# anyone tried a "dart frog" set up with larger frog



## rattler_mt (Apr 15, 2005)

my friend who is interested in the Malayan leaf frogs(he has lured me into them too) is looking to do a natural set up for them. being they are a large frog we are wondering if it will still work. tough im thinking we will need an external filter to help out a bit we are thinking that the plants in the tank should take care of most of the waste. so anyone done a natural, false bottom type set up for horned frogs(Ceratophrys) or Pixie(Pyxicephalus) frogs?


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Big frogs have big poos and are... well... big. One of the biggest reasons we can keep such purdy plants in our tanks is such little frogs (how many times can YOU use big in a sentance?). RETFs would probibly destroy some of the purdy tanks we've built, much less the buggers you're recomending. Unless all the purdy stuff were off the "forest floor" of the tank so they wouldn't bug them... but thats a lot of wasted tank space, and you want lots of space for some of those frogs. And plus, there wouldn't be plants where the waste is.

Also, all three are very good at putting holes in the substrate to fit themselves in, horned frogs esepcially. Dig a spot, and sit there and wait for food to come along. A nice soil mix with leaf litter will make them happy, but I feel bad for any terrestrial plants involved.


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## rattler_mt (Apr 15, 2005)

im thinking along the lines of pothos and such. Megophrys nasuta shouldnt be a burrower as its adapted to hide amoungst leaves on the ground so i dont think there will be much digging done by them. i am thinking of using a coarse substrate like 1/4-1/2 inch coconut husks over top a false bottom with a "rain system" to wash the waste down into the substrate and into the water where the canister filter should help out. atleast thats aong the lines of what im thinking.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

I've kept C. guentheri in that sort of setup with no real problems but you need to have space between the substrate and the water area to keep it from going stagnent or have it run as a stream most of the day and then for a period of time have the rain system kick in... 

I would not suggest a false bottom for serious burrowers like Ceratophrys, or Pyxicephalus as these species can abrade themselves on the divider for the false bottom by trying to burrow through it. 

Ed


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## Derek Benson (Feb 19, 2004)

Ed said:


> I've kept C. guentheri in that sort of setup with no real problems but you need to have space between the substrate and the water area to keep it from going stagnent or have it run as a stream most of the day and then for a period of time have the rain system kick in...
> Ed


Which are the solomon islands eyelash frogs. I've also kept them in a natural set up, as well as most of my other "non darts".


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

Easy solution:

Tall enough tank, attach cork/ cocopanels, etc. and let creeping fig, pothos, philodendron, etc. climb the wall. That solves the destruction from the frog, if its out of its reach.

Perhaps you need to get large plants for large frogs? Say, keep them in a 50-100 gallon and use peace lilies, small palms, Dracaena etc.


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## back2eight (Dec 19, 2005)

I had a 20 gallon set up for darts but my husband me bought tomato frogs instead. They are burrowers, so I did have to remove some of my smaller, more tender plants and seedlings, but I really haven't had to make much of a change to the tank. I pick up large poo-poo when I see it and throw it away. You can put your plants in pots and put them in the tank that way. I have some of those in there, too. These particular frogs are strictly terrestrial and do not climb or even hop, they walk slowly. They seem very lazy. I just have a shallow water bowl for them. I keep the humidity up by covering the screen lid that I have. I hardly ever have to mist. I've been wondering if I need to mist anyway to help flush some of the waste. Maybe if I uncover some of the top so humidity won't get too high I can mist more often.


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## Homer (Feb 15, 2004)

Derek Benson said:


> Ed said:
> 
> 
> > I've kept C. guentheri in that sort of setup with no real problems but you need to have space between the substrate and the water area to keep it from going stagnent or have it run as a stream most of the day and then for a period of time have the rain system kick in...
> ...


Hey, Derek, it's good to see you back. How is your plywood tank rack doing? Any new pics to update us with?


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## Homer (Feb 15, 2004)

rattler_mt said:


> im thinking along the lines of pothos and such. Megophrys nasuta shouldnt be a burrower as its adapted to hide amoungst leaves on the ground so i dont think there will be much digging done by them. i am thinking of using a coarse substrate like 1/4-1/2 inch coconut husks over top a false bottom with a "rain system" to wash the waste down into the substrate and into the water where the canister filter should help out. atleast thats aong the lines of what im thinking.


