Silica sand or play sand? juveniles

[lordcycle]

Which one is better to use in a tank with juveniles?

 

[Kaysie]

How big are they? I tend to keep mine on bare bottom until they're 3-4 inches.

 

[lordcycle]

How big are they? I tend to keep mine on bare bottom until they're 3-4 inches.

there 2 inches. it seems like they loose there grip on the bare bottom. But i think i'm going to wait untill there bigger to put sand in. But what sand is better? silica or play sand?

 

[yellowpebble]

either! both of them work great. Just make sure you wash the play sand extra well! the play sand is a lot cheaper.

most people wait till they are bigger because the smaller the axie is the bigger the peices of sand are to them and the more likley it is to cause impactions.

 

[SanderB]

I use play sand in my big tank. And a bare bottom in the tanks with juveniles because it is harder to clean when it has sand in it. But it won´t cause any problems for your axolotls it will only make the tank cleaning proces much longer and more work.
In my tank with juveniles their is only tapwater in it, nothing else, sometimes I do add some live plants to make it look better and to create hiding places.

 

[Grete]

When they're that small, I'd have to agree with Kaysie & keep them in a BB tank. If you're set on substrate of some sort, why not a piece of slate tile for grip? Makes cleanup time easier.

As for sand, if it's the polished silica (not the jagged, sharp type), I'd opt for that. Playsand gets super cloudy when you're cleaning via gravel vac & takes awhile to settle down