# TERRARIUM PHOTOS UPDATED 26/12/06



## Fanta (Apr 30, 2006)

Dear all, 

this is my exo terra tank 30x30x30 cm . For the fact that I live in a small flat I don’t have lots of space to create huge amazing looking terrariums, so I created this alternative one, its been set up for a week and consists of the following plants, bromeliads (Sorry lost the little tag that display the appropriate name), Taiwan moss and wall moss all arranged around bogwoods. These are the initial set up, I will add more plants soon, and I will update them accordingly. 

Thanks for reading. 
Flavs 

I have started with a boogwood as a background,because it is a small terrarium i thought it would do fine to begin with. and there is no risk of falling apart with time.









setting up a terrarium is not an easy task, from what i have read, most often things go wrong and you have to strip the whole thing down. on that thought i designed this one with putty, joining bits together so that in the future if need be i can strip it down as many times as i want and put it back the way it was originally achieving the same result.










for the size of the tank a waterfall would not be suitable because it would be too soggy, so i created a little reservior to connect a little pump to create a little strem of water to keep the taiwan moss moist. without water logging the other plants.





























This is not yet the finished product. The front bit i am quite happy with. On the background i am still going to add some more plants, i just feel like there is no need to rush, so any suggestions will be most appreciated.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

WOW that first one is very nice... what are you planning on putting in it?


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## omiga13 (Jun 20, 2006)

pretty cool set up!! both are great! congrads!


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## Guest (Jul 4, 2006)

Great way of making the waterfall!! Nice tanks!


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

I really like that vert. 

What's that puddy you used? Could up provide some detials about it?


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Also what type of moss did you use in the first one?


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## Fanta (Apr 30, 2006)

Hi,

I was thinking of thumbnail species, (Imitator, Amazonicus or Dendrobates reticulatus ) because of the size of the tanks, but before i buy anything i am going to reaserch a lot more. 

The putty used was One called aquascape, designed specially for the aquarium use, is perfect for terrarium as well. it comes in A two-part epoxy putty wich is formulated to dry even underwater, it is very handy and it can be used for sticking glass to glass, plastic to glass, plastic to plastic, wood to wood (which is my case) etc.. The cost is betewnn £2.99 for the grey and £3.99 for the pink version. 


As for the Moss is called taiwam moss it belongs to a different family from the java moss. When it starts to grown it looks like java moss, but once it grows up to 0.5 cm it stats to divide forming what it is similar to a christmas tree leave. I hope i have not confused you. here is a little pict to give you an idea of what i am talking about.


















i hope it helps.
Flavs


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## Danyal (Apr 15, 2006)

i love the first one, very pretty. what type of lighting do you have? i have tiawan moss in my planted cube and my brothers 5g bowfront and i love it. i think it looks way better than java moss, it gets nice and green unlike my java moss that stays really dark and dirty looking.


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## Fanta (Apr 30, 2006)

hi Danyal,
Couldn't agree more, i have just added them a week ago and its not fussy at all, in one week i started to see it growing already. The lighting is a standard fish tank light called Azoo 200 (15w), which is on for about 10 hrs.

Regards
Flavs


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## Danyal (Apr 15, 2006)

how wet are you keeping it? i want to try putting some into my temp viv for my young pacific treefrog but don't want it to dry out and die. i have a cube with similar demensions to yours(11"x11"x11") but is a freshwater planted tank(has the bulk of my taiwan moss, about two handfulls, going on the rocks stacked up on the back wall)


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## Fanta (Apr 30, 2006)

Hi Danyal,
i d say it is not very wet just enough to keep the moss moist, i prepare a little spraying bottle with about 200ml of water with two drops of plant fertilizer and spray that water over the bogwoods early when i wake up and just before i go to bed. The moss is loving it and i can see that it is growing already faster than i thought though.
Flavs


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## W3rdSmyth (Nov 18, 2005)

I know this post is over a month old, but I'm just getting caught up on my reading.

I REALLY like the way you made use of the space you had, and I have never seen anyone with a setup like yours. I like your creativity, and it really makes quite a nice little display.

I just wanted to say congrats on your creativity, and the neat little setup you have acheived as a result.


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## rain- (Jul 28, 2006)

Oh, I wonder why I haven't noticed this thread before, the design is just plain beautiful and the use of aquarium putty is quite genious. I need to get some for myself too. 

Oh, and actually taiwan and java moss both belong to the same genera, java moss is _Taxiphyllum barbieri_ and taiwan moss is _Taxiphyllum alternans_, here's some more information about that: http://www.killies.com/Truthaboutmosses.htm


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## Fanta (Apr 30, 2006)

W3rdSmyth said:


> I know this post is over a month old, but I'm just getting caught up on my reading.
> 
> I REALLY like the way you made use of the space you had, and I have never seen anyone with a setup like yours. I like your creativity, and it really makes quite a nice little display.
> 
> I just wanted to say congrats on your creativity, and the neat little setup you have acheived as a result.


Many thanks for the nice comments!!!
Though it looks slightly different now, I had to add some more plants to make it denser, and make a hole on the bottom glass for drainage. Small changes really plays the trick on the frog's behaviour, they are much bolder now. I will post some more picts soon. 
Thanks again.


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## Fanta (Apr 30, 2006)

rain- said:


> Oh, I wonder why I haven't noticed this thread before, the design is just plain beautiful and the use of aquarium putty is quite genious. I need to get some for myself too.
> 
> Oh, and actually taiwan and java moss both belong to the same genera, java moss is _Taxiphyllum barbieri_ and taiwan moss is _Taxiphyllum alternans_, here's some more information about that: http://www.killies.com/Truthaboutmosses.htm


Thanks for correcting that , you see DONT BELEIVE EVERYTHING THEY TELL YOU. 

