Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 30 gallon high tank, in it I have 2 White's Tree frogs. Right now for decorations I have that reptile carpet type stuff, a large silk plant and a water bowl. I want to get a more natural looking tank, but I am unsure on where to begin. I would like to get live plants but do not want anything that requires a lot of lighting, I need plants that will survive under low lighting from an incandescent bulb. Would I be able to get the soil, etc that I need to set up the substrate from a store like Lowe's? Please give me some advise to help me get started...

Thanks,
Kyle

The best place to start is lighting, and because your lighting would be incandescent that rules out live plants completly. they may grow for a while but they woant THRIVE, which is much more disarible in a vivarium. But silk plants can look almost as good as the real thing if done right. just think, nothing to water or trim and thay are always blossoming. they also hold moisture and add humidity as well as live ones. just make sure none of the wires or sharp thing are sticking out.

Another route you can take is those new flourescent energy saving bulbs that fit in an incandescent socket, im not sure how well they grow plants, nobody seams to know for sure how well they work but petsmart sells them as reptile bulbs so they must do something, ask around!

Live plants or not its always good to have nice substrate, i like a layer of pea gravel with a layer of potting soil and then spahguim (sp?) moss on top to keep the frogs clean and from ingesting the dirt. its good too becasue unlike the repti stuff, you can change small spaces (like the bathroon areas) insead of washing the whole thing.

hope i helped spark your creativity! let us know how it turns out!
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0.1.0. Leo
1.0.0. Sneaky House Gecko
0.1.0. WTF (looking for a breeder male!)

go to Balck Jungle, they have everything you need to start a living terrarium. Good Luck!

Black Jungle
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Julie

0.2 Bearded Dragons
0.0.1 Panther Chameleon
1.0 Jackson Chameleon
0.2 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Crested Gecko
1.0 Blue Water Dragon
1.2 Japanese Fire Belly Newts
1.1 Aquatic Frogs
0.1 Collared Lizard
1.1 Seahorses
0.1 Chinchilla
0.1 Dog

it really depends what kinda light spectrum the incandescent bulbs emit. if it is just a normal incandescent then they are not to good for plants. but if it is a natural 'blue' daylight incandescent bulb, then your plants will flourish. i have used a blue daylight bulb from 'zoomed' and it has worked wonders on my plants in my VIV.

if you REALLY REALLY want a natural looking viv, then you will have to invest a bit of money in a good light source. because without a good light source, plants will not be able to photothinthesis and produce carbohydrates, lipids, etc as building blocks to grow.

luke z
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http://luke_zecevic.tripod.com/frogsofaustralia

The flourescent energy saving bulbs do work well for planted tanks.
My brother has been using them for 2-3 years in his gecko tanks.
Plants like sansevera (sp?) , pothos and elk horn fern have multiplied like crazy. I have a small ten gal viv set up That I replaced the incandesent bulbs with the small twist light replacement bulbs about a month ago. The plants and live moss have "perked" up and are showing new growth.
I definitely would reccomend changing over for plant growth!
Mine cost $3.99 each at Home Depot

I would first change out the repti-carpet for bed-a-beast, or a other fiber substrate. A pathos plant should be fine with the light you described. Pathos will grow anywhere, and they will look good and give some nice cover for your frog. Good Luck.
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0.0.5 Blue Dendrobates Auratus
3.2.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Hymenochirus boettgeri)
2.2.0 Asian Floating Frogs (Occidozyga Lima)
1.1.0 White's Tree Frog (Litoria caerulea)

I think I will go ahead and get some BAB substrate, but I am not sure whether or not if I want to get live plants or not yet. Would having BAB and a layer of Java Moss be a good idea? I have a TON of java moss in an overgrown aquarium, would BAB be able to keep the moss moist enough? I was thinking of doing this and then maybe buying some new silk plants for decorating the rest of the tank...

Thanks for all the replies

What do you think about this?

Thanks,
Kyle