Question: What plants would you suggest for an Axolotl aquarium??

[Janine]

I have two juvenile Axolotls in a 250 litre (54 gallon) tank and it seems rather bare. I don't know much about plants so was wondering what would look nice and be a good environment for them. I also have quite a strong tank light, i dont use it too often, but perhaps a floating plant would help?

 

[Chirple]

Do you know what sort of light you have ?

With live plants, you'll need to have the light on long enough each day for them, however, if you have good hides and plant wisely you can create a lot of "shade".

I have a normal output T8 fluorescent bulb and while it looks really bright, I will still see my axolotl moving around when it's on - she usually sticks to the shady parts of the tank, and is less active than when it's off, so I do have the light timer set so that the light can turn on while I'm at work.

You'll just need to have plants that will do well with your lighting and the cold water of the tank - and ones that are aquarium safe. I know java fern, java moss, and hornwort are popular. I have both of the former and other types, I'm new to plants myself, so I picked ones that would tolerate the light level and temperature and that looked good and "functional" - I like watching my axolotl climb and perch in the plants, so I picked ones that seemed to be well-suited for that.

Also, axolotls tend to swim into / through plants, so more delicate ones might be uprooted on a regular basis, especially with sand substrate. Some can be anchored with/to rocks or on driftwood/bogwood.

I'm not sure about floating ones, I haven't tried any yet, but they'd certainly provide some shade.

 

[Janine]

Thanks for replying I have 2 100cm long 45 watt high-lite bulbs. I'm not sure what high-lite is though, think its just the standard one you get with the tank. It's pretty bright and I only turn it on for a few hours during the day (I work late evenings) I have a sand substrate and a few hides, but nothing big enough to hold a fully grown axolotl unfortunately.

Java fern is a good idea, i do know of a place that sells java fern though i never really thought of it, haha, possibly because I had a much smaller tank before now and so would take up too much space. I don't know about Java moss and hornwort, but I'll look into it as it's been suggested. Thanks again, any suggestions are welcome since I'm not really a plant person

 

[carsona246]

I like water wisteria, it doesn't need much light, and grows fairly quickly in good conditions

 

[Janine]

Wisteria looks pretty, and easy to grow which is a plus for me. I like the shape of the leaves, though i hope it wont grow too rapidly haha, very cheap too, I may have to get some

 

[Chirple]

My hygrophila difformis (water wisteria) is doing pretty sad in my axolotl tank. I think it's just too cold for it to be happy.

My ludwigia repens is doing awesome, though, and so is the rotala rotundifolia and various cryptocorines.

 

[Janine]

Oh really? Well I might buy one anyway, see how it manages in my tank. Wow, those are a lot of complicated names, I'm going to have to write them down somewhere haha. ludwigia repens looks pretty, I'd love to get that deep shade of red. It's also good that it's doing well in your tank, hope it fairs of just as well in mine.

I've never heard of rotala rotundfolia, but thats got to be my favourite out of your suggestions because of its shape and colour, it also sounds like its quite fragile so wont disturb the axolotl. Though It does look like I may have to keep the light on a bit longer than usual. I may buy a timer, and some more hides before then, just so they keep out of the light. I do find it quite intense, and with it on do not need to have the room light on. One of my Axolotl (Sal) tends to stay in a cave when the lights on, though its starting to get a little cosy for him so may need to buy another, bigger cave. My other (Euston) seems less bothered by the light. Cryptocorynes looks interesting, and as a slow grower will probably stay smaller and balance out the others, because I'm quite interested in the red plants you've suggested. I'm going to have to make a list haha.

 

[Urmat]

Java moss and anubias work pretty well too.

 

[Janine]

Anubias could be a good foreground plant lots of good suggestions, though I do have quite a large tank to fill, hopefully they all take well to the tank. I think a lot of these plants will look good together too

 

[Urmat]

If you get enough java moss, you can use it to make a back drop of sorts using 2 pieces of mesh to sandwich the moss and suction cup it to the back of the tank

 

[Helena]

yeah, what he said

 

[PAWS]

I have a couple of Anubias in my 450L fish tank, some are the standard variety but I also purchased some which grow huge (for Anubias anyway!). I think they are called Anubias Barteri and grow up to 15 inches tall. These provide great shade.

In my Axi tank I have Elodea in the background and smaller Anubias in the foreground. I keep the planting light to try and avoid entanglement and make up for lack of greenery with clever little hidey holes etc. I also change the tank around every month or so as I have found my Axi's like to explore new settings.

I did try Java fern but found my Axi's occasional "freak out" moments resulted in them being torn up.

 

[Janine]

Having a moss background sounds nice, but I don't think I'm practical enough to be able to make one and not make a mess at the same time haha. And I've looked online and fount that Anubias Barteri has a large range of items on eBay, a lot rooted and on bogwood/driftwood. That could be quite appealing, though it sounds as if yours has grown very tall yes! I'm definitelly going to buy some.

At the moment I dont have many places for mine to hide, just the 2 and even now theyre starting to get a little big for them. My Axolotls are a little more laid back, I haven't seen anything startle them yet, but then again they've never seen Java Fern. I think I freak out more when they accidentally bite me.