Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone

My name is Brian, and I have been involved with PDFs for about 2 years. I live in Northern California, and attended my first frog gathering at this year's Frog Day in San Jose. I currently have two tanks, one twenty gallon with three Panama D. Auratas, and a large custom tank housing one (so far) D. Azueras. I plan on building a vertically oriented tank soon for some Leucs. on to the Tillandsias. I have become quite adept at killing these things off in the larger tank. So far, I have placed 4 in the tank, all at separate times, and only one is doing well. (Well, only two are even living right now.) The one that is living is just sitting in a corner, pretty much just placed on top of a rock, while the other one is mounted with Tilly-Tack up near the top of the tank on a peice of ghostwood. The one on the ghostwood is starting to turn yellow-brown near the center of the plant, but the outer parts of the leaves are a bright green. This Tillandsia gets no water near it except during its once-a-week misting. Any ideas what may be going on, or does anybody have a link to a good page dealing with these? I am getting pretty frustrated with myself killing these things. Thanks for the help

Brian

Hey Brian,
Tillandsias are not hard to take care of, but they can be challenging in a pdf terrarium. In the wild they grow high up in the trees with access to plenty of sun and wind. They need to dry out completely within 6 hours of watering, and when they get watered, they need plenty since they have little to no roots. I have not had Tillandsias in a dart tank yet, but keep them as houseplants.
It sounds like they are rotting from the inside. This means they are getting plenty of moisture (no tip browning). It could be one or a combination of 2 problems. You may need to increase the lighting that they get, place them higher in the tank closer to the light source. And/or they may not be getting enough ventilation. Again if you have some screen on your tank cover, try to place them there and maybe run a fan (over the top of your terrarium) to help dry them out after misting. This does create a challenge, as it will reduce the humidity in your frog tank.
These are great little plants. I have 5 of them. There are 2 that I have in a windowsill that I haven't watered or soaked in a month and they are doing great. I would love to put them in a terrarium, but don't think I can keep them dry enough.

There is also some information at:
http://www.rainforestflora.com/care.htm

Good luck

The hardest part about tillandsias is they need a lot of moving air. Which is hard to accomploish in a dart habitat. i got 3 tiiandsias in mine. 2 of them are dying but my bulbosa t. Seems to be doing fine.
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Click Here to see my vivarium and steps on how to make a basic vivarium UPDATED 7.18.03 Now complete! All that is needed are some New River Tincs!

kungfu28181: My god. You are insane. -Mon Jun 30 21:41:05

If the ghost wood is holding any water it is probably the problem. The one on the rock would be doing well because the rock isnt holding any water on the plant. The leaves of bromeliades (tillandias included) are very interesting because the ends of the leaves can live or a long time after the plant has died. For example I placed a bromeliad with 5 of 6 pups outside. some crazy animal came and ate the heart of the plant and left one leaf. that leaf is still green after three weeks!

To fix your problem you could try to increase the ventalation around that plant or mount it on a small piece of wood or even a small stone that doesn't absorb water. Then mount it in the location you want the plant. As long as the plant is able to dry out and is not sitting in any water it should be ok. Another thing to try would be to avoid spraying the plant when you mist. chances are the humidity in your tank is high enough to keep it healthy.

I have a lot of different Tillandsias in the humid vivariums. Those I place at the top near the light source or fasten to high branches do well, even the glaucous ones (with the white "fur". Those lower down invariably rot. I mist daily, including the Tillandsia leaves. As a group, they definitely don't like wet feet and require good light. Some of them have bloomed.
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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