Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Any suggestions what I should do to make these more "frog ready"?

The first one is my 10 gallon viv... it's been planted for 3 weeks. I have recently taken 2 plants out as they weren't thriving like the rest. Substrate is cocobedding directly on large aquarium gravel.

Top View

Front View

This is my newer 18" cube from exoterra. It has thicker substrate - a peat moss/cocobedding mix separated by coconut fiber on top of 3" of large aquarium gravel.

I've been thinking of darts or perhaps red eyes or clown tree frogs... any ideas? Perhpas a pair of Tincs for the 18" cube and a pair of RETFs for the 10gl? I'm open to suggestions and ideas!

Thanks for looking...

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-Iman

1.1 BRBs (Ying and Yang)
1.1 JCPs (Striker and Sheila)
0.0.2 BPs (Spot and Speck)
5.5 Fish (Insert your favorite names here)
1.0 Miniature Daschund (Rue)

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Helping to Love

Stimulate debates, stifle arguments.
Please be nice always.

I suggest a small computer fan to clear up the condensation on the front glass. Unless you don't mind it, otherwise it looks cool. The white flowers are especially pretty.

Thanks for the compliment.

You have any good ideas for getting one of those 5V fans to circulate your tank?

I don't have a 5V power supply lying around, is there any other way to get a mini fan going to circulate the air?
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-Iman

1.1 BRBs (Ying and Yang)
1.1 JCPs (Striker and Sheila)
0.0.2 BPs (Spot and Speck)
5.5 Fish (Insert your favorite names here)
1.0 Miniature Daschund (Rue)

Loving to Learn
Learning to Help
Helping to Love

Stimulate debates, stifle arguments.
Please be nice always.

It looks like they are ready to go for your tincs and red-eyes.

What lights are you using?

Let us know how the African violet does in there. None of my tanks has been lighted well enough to sustain bloom with any of the Gesneriad family, although the plants live. I've tried Sinningia, Kohleria and Epicia, and after the first year, they never bloom again, although they continue to live. The Croton also needs very good lighting to keep its lovely colors, and in my nursery experience, need to be kept somewhat on the dry side, so I've never tried any of them in a tank. Is that one of the jewel orchids on the right? (the pink veined plant.)

Here's a photo of the Kohleria when it was blooming in the leucomelas tank several years ago. It has just sort of wandered around ever since.

I'm going to try some of these blooming plants again in my 180 that I'm putting together now with what I hope will be much stronger light than I've been able to give my other tanks.

Hey, welcome to this forum, by the way. Be sure to let us know when you get your new frogs and send some pictures.

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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

Hey look, another stream It looks very nice.
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2 D. azureus
1.1 A. cacatuoides
1 C. cinctus
1.0 F. catus

Thanks for the kind compliments and warm welcomes.

To be honest, Vivariums/Terrariums/Whateveryoucallariums are brand new to me. I am a snake guy, but every snake you add requires lots of space and to me, that's at a premium. I'm on hold with my 6 snakes at the moment. Unfortunately, I have extra time to devote to reptiles and so I figured I should get involved in a whole new area that is detailed and small at the same time.

Enter the frogs.

My first step is to make sure that I master the environment for them. It's been 4 weeks and my African Violet is still pumping out bulbs and flower - only time will tell how long that will last. I am currently using a single 6500K flourescent bulb for the 10 gallon and 2 6500K Compact Flourescents for the 18inch cube.

I don't really know much about plants to be honest, so this is kind of a trial run. I have since removed the croton and paladium as my research has shown them not be what I want. They are still nice to look at - now they're indoor plants! And no, that isn't a jewel orchid, it's a "whachamacallit" - I've completely forgotten it's name. It's been pulled to as it isn't fairing very well.

Currently between both tanks I have the following plants now:
3 Species of Tillsandias
3 Species of Bromiliads
2 Species of Fern
4 Species of Moss (not quite sure which will grow)
African Violet
Philodendron
Walking Iris
2 Un-Identified Varities I have found locally in similar environments.

I am not married to any of these species, I am going to see which thrive and which dive and continue to build the group as necessary.

I am definitely open to suggestions of some nice tropical exotics - something with purple leaves, or broad leaves that grows upwards, or even a vine plant to grow up the background.

