Reptile & Amphibian Forums

finally omg sorry guys

I finally got it, too. I can see a couple of problems you may have with the set-up. The plants are too large for the tank, and some may be inappropriate for the high humidity, such as the Croton I recognized-- the narrow leaved, colorful plant, which is the family Euphorbiaceae: Codiaeum. These can grow rather tall, losing their lower leaves as they go, and require somewhat dry conditions and excellent drainage, which most of our dart tanks can't accommodate well unless they are very large and have special sections for them. I'm not totally sure what the others are, but they are too large for the tank already, and will grow. It looks very pretty now, but you want something that you can see your dart frogs in. Think "miniature" when choosing plants for a dart vivarium, and plan some open space with only mosses or leaf litter, perhaps some epiphytic bromeliads such as the smaller Neoregelias on a raised background or attached to a branch of wood. Small leaved vining plants, especially something like the Ficus pumila quercifolius, watermellon vine, (Pellionia) some of the Peperomias, Pileas, Fittonia, to name a few. (Many seem to begin with "P" Be cautious with ferns, many of which may go rampant, although I have great luck with some of the Adiatum species, and small epiphytic Davallias, which remain delicate and non-invasive.

You could probably also just go with what you have now, and change it and trim, or remove things that don't work. I don't ever intend to be discouraging, because no one discouraged me when I as making all of the mistakes there were to make, and still am, for that matter. These are just suggestions from my own experiences. As an example:

I put overlarge bromeliads on the back ground of my leucomelas tank, (79 gallons) then introduced a lovely gesnariade, Kohleria, "Flirt" which has spectacular blooms. The whole background collapsed from the weight of the over-large bromes. I moved a cutting of the Kohleria, which hadn't had enough light to ever bloom again, but had struggled through the years and still survived.. I moved a cutting of this in to a new 180 gallon paludarium with very strong light. It is now blooming like crazy, which is fine, but it's also taking over the entire tank, smothering everything in it's path. It went from struggle for life with just a few surviving leaves and stems, with no blooms for years, to overly rambunctious and pesty. Expect to always be cutting things back and making changes as you go.

By the way, your monkey frog is a dear. Who says frogs don't have "personalities." It's not all about color or looking like a "jewel." Even though many of the darts are incredibly beautiful, I prefer those that will come out and jump at my nose for a fly. I keep several species that are shy and seldom seen,although when you do see them, the colors are spectatcular. They simply aren't as much fun to keep.

I hope I haven't insulted you with my critique of the vivarium. I only mean to share my experiences and ideas, and I'm no expert.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.

Oh no it's perfectly fine..I'm not really as experienced as I'd like to be... I've kept many amphibians.. but only 3 darts total... and you are right the middle plant is too big.. in fact I'm thinking about redesigning the entire set up. Maybe puting Calathea Corona in there? maybe Ficus pumila? I was also thinking Monochaetum sp. Ecuador or Selaginella uncinata? Maybe you could give me some pointers on good plants for my size of tank?

Monochaetum sp. Ecuador should do nicely on the background, but would need to be kept trimmed back. (This is true of almost everything.) It's a very striking plant, and strong light will keep it colorful and encourage it to bloom. I like the Selaginellas, but for a vivarium I like the S. kraussiana var brownii for it's compact growth. S. uncinata is sprawling and will root as it goes along. You can just remove any overgrowth easily. Ficus pumila will go all over the place, but is easily controlled. If you can find it, get the variety F. pumila minima. Under good light this will remain more compact and the little leaves will "shingle" or over lap each other, making it very attractive. If you can find it somewhere, you might try one of the Marchanias or tropical liverworts, as they are called. These cover ground on wet soil with thick liver-shaped leaves, somewhat like a fern prothalium.

I use Calatheas a lot, but am not familiar with "corona." The leaves of most species can get pretty huge. One of these in my azureus tank (30 gal.) serves as their favorite egg deposit site, and is strong enough to hold both of these fatties at once while they tromple around doing their fertility rites.

Pellionias include only 3 species that I'm familiar with, but all three are attractive, sturdy vining plants. (P.argentea, daveauana, pulchra.)

Good Peperomias include caperata, japonica, prostrata, and there are some very tiny leaved varieties, as well.

Fittonia vershaffeltii is the universal favorite. There is a variety argyeoneura that has more silvery veining. I'll post a few pictures from my gallery--These are all just cuttings in pots, but might give you some ideas.

In order, these should come out to be: Calathea aurora, S. kraussiana brownii and Pellionea daveauana. I can post only three photos from the gallery at once, so will use another post for some others.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.

Okay thanks so much for all your help I think I'm going to get Fittonia vershaffeltii,Ficus pumila var. quercifolia,Monochaetum sp. Ecuador,and Pilea cadieri...what do you think of Pilea spruceana?

Pilea spruceana is a nice one, too. Don't forget to add a bromeliad if you have a background or a raised branch or log of some sort to grow it epiphytically. The smaller Neoregelias always do nicely, although they'll lose their color if they don't have a really strong light. In any event, nearly all darts will use them to sit in the leaf axils for a soak, and of course the thumbs and Pumilios use them for depositing tads, as well. The ficus pumila quercifolia will grow like a mat and eventually cover and entire background with its tiny, tight leaves, so it has always been one of my favorites.

Good luck with this. I think you will be happier with the smaller species or the vining types in the long run, and don't be tempted to crowd them. They will fill in perhaps more than you want before you know it. In the photo of the reticulatus on the Fittonia, you can see both a small strand of Ficus pumila quercifolia on the top of the cork bark, and a small strand of Ficus pumila down by the other little retic peeking out of the cave to the lower right. Both of these plants have virtually covered the background, and I have to keep ripping them away from the bromeliads so they don't strangle them, but they're worth the effort of some trimming. Keep the pictures coming.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.

These should come out in order: Reticulatus on Fittonia, Peperomia campylotropa and Pilea cardierei minima Patty's Gold.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.

Here we should have: 80 gallon blow tank I overplanted--which later, the background collapsed. A corner bow tank newly planted, which now, 3 years later looks better, and another plant I forgot to mention that is popular with a lot of people: Syngonium rayii.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.

Another view of the overplanted Bow and a couple of nice Adiatum species (capillus veneris and caudatum.

I just got a new camera so am going to have to do some serious updating of some vivarium pictures. These are all several years old, and I'm a lousy photographer.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.

Sorry, in that last group of photos, the first one is a different bow tank just in the process of planting.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.