Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Alright, so I ordered a fly starter kit, and got these two plants for free.

(name needed)

(some type of bromeliad)

Now for my questions. How do I attach the brom? I'm assuming I want it on the background, so here is a picture of that.

I read about a person hot glueing it, and another person pinning it in. Any suggestions on that?

Also, what kind of light should I be getting for this tank (10g)? Also, can I just plant the other plant? Thanks for your time.

The first plant is a Cryptanthus, which will do well toward the top of the background with the most light possible. The second is a Neoregelia hybrid of some sort, also, best grown (in your situation) on the background, as an epiphyte, although it can also be terrestrial, in well drained substrate. While there are many ways of attaching the epiphytes, I usually just stuff the "stem" you see on the Neo into the background substrate then criss cross either bamboo skewers or tooth picks beneath it to support it. It would help if you could tuck it above a part of the grapewood log for extra support. The Cryptanthus, which is also a bromeliad and can grow as an epiphyte, will have more true roots, which will seem a bit wiry, perhaps. You can peg it in place the same way without worrying about burying the roots.

While the tooth picks and skewers aren't attractive at first, both plants will put out roots and stolons to attach themselves more firmly to the background, and then you can remove your supports, or break them off in the case of bamboo skewers. You can also use thread or fishing line to steady these on the grapewood branch. I don't know much about "hot gluing" them, because I've never tried it. I just stuff it in, support it, and it attaches and grows.

Then of course, you need to begin misting right away and have some humidity and moisture available all the time. The Neoregelia will "feed" from the water and detritus that collects in the central vase and axils of the leaves. Most of what you see that anchors the plant eventually are not feeder roots, but stolons for support of the plant. And yes, they survive perfectly well like this, as long as they have the same humidity, temperatures and misting that dart frogs require. They are practically as unkillable as pothos, but then, we know how you managed to kill pothos, so that's a moot point.

There are a lot of lighting gurus on Dendroboard, and perhaps a few here, and it can get pretty fancy, but an aquarium hood of some sort with a fluorescent tube in the 6500 KV range will satisfy most plant requirements without over-heating the tank. Or you can use compacts in a lamp suspended about 4 to 6 inches above the tank, which might be a better choice if room temperatures get hot. 12 hours on and 12 hours off. The lighting is for your plants.

One thing to remember is that the farther away the light source is, the less light the plants will get, but the closer it is, the more heat it will put out, so you have to sort of judge this for yourself. Ordinary room lighting is enough for dart frogs to go about their business, but the general plant habitat needs more.

I'm sure you know that the darts don't require UV lighting, which won't penetrate a glass enclosure anyway, as long as the food items, like fruit flies are dusted with vitamins and calcium with D3. In the wild, darts do get some UV filtered through the rain forest canopies, but they are not baskers, like snakes and reptiles, so it's not really feasible to give them an internal source of it in an enclosed tank.

You are actually doing great, Andrew. You won't be sorry in the long run for getting into this hobby. You're my favorite patient next to Sexy Mexy.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue
D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
D. imitator
D. leucomelas
D. pumilio Bastimentos
D. fantasticus
P. terribilis mint and organe
D. reticulatus
D. castaneoticus
D. azureus
P vittatus
P. lugubris

Yayyyyy i'm a favorite!

Thanks for the tips Patty, I posted my same message on Dendro, but I knew you'd reply and I value your answer, so here it was. I did no research on the plants, because I recieved them free with my purchase from Jason DeSantis (whose items were shipped and arrived in 5 days, purchase to arrival, from South Carolina to California) I'm going to try to put the Cryptanthus on the background if I can. I guess I should have planned for plants going on there, too. I can deffinately make a hole for the other one. One question I have..will the stolon get any bigger? I was going to tie it to the grapevine with fishing wire, but I deffinately like the background idea better. If the stolon gets any bigger, might it shatter the background, and if that's the case, should I make the size of the hole bigger?

