New owner with a question

[mi55red]

Hi everyone I am new here my name is Jorge and am from the sunny UK I am just about to get my first axolotl ,I have kept tropical fish for several years so know some of the basics and have been researching for the past year ...

questions though ..I want to make a waterfall effect and wondered what was the best plants to use in such low light and cool water I have also a blue slate chippings substrate which are around 2" in size so will live plants be ok in that

any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Olivia97]

Just a question, are the slate chippings rough? It doesn't sound like the most axie friendly substrate :/

 

[mi55red]

Hi... no they are very smooth and rounded I have some in one of my fish tanks with a few bottom feeders and they have been fine

 

[wandering]

Firstly, I also think slate chippings could be sharp enough to cause injuries. And poop would accumulate and cause problems with water quality. A slate base would be awesome, though, siliconed in place. I have considered this myself.
Plants are great in an axie tank. Java fern grows well in low light and temperature, and of course you can tie it to bits of bogwood and use as mobile tank furniture. Good because you can move it to hoover under it. Java moss is very good too, again, you can move it about, and the axie love to hide under it or even sit on top of it. I have tried Indian fern too, great for shading the top if you have a light, but in my experience, needs temperatures in the higher range for axies, at least 18C. Personally I would be a bit wary of having anything planted in the substrate because of the cleaning issues. It could be interesting to put axies into an old established planted tank though. Perhaps the poop could be left to feed the plants in that case. You'd need a lot of plants per axie, though, of course.

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[wandering]

And your waterfall effect, would that be a sandfall? Axies see moving objects as food, so there is potential for trouble. I think others have attempted sandfalls, though, so maybe will comment. If that's what you meant!

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[wandering]

And 2 inch chippings could be sucked in with food and cut or block your axie insides. Perhaps you could silicone them to the base like a jigsaw puzzle. Just make sure there are no gaps for trapped food or poop to rot in. It would make a great grippy surface better than bare glass. You might also have gathered by now that clean water is the big issue.

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[mi55red]

Thank you very much for your replies it is greatly appreciated The slate chippings have been "tumbled" which in short means they are very smooth almost silk like feel and no sharp edges but I will keep a careful eye and if there is a problem I will immediately change to sand or something similar ...

thank you for the plant advice I will try that and no its not a sandfall I was thinking of a waterfall my tank is higher at the back so it doesn't need to be full to the top (18" at back 12" at front so instead of a background I was going to make a rock feature that could incorporate the filter and give a waterfall effect and was looking for plant ideas to grow on it

any advice would help thank you