Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last night I planted my new terrarium for my darts. They went in it today and I thought I would share the pics.

Before they were in a 20gallon with gravel and all the plants were planted in the gravel, not on the walls. Well after getting my leuc I decided that they needed a change to accomidate for both frogs (the leuc and the tinc)

They are now housed in a 10gallon with LECA substrate from Black Jungle. I know it is smaller, but this is the first one (I wanted to make sure it would turn out) and I am constructing one more 10gallon to seperate the frogs in the future. I used the great stuff and a Bed a Beast block for the back wall and then siliconed a flat piece of cork bark in one corner. The wall is planted with some heart shaped Devil's Ivy, Creeping Fig, 2 Tillandsia ionantha and 1 Tillandsia bergeri (both from Black Jungle)and on the ground I have some Pothos and another small creeping fig.

I have to say I am pretty pleased with my first terrarium. I was pretty nervous that I would screw the whole thing up!

Just a little closer view of the terrarium.

Not the best pic, but you get the idea. This is the right side of the tank that shows the "water hole" and complete with Simba chilling on a leaf.

Nice job, it looks pretty cool. Just a question though, what kind of substrate is that? And, now for a newbie question(if the last one wasn't ), how often do you have to clean your darts' cage? With plants and everything planted in it, it seems like it would be difficult to clean the cage.

Thanks,
Andrew

lol It's all good, I am a total newbie to darts myself! I got my first dart in May of this year and my second about a month an a half ago.

The substrate is LECA, a clay composite pellet. It is used a lot with hydroponics and what have you. I wanted to use it because I was not quite ready (remember I am a newbie) to tackle soil and the issues that come with it. The "pond" area is just black aquarium gravel because I wanted the pond to stand out from the red LECA.

As far as cleaning the tank goes, the tank I had my 2 in (well 1 since May) has not been cleaned until I broke it all down the other night and tranferred some plants to the new one. I had a gravel substrate in that one with water that I would fill to the same level as the sustrate so that there was little "puddles" everywhere in the tank. I would change the water by siponing (sp?) it out when it started to look dirty.

If you are new to darts or just thinking about getting one you should really hang around this forum more. The people here have been really helpful and I have gotten some ideas as well as feedback on how to keep my frogs.

Thanks for looking!

Ellena

The point of this kind of set up is that you don't have to clean it. It's a kind of biological recycling. Process that has worked for both me and other dart frog keeper. You do some glass cleaning with vinegar and wiping down, some sumping of drainage, or if you have a false bottom with a waterway, maybe a water change on occasion, but you only have to take the whole thing apart and revamp it maybe after 5 years. It works, at least for darts.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus