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my first vivarium

5K views 32 replies 10 participants last post by  Fishies_in_Philly 
#1 ·
ok, so i decided to set up a vivarium in a 60g tank that used to house my nice colony of chocolate shrimp and malawa shrimp until my wife freaked out and sprayed the crap out of a bug she saw in the kitchen (right above all my tanks). it is going to be home for 4 dendrobates leucomelas after it grows in. i wanted to do something different and have a majority of the plants in it aquatics. besides, i had to do something with all the plants i had lying around. but enough of my jibber jabber, here's the current pics i took today. the tank has been up and running since friday night.





and yes, i am aware that 99% of the plants are not from the leucomelas native habitat. i didn't set it up to be a biotope, just something that i will enjoy lookinig at and the frogs will be happy in. i will be adding other terrestrial plants as i go along.
 
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#6 ·
hey duff, thanks :) the left side is a drip wall. in fact, my mister took a crap on me last week and i added in an ultrasonic fogger yesterday. also rearranged a few things as well as added a floor of forest moss. this is what it looks like today

the water feature
 
#8 ·
Oh No, what mist system do (did) you have? I like the fogger, is it off the shelf or did you make it?

By the time you add frogs, the growth should be amazing. I like the look with the forest floor moss looks just a tad more established. You must be excited about the 125 paludarium in your future! I am about half way through a 37g palu and just got up the nerve to drill it this weekend for plumbing. Nerve racking to say the least but boy was it easy. I'm ready to drill every tank I have!! I love vivs but I just can't stay away from the water! I'm excited for you on the 125.
 
#9 ·
i had the rs400. even though i had it on cycle, it would switch itself to constant on. the second time it did it, it burned up the pump. i'm gonna look into doing a diy mister. either that or a low pressure rain system.

the fogger is an e-t ultrasonic fogger. i heard bad things about the reptifogger, so i grabbed one of these instead. i plan on using a modified humidifier on the 125.

and i'm the same way. this viv was fun, but i really want to do one that is both. hence the 125. should be cool. i'm going to start on it next weekend i think, i still have some engineering to figure out.
 
#11 ·
this is going to be my first time keeping frogs. always wanted to, so i did a buttload of research before i built this tank for them. from everyone i spoke with, they are no more maintenance than a fish tank. and yes, they eat live foods. either flightless fruit flies or crickets. some of the larger frogs will even go so far as to eating pinkies and baby mice. unfortunately, you can't just let a colony of crickets grow inside their enclosure for a few reasons first being is that they need to be fed supplements that they pass on to the frogs and that is only good for about a day. second, the frogs would probably eat themselves to death without having their food portioned. and lastly, the crickets can actually bite and kill some of the smaller thumbnail species of dart frogs. ok, so maybe they are a bit more complex than first expected....lol
 
#13 ·
thanks :) i'm placing a plant order this weekend, so next week it sbould have a refreshed look. i also swapped some anubias last night. i have like 20 spare anubias in a growout tank, and just kept swapping them around until i found a couple that looked "more right". lol
 
#14 ·
ok, so after giving it much thought, i decided that this viv should be for a species of frog that is indigenous of the same area that my plants are from and since 90% of the plants in this tank are from s.e. asia, i decided that the dart frogs would be content in it, but not happy. and nobody wants an unhappy frog...lol so today after work, i stopped by the local petco (which i hate btw) and got some new tenants for this vivarium. the dart frogs will go into the 125g paludarium. it will be easier to set that up as a biotope. so, without further ado, my new friends, 3 white's tree frogs :


yes, i know, they are from austrailia and new guinea/new zealand. but they also pop up from time to time in indonesia, so close enough for me...lol
here's their home as of yesterday:
 
#20 ·
The frogs are very happy. But we're down to 2. One became an escape artist and i never found him :( so the prophet and technoboy have the whole enclosure fo themselves. It has grown in a bit. Added a few plants. The crypts are finally starting to grow now.
 
#28 ·
Well, apparently, my houdini frog had a little brother. Another escaped, even after i redesigned the lid to be escape proof. I have a sneaky suspicion that my daughter and friends may have left the enclosure open after looking at them. But to err on the safe side, the lone ranger is living in a sweater box until i reconfigure his enclosure in a couple weeks. Gotta finish the 125 first.
 
#30 ·
well, i got bored tonight, and i didn't feel like spending the night on my knees covering the background of the 125. so i decided to rescape my white's tank. i essentially covered the pond and planted a few extra plants in it. so here it is as it sits now. Prophet was not to happy to be put into a temp home, but he is currently checking out his new decor :)
 
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