Great information page, thanks for sharing!!! :wink:


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## rain- (Jul 28, 2006)

The information about the true identity of java moss isn't that wide spread yet and it seems that fish stores and other places aren't that interested in real names anyway, so no wonder there's lots of old information going around.

And yeah, that page really is nice, killies.com forum also has the best threads about mosses in the whole internet. Really cool place to read.


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## Fanta (Apr 30, 2006)

Just about time for an update.










All the best


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## Frank H (Nov 3, 2005)

Moss is growing in nicely. Great job on this tank!

Frank 8)


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## joeyo90 (Nov 5, 2006)

very nice


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## MegophryidaeMan (Oct 22, 2006)

Wow, that's amazing looking!  Did you finally decide on what frogs you are thinking about putting in your enclosure? I'd go for imitators - a little partial you might say


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## Fanta (Apr 30, 2006)

MegophryidaeMan said:


> Wow, that's amazing looking!  Did you finally decide on what frogs you are thinking about putting in your enclosure? I'd go for imitators - a little partial you might say



We are on the same wavelenght, i thought of the same, but imitator at the time were in short supply, so i decided to go for a pair of D intermedius, they ve been in there four months, lots and lots of calling, but i am still to see some eggs    .

Humidity is between 86 and 94 % and temperature is Between 72 and 76.
Feed about 3 to 4 times a week, but no luck to far. i am starting to think the viv is too small for them. thoughts anyone???


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## alifer (Oct 24, 2005)

Your viv is looking great, I like the open moss covered look.
I used a similar moss, Xmas moss, on my back ground and it looks nice when it has a lot of light & stays damp. 
The Xmas moss is in the upper right corner >>> background pic

-Rick


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## Fanta (Apr 30, 2006)

alifer said:


> Your viv is looking great, I like the open moss covered look.
> I used a similar moss, Xmas moss, on my back ground and it looks nice when it has a lot of light & stays damp.
> The Xmas moss is in the upper right corner >>> background pic
> 
> -Rick



I though of going for the xmas moss as well, but I was told that it takes much longer to grow than the Taiwan one, I don't have any experiences with the xmas moss, but I can say that the Taiwan moss grows incredibly fast, from what you see on the picture I had to cut down twice already I even sent some off to friends. What is the growing rate of the xmas moss????

By the way can you direct me to a full pic of your viv, it looks established already, and it looks damn good from the tease pict you provided.


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## alifer (Oct 24, 2005)

Fanta said:


> I though of going for the xmas moss as well, but I was told that it takes much longer to grow than the Taiwan one, I don't have any experiences with the xmas moss, but I can say that the Taiwan moss grows incredibly fast, from what you see on the picture I had to cut down twice already I even sent some off to friends. What is the growing rate of the xmas moss????
> 
> By the way can you direct me to a full pic of your viv, it looks established already, and it looks damn good from the tease pict you provided.


Here you go Flavs,

NC24 Vent Viv Thread Link 

The Xmas moss does grow rather slowly, but I'm starting to like slower growing plants in the viv. I have the moss on the background, on the soil & in the water, but it looks much better on the background where it gets more lighting. I pulled the Xmas moss from a fish tank & laid it directly on the background & soil, where it adapted quickly to the emersed state.

-Rick


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## Fanta (Apr 30, 2006)

alifer said:


> Fanta said:
> 
> 
> > I though of going for the xmas moss as well, but I was told that it takes much longer to grow than the Taiwan one, I don't have any experiences with the xmas moss, but I can say that the Taiwan moss grows incredibly fast, from what you see on the picture I had to cut down twice already I even sent some off to friends. What is the growing rate of the xmas moss????
> ...




Just been reading yr thread, absolutely amazing, great stuff. Keep it up.


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## c'est ma (Sep 11, 2004)

Wow, your viv is maturing beautifully. That moss looks so rich & lush. 

How old are your intermedius? Males call well before females reach sexual maturity. Are you sure you have a pair? I doubt if viv size is an issue...


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## Fanta (Apr 30, 2006)

c'est ma said:


> Wow, your viv is maturing beautifully. That moss looks so rich & lush.
> 
> How old are your intermedius? Males call well before females reach sexual maturity. Are you sure you have a pair? I doubt if viv size is an issue...


They are about 8 months old, they were sold as a pair, one is slightly smaller and used to call all the time when I had it in a smaller enclosure, the other one is more on the fat side and for all this time hasn't called and the difference in shape is obvious. The funny thing is when I had them in a much smaller enclosure they seemed to be happier, the male would call every day, but as soon as moved in to this viv, which by the way has much more cover I hardly hear him call now, I hardly see them at all, they are always hiding. Only coming out to feed occasionally.

I spray once a day, and feed 3 to 4 times a week, temperature in between 72 and 76 and humidity is between 86 to 94%. Don't really know where i am going wrong. 

thanks for reading


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## c'est ma (Sep 11, 2004)

Well, in my _vast_ experience (one trio of inters), I think it's still too early to expect eggs. I started with froglets, and the males started calling around 4 months of age, and like you, around 8 months or so I started posting about when breeding would ever start...The experienced hobbyists on this board mostly concurred that their inters actually started laying eggs at around 11 months of age. That was not what I wanted to hear, patience not being my long suit, but as it turned out they were right on the money. I guess females take longer to reach sexual maturity...

So if I were you I'd just keep them happy and healthy and try to be patient...

(Then, once they start laying, I'll tell you how many months and clutches I had to go through before they transported tads...  )


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