegaz]

i have sand on mine but as far at the tile sealant goes i believe you use a silicone sealant rather than a grout of any type

 

[Shizeric]

Ooh. Let me know how that goes for you. With the tiles though. Doesn't anyone worry about the putty substance between the individual tiles? Or the mesh beneath them? Or does that not hide any dangerous chemicals?

Do not use putty or mesh...you can use silicone if you want to secure the tiles, but I just put the tiles bare onto the glass of my tank, and a bit of sand to fill the small cracks in between the tiles.

 

[tomkeogh]

You should silicone if you are not worried about re-sale value, If not you HAVE to put sand as a base as well as grouting any thing abrasive like rocks or slate and other ornaments should not come in direct contact with glass, a scratch could lead to a chip which will lead to a crack which will lead to a nightmare, especially if your axolotl goes shooting around the tank moving everything against the glass.

I may not know much about axolotl but I know a lot about glass, please use sand or silicone.every pet shop near me sells the aquarium sealant and is not very expensive

 

[bangadrum]

We bought a 3'x1'x1' tank with stand from ebay for £30ish, then siliconed (using aquarium non-fungicidal silicon) small slate tiles down. From my investigations looking underneath the tank nearly all tiles have a full seal and are still dry underneath, some have a very very tiny leak, which doesn't concern me unduly.

We wanted large slate tiles, but budget dictated otherwise.

To be honest unless your take is HUGE or a special shape I wouldn't worry about resale value, it'll be not very much at all, and silicon your slate down.

Photos of our setup are in my profile gallery thing.

 

[Shizeric]

Bangadrum, just wondering why you suggest siliconing the slate down? I have slate, and there is no chance at all of it ever moving, so what's the point of using silicon?

 

[tomkeogh]

Bangadrum, just wondering why you suggest siliconing the slate down? I have slate, and there is no chance at all of it ever moving, so what's the point of using silicon?

Please read my post regarding this

 

[bangadrum]

Our slate tiles are small and can easily move, I can imagine larger tiles could fit much tighter.

Sealing them also prevents organic matter decaying under the tiles and upsetting the water chemistry.