Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, I am thinking of turning my 72g bowfront into a dart tank. I don't want a water feature because I keep reading about frogs drowning. So, how do I hook up a mister? If I do a false bottom are there any misters out there that can handle sucking from a resevoir that is only about 3-4 inches deep?

Also, can anyone suggest a good way to hide the false bottom so that it doesnt spoil the appearance of my tank? I thought about just putting some small pebbles between the glass and the false bottom but wasn't sure if that would be the best way to go or if someone had a better idea.

I'm planning on doing a cork back with broms, maybe an orchid or two, and other tropicals on the wall and in the rest of the tank. I would love to have a small group of frogs in my tank. Can anyone recommend a species and sex ratios that would allow me to have 6-10 frogs in a 72g? Thanks.

Heather
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Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson after.

Hs Kritter Kove

Hi Heather,

I recently switched my 46 gallon bow front over to a false-bottom and did exactly what you were thinking of doing. Putting gravel in the front curved section worked out great and deffinetly makes the terrarium look nicer. The 72 gallon bow fronts are nice and big and yours should be a lot of fun to make.

I've seen pictures of tanks with misting systems that are powered by water thats under the false-bottom. The two things that I don't like about this are that it would make access to the pump, say for cleaning or if it breaks, very difficult because you will have to lift up part of the false-bottom. The other thing is that if the water is constantly being brought up from the bottom and sprayed over the tank it will need to be changed which might be troublesome. Actually you could probably do water changes by just detaching the misting nossles and running the pump so maybe it wouldn't be that bad. I think that there is an issue of the European magazine Reptilia that has an article about a misting system designed to go under a false-bottom so maybe have a look at some of their back issues.

As far as what frogs to get its really up to you. If you are looking for just display animals you might want to pick something thats big, colorful and bold like azureus or one of the tinctorius morphs. Both those species are pretty territorial though and some people have reported problems keeping them in groups. The terribilis are very bold and big frogs but they aren't extremely colorful. If your intentions are to breed the frogs its best to have more males than females because females will often eat others eggs and will fight more so than the males. Good luck!
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Devin
devin@amphibiancare.com
www.amphibiancare.com