My first vivarium

[NoUniqueSnowflake]

My girlfriend recently gave me the go-ahead to set up a vivarium. I'm not sure if she was excited about it as I am, or if she was just looking forward to clearing all the plants I had acquired in preparation from the windowsills and the coffee table. But I'm not complaining!

I found this at Petco for $60 off, regularly $120. Saved me the work of having the glass cut and siliconing the whole thing together, and I don't have to worry about it leaking.

This is what I'm building the background with. A large piece of bark I found while looking for driftwood. I knew it would come in handy some day.

Cat litter that I've had soaking a few days, also for the background.

Building the false bottom.

False bottom complete!

Tank in place, with false bottom and gravel.

At this point I had to stop taking pictures because my hands were covered in clay and peat, then water and dirt, and I am under no circumstances to handle the camera with that stuff on my hands. Fast forward....


Everything in place, and I unfortunately forgot to take a photo before I gave the whole thing a good misting. I have a humidifier on the way from Amazon that I'm turning into a fogger, but for now I have to do it by hand.


Plants include Dryopteris erythrosora, Ficus pumila, Marchantia polymorpha, Selaginella willdenowii, Hedera helix, Bolbitis heteroclita, a Hydrocotyle species, some species of Vriesea bromeliad (I think), and assorted mosses. I'm sure not all species will flourish, and some may flourish too much, so I'll see what happens.

Currently unsure as to what will be living in it. I set it up with PDFs as a possibility, but I'm also considering a pair of banana slugs as possible residents. I was also thinking about vampire crabs, but they may not be an option since I opted not to do a water feature.

[cpt13007]

looks awesome, pretty solid first build.
do you have it on a misting system?

[marthat]

Looks great

[rowdaddy]

This is a vivarium? Terrarium, vivarium, paludarium, riparium. All these terms for variations of the same thing. I thought a vivarium wad to have a small aquatic area?

I am Rowdaddy.
SC Aquaria

75 Community
20H Community
20L Convict "Bedroom"
20L Growout
10gal RCS
1.5gal in progress
55 gal Paludarium/Vivarium coming soon

[Hobbes1911]

I thought vivarium simply referred to an enclosure that keeps animals under conditions that closely mimic their nature. Man I'm lost too. What do you call an enclosure with a larger water + dry land area then?

[rowdaddy]

I was under the assumption that they were based on the amount of water they had.

Most
Aquarium
Riparium
Paludarium
Vivarium
Terrarium

I am Rowdaddy.
SC Aquaria

75 Community
20H Community
20L Convict "Bedroom"
20L Growout
10gal RCS
1.5gal in progress
55 gal Paludarium/Vivarium coming soon

[CannaBrain]

Definitely a viv!

aquarium = water
terrarium = land
vivarium = habitat to reproduce a natural environment (often arboreal or forest floor recreations, some water)
paludarium = natural land habitat and water habitat (similar to riparium)
riparium = meant to resemble riparian environments, or river banks. often "farmed" more w/ rafts and planters and the like

Anyways, cheers! Looking great so far!

[rowdaddy]

Grazi

I am Rowdaddy.
SC Aquaria

75 Community
20H Community
20L Convict "Bedroom"
20L Growout
10gal RCS
1.5gal in progress
55 gal Paludarium/Vivarium coming soon