What a fun idea! Happy birthday! LOVE your axolotls name! I too am using my coming birthday money for my axolotls.
Black sand is perfectly fine for your axolotl. I find the stuff sold at Petco is very expensive, especially when you need enough for a 20 gallon or larger tank! I recommend looking into fine grit black blasting sand at your local tractor supply. It is aquarium safe and about $10 for 50 pounds. I think that 2 pounds per gallon is typically good for a planted tank, though I usually go for a bit extra. For example, I am using 100 pounds instead of 80 in my 40 gallon tank. If you have a 20 gallon or larger, you will be fine using a full bag.
Plants are my favorite part of designing a tank. Because axolotls prefer low or no lighting, you want plants that can tolerate that. Some wonderful options are Anubias (tons of varieties), swords (tons of varieties), floating plants like duckweed or fairy moss (azolla), hornwort, anacharis, or Java ferns (several varieties). You could get away with floating plants with higher light needs, like water lettuce, water hyacinth, or frog bit, if they densely cover the top. That way the higher lighting doesn’t affect your axolotl. For plants, I highly recommend checking out My Fish Stuff. It is an online store and also an ebay shop. I have ordered from them twice and received massive, beautiful, healthy plants at great prices. This was a $15 order of one Anubias barteri and one echinodorus bleheri (amazon Sword). As you can see it came as much more than one plant of each! They have different deals on their Ebay than on their website, so it depends on what you are buying. They have lots of different Anubias and Sword options.
for hides, you can do different rocks or drift wood if you want to go natural. If you want it to just be fun and colorful, you can shop around on Etsy. There are these fun hides for about $25. Biggest thing you want to look out for is that your axolotl can fit and that it is aquarium safe!
This Aquariums & Tank Decor item by Stroodies has 1628 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Rochester, NY. Listed on Mar 16, 2024
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