Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I decide that i am going to set up a new tank for my azureus and i think i am going to set up a bog tank i already have the tank set up with bog mix and everelse. it has a really cool tree root and a drip wall that is made of cork. i am going to put echinodorus, acorus, cryptocoryne, spathiphyllum, dwarf mondo grass,java moss and java ferns. but my question is has anyone tried making a bog tank were the water runs thru the substrate and is not contained. also has anyone used sand in the water featuer, this is what i did. any other suggestions or thoughts would help alot.
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Nate
1.1 alanis tincs
0.0.2 Azureus (soon)
0.0.2 imitators very very soon

Hey Nate,
Your tank sounds awesome (I have been wanting to do a bog tank ever since I saw that nice one in Reptiles magazine) if you do decide to put Azureus in the bog tank be sure there are plenty of plants and circulating water to help fight stagnation and bad fungal buildup. Your azureus will probably like some drier leaf litter or other similar substrate to keep there feet dry most of the time. They usually don’t hang in the bogy areas unless it makes up most of the terrarium.

Steven B

that article in reptiles was what gave me the idea, wasn't that tank awesome?!
thanx
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Nate
1.1 alanis tincs
0.0.2 Azureus (soon)
0.0.2 imitators very very soon

sounds good!! but spathipillum can create dermatitis, so it could and probably would be harmful to frogs.

luke z

Some people may have allergic reactions to Spathyphyllum-- I don't know about this, but it probably wouldn't be detrimental to frogs. However, most of the species of this get rather large for a vivarium, (I know of no dwarfs) and would be likely to crowd out your more miniature, better plants. This is one place you should "think small." It's a very limited environment where everything should fit to scale.
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos

Hi Nate,
Steven has hit on a point about azureus and bogs. Azureus came from probably the driest climate of all the dart frogs, the plain of southern Suriname. It makes me wonder if they are the best species for a bog tank, and if a bog tank is best for them.

That's a point. But if you create a more dry area by terracing up from the bog, rock garden style, the bog might be a point of interest and help provide humidity, while your frogs can make a choice. Your frogs shouldn't of course, be forced to live in a bog without a choice. I did this sort of set-up with a paludarium/aquarium/bog, and the galacs that live there occasionally visit the bog area, but spend most of their time in the well drained portions, or even go back and forth on the higher branches that remain relatively dry. Bogs are cool, but most dart frogs don't live in them full time in the wild. Diversify your design a little so you aren't dealing with one big bog.
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos

I'm in the middle of building just what you discribed now. A 37 gallon tank with a three-tiered 16" high "mesa" with a small waterfall into a pond that outflows in a bog. The mesa covers about 1/3 of the tank, the pond and bog the middle third. The rest is substrate with a rockpile form a canyon around the base of a Manzanita branch that snake up thru the tank. It'll be the new home for my growing fantasicus colony while their old tank will become home to a couple of D. variabilis.