Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Coould you do another photo set of your azureus tank? I'm extremely partial to having F. pumila cover the back wall and would like to see some detailing of each of your plants and specific areas of the tank and background. How long did it take for the F. pumila to cover the back like that? I'm doing a trial run on a 20 gallon high vert. which will have creeping fig crawling up the back to cover the coco/weldbond 'skin' that covers the foam. I'm getting ready to throw up some progress pictures on my frognet gallery and will supply a link upon doing so. I look forward to seeing this new set, so get it done!!

-Bill J
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Updated list as of: 11/7/03
2.2.3 D. azureus
1.2 D. ventrimaculatus 'yellow' (22 tads in the water)
3.3 D. tinctorius 'cobalt'
0.0.3 D. tinctorius 'patricia'
0.0.1 D. tinctorius 'giant orange'
0.0.1 D. tinctorius 'citronella'
0.0.2 D auratus 'zwartgroene(Panamanian black and green)'
0.0.5 D. auratus 'green/black'
0.0.3 D. imitator 'Alex Sens line' (very soon)
0.0.2 D. reticulatus (soon)

Funny you should say that I just took new pics off all of my tanks. It climbed the back rather fast I'd say in about a month or so it had got to the top. I do trim it away from the other plants and top each month. I'm thinking of upgrading the lights in this tank also, but I bet I would have to cut it back weekly then. It has a 6500k repti-glo 2.0 bulb on it right now.

April 19, 2003, when I set it up:

July 13,2003:

Dec. 6th 2003, and a few trimmings:

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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Kyle,

It's amazing to me that your ficus pumila has grown so rapidly. I think I turned you on to the fact that this plant was being sold at Lowe's about 8 months ago or so. I bought mine a few weeks (or days, or something) before you, and mine hasn't made anywhere near that kind of progress. However, I think I know the secret between the differences here.

I think that the ficus actually thrives under lower lighting conditions, and extra moisture. I see that your brom has lost its dark reddish appearance from the first picture to the second, and your ficus has a very dark color to it. These are both indications to me that the lumens produced by your light are not the absolute ideal for the brom (although it looks healthy enough), but IS ideal for the ficus.

The reverse is true for me. I have a very high output CF fixture which keeps my broms a nice red, but my ficus is actually a light green/yellow color. It grows rather slowly, and tends to try to congregate under overhanging limbs and other plants in the vivarium. So, what's my point? I rarely have to trim my ficus under extremely high lighting conditions, but it's good to know that it might be more versatile under lower lighting. I'll post a pic of mine here soon.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

It has grown very well, interesting that yours has not under more light. Yes it is the exact plant you turned me onto and I am using it in 3 of my tanks. I did have it in my imitator tank also, but removed it.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

My ficus also grows very well under low light and high humidity. I have a 54 corner tank with only two 15 watt full spectrum lights. The ficus completely took over my tank in less that 6 months. My tank looked like a seen out of Jumanji. Frogs liked it well enough, so I let it go. That tank has been completely redone in the last three months, and now is ficus free. I wanted to try some other mosses and small ferns that would have gotten taken over easily.

Interestingly enough I do have a chunk from that same plant residing in another tank with much more lighting for the size, and it isn't growing at nearly the pace.

Lastly, Kyle great pics. It looks like you have glass tops on your tank. If so, how do you keep the glass from fogging up?
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1.1.3 D. azureus
0.0.8 P. bicolor
0.0.7 D. auratus (polka-dot)
0.0.3 D. auratus (blue)
0.0.3 D. auratus (kahlua and cream)

Shannon

I use normal glass tank lids with the back part being plastic, which I then vent and run a very small fan, just enough to keep the glass unfogged:

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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Here's a pic of my ficus that I planted before Kyle planted his. I think Shannon's anecdote cements my theory pretty well.

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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

That tank has grown in very nice, looks great.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Thanks! I just took a pretty good pic that I'm about to post. I like some of your designs a bit better, but I just can't convince myself to take out some of the plants there.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

From the looks of it I would not take any out.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Kyle, are those tillandsias on your wall? f so, how are you keeping them alive in the humid conditions? Do you spray the tank often?

thanks,
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Matt

I did lose the one on the right from the first picture, and the one that is now on the far right is one I used to have in my imitator tank. I have just added the orchid on the right side of that tank also.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

I started out with 3 air plants in my tank, one died, but the other two are doing fine. I thought one of them was going to die. But it grew a new plant and its growing more and more every day. And the other is growing a little. I have turned my fans on to 5 minutes 3 times a day and is mists for 3 minutes every 2 hours. And i hand mist about once a day.

I knew the air plants would probibly die, but i tried them any ways and only lost one out of three!

aj
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