# Stocking My 75 Gallon Paludarium



## Hunter Wilson (Jul 20, 2015)

I have a 75 gallon paludarium and was originally going to house reed frogs but they don't eat a lot of things and i wanted to make the paludarium have a built in food chain with sprigtails and things like them. What herps should i house in my tank


----------



## patrickpfb (May 23, 2012)

I don't think much of anything could be sustained by just the springtails in a tank. What's your overall plan for the tank setup?


----------



## Hunter Wilson (Jul 20, 2015)

I already have the tank built here are some pics









I want to culture food in my tank and I was going to get reed frogs but my tank dose t have enough vertical space for them. I have some freshwater plankton mix (daphnia, copeds, aphids, and a few others) in the mail for the water section I will then put killifish in. 

For the land I don't have much of a plan which is why I need your help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Hunter Wilson (Jul 20, 2015)

my tank currently has no filter do you think that freshwater clams would be helpful?


----------



## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

Excuse me, but I think your approach is wrong, in my honest opinion. In the sense that it is better to build a viv suitable for an animal rather than to adapt an animal for a viv. It looks to me there are also succulents in it; if so, I know they are not good for paludarium.
Finally, I think if you do not have filter, you have to change the water quite often.


----------



## Malex530. (Aug 2, 2015)

A filter would help. Freshwater clams would not. They filter out the plankton and micro organisms and not the actual waste. While they can clean turbid water, its just because they filter out the organisms in it. Also the fact that if they die and you leave them in the tank, it will start to stink and kill everything else with an ammonia spike. Good luck!


----------



## Hunter Wilson (Jul 20, 2015)

I originally intended this Viv for reed frogs but it did so on bad information thinking that they stayed on the ground and in the water mostly. Now I know that I was wrong I would like to house something in the tank I have already built. I don't have any succulents. 

I am going to get a small submersible filter and I am not going to get freshwater clams anymore.

Thanks for your help


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Sammie (Oct 12, 2009)

Hunter Wilson said:


> I originally intended this Viv for reed frogs but it did so on bad information thinking that they stayed on the ground and in the water mostly. Now I know that I was wrong I would like to house something in the tank I have already built. *I don't have any succulents.*
> 
> I am going to get a small submersible filter and I am not going to get freshwater clams anymore.
> 
> ...


He's talking about the _Sansevieria trifasciata_.


----------



## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

I don't know a whole lot about them, but it looks like the tank might be a good setup for freshwater crabs of some sort. Filtration would likely be a good idea, though. There are some folks on this list that have lots of experience with them, and they could tell you whether it's a good idea or not. I would like to put together a tank for crabs one day, too.

Mark


----------



## Hunter Wilson (Jul 20, 2015)

Yeah y'all are right I'm gonna take them out of my tank


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Hunter Wilson (Jul 20, 2015)

I have looked into crabs and it seems like they would work but I couldn't find a species that would use all of the tank most just like the beach are and shallow water.


----------



## patrickpfb (May 23, 2012)

Crabs might work or possibly fire belly toads though I really don't know a lot about either so forgive me if that's a bad suggestion


----------



## Hunter Wilson (Jul 20, 2015)

I haven't found a good crab species to live in the tank.

Fire belly toads are good for the tank they don't use the land very much but am temporarily housing two oriental fire bellies right now in the tank and I even saw them breeding yesterday. If I am going to house fire bellies I would like to have at least two different species of fire belly has anyone ever try'd this?


----------



## SwampMan (Jun 26, 2015)

I used to keep Bangkok mountain crabs years ago. Very colorful, orange and purple. They were pretty good size too ~3-4 inch bodies. They'd stay in the water for the most part, and I'd feed them on land. Can't keep anything else in with them though because they 'll eat it.


----------



## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

Hunter Wilson said:


> I haven't found a good crab species to live in the tank.
> 
> Fire belly toads are good for the tank they don't use the land very much but am temporarily housing two oriental fire bellies right now in the tank and I even saw them breeding yesterday. If I am going to house fire bellies I would like to have at least two different species of fire belly has anyone ever try'd this?


If you are housing firebellies in there now, o would not put anything else in there later. Whatever nasties the toads might be carrying are now part of your plaudarium. As fare as the food chain thing, you are not going to find and animals that can live on just feeders cultured within the tank. There is simply not enough diversity to donso within a small glass box. And for mixing firebelly species? Why? The only other species I've ever seen for sale was maxima, and they were pretty expensive, if I remember correctly, and might be inclined to try the orientalis for a snack. Also I doubt that what you saw was breeding.

My advice to you is put a sponge filter in there and maybe a couple more firebellies. I think you said in your other thread that you have some in a ten gallon? I bet they would be much happier in here. Enjoy this tank for what it is and if you really want reed frogs, do tons of research, and build a tank suited to them.


----------



## jcotterill (Feb 24, 2015)

Just my 2 cents but the red claw crabs I had in my mini paludarium would climb up to the top of the waterfall structure and hide in the back corner, which was pretty far from the water. It just took them a week or so to realize they could venture that far, but they did eat what moss I had growing in there depsite being fed, so that might be a reason not to go in that direction.


----------



## Hobbes1911 (Mar 22, 2013)

Geosesarma sp. red devil can do well. I would strongly suggest filtration for the water part. And you can add floating plants like salvinia or red root floaters or even duck weed as all of those will help clean the water. They won't clean the water of detrius but they will help control some of the nitrogen compounds. 

And no, clams are not a good idea. 

Also, you'll have to cover the tank with a tight fitting lid without holes. I repeat, NO HOLES. The crabs will find them and escape!!! Go with the red ones, not bicolor! However, even the crabs might not like the tank too much since there are a lot of stones and little substrate which they prefer. I would remove the hard gravel and substitute it with soft substrate (ABG is good)! Also, you'll need more plants or other hiding spots for the crabs!

Vampire crab (Geosesarma sp.) | Caresheet

If you have other questions, feel free to ask.


----------