I'm going to run over to Home Depot tomorrow and see what lights they have. I've had a digital Fluker's thermometer in my room for the past week, and room temps have been a constant 71 degrees at two different heights. My snakes are at about 78-80, and my leos are at 90-80, so I figure if I put the cage in any of the two areas i've tested, they should be okay. It'll only get hotter (since it's 'winter' in SoCal), but I figured i can put a fan on it or move rooms if it gets too hot, right?

I'm also getting a top from a guy named Dane of dendro pretty quick here. He's selling them for 20$ (door with a vent on the side) and he's in San Diego, which is close. As soon as I can find a smaller 'Rabbit's Foot Fern' and maybe another plant or three, I may order/buy frogs.

Weeeeee, thanks in advance for your amazing reply.
Andrew

The stolon will stay the same size. When the original plant "pups" it will put out another of these appendages, either into mid-air or into the background and grow another plant. They won't rip it up. I've had someone tell me once that these were true roots, but the true roots if they form, will be fibrous.

You're going great guns. I just ordered another bunch of plants I haven't tried yet, from Glasshouse Works for my 180 gallon paludarium construction, but don't expect them until mid May or so.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue
D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
D. imitator
D. leucomelas
D. pumilio Bastimentos
D. fantasticus
P. terribilis mint and organe
D. reticulatus
D. castaneoticus
D. azureus
P vittatus
P. lugubris

So, Patty, I went to get some lights today..jesus.

I never knew there were so many choices at Home Desperate. I also wasn't aware associates didn't know what they were talking about. I read a bunch of threads on Dendro, but everyone kept talking about aquarium lights and ordering them from the internet, which I don't really want to do, unless I must. So, after my 15 minute explination to the worker, this is what I ended up with.

I don't know how many 19 year old electricians they've seen, but I can garuntee it's not many. I don't even know what this thing is! So, I still need lights, a top, and more plants . I'm starting to get annoying i'm sure, as i'm really annoying myself.

I do, however, think i've cured my soil dripping past the screen problem! See, the dirt kept getting past the screen, which was really making me angry, soooo I made a bag.


Tada. I hope this works out better.

I never thought of making a bag! Sounds perfect. See, I just learned something from you, so am going to do this with my next project. The lights and hood you bought from Home-Deposition should work fine. Full sunlight spectrum indication is about the best you can do for plants, and if you need higher lighting to enhance the bromeliad color later, if it needs it, you can always add it with another hood or whatever. Being as dumb as most of the help in HD, I just buy what I know works from a pet store, (or on line) although it is usually more expensive to do it that way, per item. On the other hand, if I go into Home Distraction, for a single item, I can never get out of there without going down every aisle, and end up by charging something like a new scroll saw, or some other toys I don't really need on my credit card. So it works out that I pay too much money, either way. During my lifetime, I've probably spent more time and have been more fascinated with hardware stores than any clothing store or boutique ever enticed me. I'm a "tool fool," and dress like Raggedy Ann. My mother virtually 'dressed me' until she died when I was 64,in 1998. She was a fashion designer, so of course, I never gave a rat's butt about fashion, and was a disappointment to her as an only girl child. I've gone further downhill since then, but I sure have a lot of woodworking and carving toys. She often comes back into my dreams, and isn't even speaking to me.

When I first attempted to try "egg crate" as a false bottom, some years ago, neither the employees of HD nor I knew exactly what it was, except at least I knew is was some sort of plastic light distributor for fluorescent lighting. When I finally found it, after doing various other different things for a false bottom, and bought a hunk of it, I'd already found something that works better--the hydroponic CocoTek grow slabs. The "egg crate" piece is still propped up on the side of my D. reticulatus tank, where it's sole use is to filter the sun that hits this tank in the late evening, and fall over on the floor every time it gets bumped.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue
D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
D. imitator
D. leucomelas
D. pumilio Bastimentos
D. fantasticus
P. terribilis mint and organe
D. reticulatus
D. castaneoticus
D. azureus
P vittatus
P. lugubris

The only problem with the hood I bought is it has no plug, just a bunch of wires, so I really have no idea how to hook it up. If you have any insight, lay it on me.

And yay for me doing something that works for once!