No actual experience here with such a setup, but Monstera and full grown Pothos and some Philodendrons are very resilient and tough. As said above, as long as you aren't expecting the floor to be beautiful, I'd recommend going for it!


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

If you have semi-aquatic frogs, a full grown amazon sword, anubias, or various others allowed to grow out of the water would be excellent...but good luck finding a way to light without cooking the frogs (if you try and grow swords)


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## Guest (Jan 14, 2006)

I've kept fire bellied toads in a 10 gallon vivarium theres pictures of it in my gallery


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

my bombina vivarium has tons of creeping fig, moss, pothos, pepperomia, etc, but it gets a bit too warm sometimes. So, I plan on either using a peltier device or buy an iceprobe (last resort) for them.

All I light my 10 gallon is a 19w daylight bulb from HD.


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## back2eight (Dec 19, 2005)

Why would having a good enough light source to grow certain plants cook the frogs? I grow sundews in my tank, and they need lots of light to produce their dew. I use cool compact flourecent lights, note the cool part, and it doesn't make the tank hot yet provides plenty of light for the plants. I also have some butterworts in my tank which are growing like crazy, and one of them is flowering right now. I have some seedling neps, which also needs lots of light to produce pitchers, and they are pitchering very well. So lots of light does not equal heat.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2006)

Well I broke down and have joined this forum since I am sure I'll be needing to ask questions myself no and again and I don't want to burden Rattler with all of them.

So, I am the friend that Rattler refered to at the start of this thread.

I discussed this style set-up for some time with Rattler as well as another member here (AmphibianWA) before going with it and I also ran it past a very professional frog keeper/breeder here in Atlanta, who helped me set the vivarium up. Yesterday I recieved the M. montana to go in it

Here is a pic of the whole set up (the red circles are around the frogs)










The reservoir holds about 5 gallons. 2" layer of charcoal topped with 4-5" of a fir bark, charcoal, Osmuda, LFS mix that drains very very fast. All the plants are direct planted.


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## rattler_mt (Apr 15, 2005)

and here are some individual frog pics.

























Pyro is holding my frogs for me since its so darn cold up here and i havent gotten my tank set up. not 100% sure what i am doing yet. but will start on the tank here shortly


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## back2eight (Dec 19, 2005)

wow, those are freaky looking. I have been looking into solomon island leaf frogs, but those that you got look more like leaves than the solomons do.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

I used to keep M. m nasuta at once myself. My setup was a bit different. I basically just set it up like you would setup D. reticulatus minus the false bottom jazz.

Basically, lots of peat moss/jungle mix on top of a large amount of gravel for drainage. I scattered dead oak leaves and other larger leaves around the terrarium for them to hide in. I kept the humidity at about 75% most of the time, but it got higher on warmer days. At night, they would wiggle their little butts into the peat moss mix up to about the top of their hind legs and sleep that way.

With this setup, my frogs started calling. But I had 2 males, so no breeding!


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

If you think about it, while they are nocturnal, treefrogs could possibly be better for lushly planted tanks as many enjoy much warmer and drier conditions than darts, which makes higher intensity lighting like metal halides a possibility to grow flowering plants.

Except many hylids are nocturnal though. :roll:


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## tikifrog (May 11, 2004)

I had kept a male nasuta in a ten gal false bottom planted tank for two years with no problems.

I currently keep my Leptodactylus laticepts, aka Rocky, in a drilled 20 gal false bottom planted with pothos, philodendron scandens oxycardium and janet craig draceana compacta. He has a cave made out of corkbark. There is a water bowl centered beneath a dripper and the misting nozzle. The bowl is drilled for an overflow near the top and is plumbed to drain into the bulkhead. Leaf litter is scattered on top of green moss which is on top of a coco substrate mix over an egg crate/sceen plate. I like using the leaf litter because it makes spot cleaning easier. He poops bigger than the body size of most of my darts.

John R.


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## Guest (Mar 7, 2006)

Man those guys are sweet! Where can I get some?

Matt


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