I am very excited about this project, it is very educational and is proving to be both a challenge and fun!

I seem to learn new things everyday, like recently about water quality... that isn't a huge deal at the time as I have a 10 gallon community fish tank that I cycle my vivarium water through. It is planted and over-populated to increase the water cycle and I change a gallon-a-week. It provides good nutrients for my viv.

I actually looked into a reverse osmo system, but not quite sure how soon it'll be until that happens.

I must say I am a bit scared about culturing fruit flies and keeping crickets... it seems like a lot of daily work. I'm doing my research before I jump in - but how much time do you spend a day feeding?

Thanks again for reading...

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-Iman

1.1 BRBs (Ying and Yang)
1.1 JCPs (Striker and Sheila)
0.0.2 BPs (Spot and Speck)
5.5 Fish (Insert your favorite names here)
1.0 Miniature Daschund (Rue)

Loving to Learn
Learning to Help
Helping to Love

Stimulate debates, stifle arguments.
Please be nice always.

Neat snake.

You're going about this in the right way. There's a lot of leeway with what you can do with a tank as long as the humidity is high (80 to 100%) and the temperatures stay in the 65 to 80 degree range. Your lights are in the right range for the plants.

Fruit flies are easy enough to culture, but you need to keep several going in an alternating manner. Each will produce in about two weeks, and will last about a month, sometimes more. I use 32 oz. deli cups with special lids, which are the most escape-proof, I've ever tried, provided by Ed's Fly meat, and recycle these a couple of times. I also use their media, but you can make your own, adapt a variety of containers, etc. I also stuff in some excelsior (aspen wood shavings) for more space for the flies and larvae. Complete fly kits are also provided by several other dealers you can check out here, and are simply more convenient for me, as the dry media needs only water and a sprinkling of baker's yeast. I have a lot of frogs, so set up a new culture about every other day, erring on the "too many" side in case of crashes that will sometimes happen. In summer, I collect "field plankton" with a net, just for some variety, keep a couple of tubs of springtails going (these last for many months without a lot of up-keep,)and occasionally order pinhead crickets for variety. And of course you will need to dust the flies with calcium'D3 and vitamin powders. Dendrocare or a combination of Herptivite and Rep/Cal with D3 (no phosphorous type) have proved satisfactory over the years.

I've used a great variety of tropical plants, but some of the good old standbys are Neoregelia bromeliads (tend to be smaller than the Vresias and hold water nicely for the thumbnails that raise their own tadpoles in them.) Nice colorful vines include the watermelon vine, Pellionia, varieties of Pilea, Peperomia and the more miniature Pipers. A favorite of mine that covers backgrounds nicely, is the tiny leaved Ficus pumilia quercifolia that is covering the background in the photo I posted of the terribilis tank after ripping out the overgrowth. Selaginella makes a nice fern substitute, and is generally less invasive than many ferns will become. Some ferns can really get out of hand, and need strict discipline. For frogs such as the azureus who like larger sturdy leaves for egg laying, there are several suitable varieties of Calathea and Maranta, although these may need a lot of trimming back over time. If you can find them, Marchantia and Plagiochasma are liverworts that will make nice carpets on a wet substrate. I haven't seen these for sale in years, but used to have them "volunteer" all over a greenhouse in the cracks and crannies.

I apologize for the scientific names, but all too often, the tropicals don't have common names, or share them with entirely different plants. And of course, there are many other things that will work. You may be able to find deals from terrarium plant dealers on the internet that will offer 5-6 "their choice" small terrarium plants, kind of a surprise package of cool stuff.
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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

Thank you soo much for the plant info!

I'll definitely look into it and find some nice additions to the tank. I hdon't have many "Height" plants... just short and broad. We'll see what I can come up with!

Your info is tremendous!
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-Iman

1.1 BRBs (Ying and Yang)
1.1 JCPs (Striker and Sheila)
0.0.2 BPs (Spot and Speck)
5.5 Fish (Insert your favorite names here)
1.0 Miniature Daschund (Rue)

Loving to Learn
Learning to Help
Helping to Love

Stimulate debates, stifle arguments.
Please be nice always.