Is this normal behaviour?

Axolotl52

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My axolotl has always been pretty active once the sun goes down, swimming pretty much for the whole night, recently I’ve noticed she’s been swimming for a lot longer periods, crashing into the sides of the tank, sometimes I go to sleep and she’s swimming and I wake up and she’s doing the same, I was wondering if this is normal behaviour, she’s just about 1 year old and the water parameters are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and just hardly any nitrate from the last water change, pH is 7.5. I was thinking maybe the filter is producing too much flow, I have a piece of filter sponge in the output to attempt to slow it down, the filter is also set on the lowest output. Maybe the tank is too small for her now and that’s causing stress? It’s a 20gal long, I do plan to upgrade to a 40g eventually once I can find a decently priced stand. If anyone has any idea please let me know. Here is a video
EDIT: I forgot to say as well her gills don't curl forward and her tail is nice and straight when she's calmed down and relaxing on the bottom
 
Doesnt look stressed. Its in good condition so i cant see anything wrong with its behaviour. My only suggestion would be to add some elodea to provide areas of shade.
 
Thank you, I'v been super paranoid lol, she swims like crazy but mostly its throughout the entire night. I really want to add live plants, but I wasn't too sure about not having a light and which plants would be alright with that, I also wasn't too sure about having to add ferts if that would be bad for the axolotl or not. I have a planted tank in the other room with tons of extra plants but with the bare bottom tank I wasn't exactly sure how to go about adding them in. I'v also had trouble finding plants that would be okay with the temperature of my axolotl tank, it sits around 63-65 mostly, never goes over 68
 
Its why i suggested elodea, it doesnt need planting as doesnt need loads of light. It doesnt need added ferts either, the axolotl will do that for you.
 
I'll definitely check it out, I'm not too sure if my local store carries it or not, might have to check it out online. Do you have any other recommendations of plants that would be good?
 
I'll definitely check it out, I'm not too sure if my local store carries it or not, might have to check it out online. Do you have any other recommendations of plants that would be good?
i highly suggest java fern, very sturdy
 
Would I just be able to throw the java fern in like the elodea? I have seen some places that sell java fern attached to wood, I haven't been able to find a reliable place to buy something like that online though, my local fish store is 98% of the time sold out of java ferns sadly.
 
Axolotls like to dig and they can trash a beautifully planted tank. Try and get free floating plants. Elodea canadensis, canadian pondweed, should be available or a similar species.
 
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  • Shane douglas:
    with axolotls would I basically have to keep buying and buying new axolotls to prevent inbred breeding which costs a lot of money??
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  • Thorninmyside:
    Not necessarily but if you’re wanting to continue to grow your breeding capacity then yes. Breeding axolotls isn’t a cheap hobby nor is it a get rich quick scheme. It costs a lot of money and time and deditcation
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  • stanleyc:
    @Thorninmyside, I Lauren chen
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    Clareclare: Would Chinese fire belly newts be more or less inclined towards an aquatic eft set up versus... +1
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