What are the downsides of a bare bottom tank?

Morrison

Morrison

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Because I've had some trouble with keeping my sand clean (whatever I tried they like to poop around and dance on it so everything ends up scattered around the tank and in the sand) I decided to take the sand out and put them in a bare bottom tank.

I read things about axies having difficulty to walk on a bare bottom tank which causes them to get stress. My babies have always been in a bare tank and never looked stressed. So I don't think big axies would have a lot of problems with it.

Another thing for me is that it's easier to clean. For example with a vacuum thingy, so that I don't suck up all the sand.

I guess that there are probably more good things about it.
But I want to know... What are the downsides of a bare bottom tank?
I'm also wondering if a spermatophore would stick to a bare bottom. Someone who can answer that as well?
 
I guess aesthetics would be one, you also wouldn't be able to root plants in the substrate.
I don't think the axolotls will mind one way or the other
 
Oh gosh, now I see it :')
 
hahaha noooooooooo.... *barf

some people say it causes stress and some people swear by it, so the only way to know for sure is to test it out i guess.
 
mine have always been fine, I put in some really large glass beads that couldn't fit in their mouths. The sucky thing is that if you have a cave and there's no sand to make the cave stay in place, the axies often move their caves around. One of my axies likes to glide over the surface of the tank, her fingers barely skim on the bottom...the other just plops on the bottom. Overall, imo I don't think there's anything wrong with it. You may get criticized by some folks claiming you setup is improper but hey it's whatever works for you and your axies.
 
personally i don't like them but that's just my experience. a lot of people seem to love it.
i agree with yellowpebble, also i guess it's not bad if your axolotl is pooping solid but when it's younger and it doesn't poop solid it's hard to clean it up off the glass for me anyways. with sand it kinda stays in place and i can just suction it off the sand. also i've noticed my newts/salamanders don't like it when they can't grab on to something like sand. so i would say it's probably the cleanest way to keep your tank but for me i don't personally like it. also it's hard to plant any plants into a bare bottom tank unless you just use pots. with sand plants root exceptionally well.
 
Baring a few very large pebbles and broken plant pots as hides my six axies have always had a bare bottom tank. The seem to get on fine walking around. I have plastic plants as they are naturally quite crumsy with things.
Cleaning up poop with a turkey baster works great and a once a week clean out with water from the waterbutts.
When I tried sand with my newts it was messy and hard to clean and when you added water or anything went everywhere.
 
I think looks are the only down side.

In my experience, the whole "not being able to grip the glass" thing only applies to brand spankin new tanks. After a while the tanks get extremely small scratches and etches in them, from everyday use, that axies and other newts can easily grip.
 
My tank has been bare bottom a while now and i have never noticed any difficulty in moving he seems to grip quite well.
As for the looks iv sort of got used to it i just add plants on wood and floating plants etc which helps alot.
Oh and cleaning is what stops me going back to sand its just a lot easier and if any poop gets stuck to the bottom i just wipe it with a sponge.
 
You'll need a flat rough rock or something similar if you want to breed axolotls in a bare bottomed tank. I've always found spermaphores floating around if there hasn't been anything for the male to attach them to.


Regards Neil
 
My tank is bare bottom,like others have said to look at its not as stunning?as sand ones but is a lot easier to clean and see leftover food,to see how it compared I have sand in my newt tank,mainly for the planting and in honesty I find sand much more difficult!maybe it's because it's more heavily planted than my axi tank and so I have to look under the plants?!honestly though the more sand that "accidentally" gets vacuumed out during cleaning the better!
On a side note plant wise I have java fern in both tanks,java moss,cabomba? And have just added Canadian pondweed and I think Brazilian pondweed to the axi tank(already in newt tank) and all seem to be doing ok.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.786254,-2.403900
 
Most of my tanks are bare bottom. They are much easier to keep clean. The salamanders have no problem breeding in them.
 
I love a bare tank. Really easy to clean and maintain.

As far as plants, you can buy potted ones, floating ones, ones attached to rock or wood. (banana plant, riccia, java moss, java fern, amazon frogbit, etc)

If you're worried about spermatophore attachement, usually it's not an issue... but you can put some pieces of slate in the bottom of the tank. There is a pic on here someone of someone who actually "tiled" the bottom of their tank in slate, it looks pretty awesome.
 
Personally I prefer a landscaped tank, complete with sand and rocks, my axies love clambering over them and you can see them actually using there fingers/toes to hold spots and pull themselves along. I use a glass turkey baster to blast debris from between rocks and suck up any that doesnt make the filter. May take a little more work but so worth the effort.
 
In my opinion, none.

If you dislike the "blank" look, paint the exterior bottom, or stick a high resolution picture of a substrate you like.
 
A little off topic, but I just made a slate tile bottom tank set up, because I wanted something like bare bottom glass set up, but I wanted to make sure it had grip and looked a bit nicer :)
The only thing im faced with like others with bare bottom glass set up is plants, but im getting some pots for mine, also I have 3 nice rocks holding my bunches all together at the moment, and it looks nice. :D
 
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