Don't count on him/her being a plant puller I have 4 Axie tanks filled with 2 adults 1 sub adult and about 40 10-15cm juvies ALL filled with plants and NONE of them dig up the plants or even knock them loose in a startled dash around the tank.
Where your tank is and how much light it gets will greatly influence the options open to you as far as plants go. I know everyone here is very anti-light but if you give your axies a few nice dark hides there is no reason at all that you can't have an aquarium light on for 4-6 hours each day or have the tank is a nice bright room where it get's sunlight or is lit but the room's light each day. My guys actually come out to sunbath each day in the sunlight that comes through the window into their tanks.
If you want to keep your tank in a wardrobe or in a room with the window blocked out and never ever turn a light on then your only option really, is plastic. Real plats NEED light.
If however you keep your tank in a well used room in the house, the family/lounge room for example and your tank gets some light each day, say enough for you to be able to see into it clearly or if you were happy to have an aquarium light on for a few hours then you can have some real plants.
Here's a few plants for the tank that gets a few hours of light and you can google these if you want pictures

You can plant all these in sand without a problem.
Java MOSS (I've just started to try 'planting' this in the sand in one tank and it's started to do a bit of a ground cover thing growing up through the sand which looks cool but may make it hard to clean the tank if it spreads.)
anubias nana (prefers 21-30 degrees C though)
Vallisneria but avoid any corkscrew/twisted varieties Ammericana Gigantica is excellent for these conditions.
Elodea but this one is illegal over here because of it's weed like tendency to take over if it gets into waterways.
and my personal faves....
Ambulia (Limnophila sessiliflora or Asian Ambulia and NOT its cousin Limnophila aquaticum which requires more light and slightly warmer water)
Water sprite - (ceratopteris thalictroides) my guys LOVE this one. It's under water leaves are VERY different to it's out of water ones which is what it will have in the shops since they are usually grown emersed to be sold as it's faster. But the submerged leaves are beautiful and very fern like. My babies in particular love sitting in the huge cluster of leaves that sit just below the surface of the water. It is a nice fast growing plant that sends it's leaves to the surface quickly which gives great shade underneath and wonderful hiding spaces. It also multiplies by producing plantlets from it's leaves which you can plant as you find them and they quite quickly turn into big adult plants. LOVE LOVE LOVE this plant.
You
might be able to grow a few of the Echinodorus (sword plants) but avoid any that have variegated leaves particularly of they are green and RED Red plants require a lot of light. The regular old Amazon swords and maybe the melon swords are probably your best bet but these do require some light.
Plants where the tank is lit for 6 or more hours a day with relatively good light.
all of the above PLUS the medium light loving plants
Echinodorus - including some of the variegated varieties but avoiding the pygmy chains and any that are predominantly red they like very strong light from my experience
Lilaeopsis (a cute little grass like ground cover)
Java FERN
Cabomba caroliniana (pH up to about 7)
Bacopa (Australis, monnieri, and maybe Carolinana if you have the 7 hours but not if less than that)
You could try the Blyxa family if you're feeling confident but they may fail the thrive in the slightly too cold water.
There are bound to be others though that are available overseas and not here

Have fun axiescaping!