# Recommendations for the best vining plants for my dart frog vivarium!



## froggy_guy (Oct 6, 2021)

I am in the process of setting up my dart frog vivarium and am looking for some great vining plants to fill in the background as well as to wrap around some ghostwood/manzanita wood I have in the setup. Here’s what I currently have (more ghostwood on the way). Also once I have the plants should I start them vining from the ground up or from one of my top pots in the background?


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## Tijl (Feb 28, 2019)

I'm keeping track of a plant list on my latest build, might be interesting for you to check out.









🄵🅁🄾🄶🅂 🄰🄽🄳 🅅🄸🅅🄰🅁🄸🅄🄼🅂


What was it that made this particular shot your favourite? I personally liked the other two frogs a bit better, mostly because of the more natural position the frogs were in. Not sure why, I guess it just pure personal preference. I think it's probably this frog's patern and colors that are...




www.dendroboard.com


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## froggy_guy (Oct 6, 2021)

Tijl said:


> I'm keeping track of a plant list on my latest build, might be interesting for you to check out.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Woah that’s a sick build! Unfortunately I don’t know which plants are vining and which ones are not haha. It looks like a great list, I just don’t know which ones to get or start with.


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## Tijl (Feb 28, 2019)

froggy_guy said:


> Woah that’s a sick build! Unfortunately I don’t know which plants are vining and which ones are not haha. It looks like a great list, I just don’t know which ones to get or start with.


Thanks.
Google is your friend for researching this, you might find other or similar species that you could even like more for your own project 😄


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## froggy_guy (Oct 6, 2021)

Tijl said:


> Thanks.
> Google is your friend for researching this, you might find other or similar species that you could even like more for your own project 😄


Haha sounds great! I will get googling.


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## JasonE (Feb 7, 2011)

There are several philodendron species (like heartleafed - Philodendron cordatum) that are easy to grow vining plants.


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

I really like my Solanum sp. Trailing - easy, pretty red leaves with veining, vigorous. Solanum sp. Ecuador is the more available version that seems to be essentially the same thing. Start vines from the bottom, vining plants will grow up given a chance (including my "Trailing" one), and only trail if there is nothing to grow on.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Leucs can climb on the leaves of larger vining plants (like the philodendrons mentioned; mine have been climbing on mature leaves of _Marcgravia_ sp. 'Azreal' lately), but not so much on smaller ones. Something to keep in mind -- whether the frogs can actually use the plants, or whether they're just visual filler/ frog speedbumps.


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## froggy_guy (Oct 6, 2021)

Socratic Monologue said:


> Leucs can climb on the leaves of larger vining plants (like the philodendrons mentioned; mine have been climbing on mature leaves of _Marcgravia_ sp. 'Azreal' lately), but not so much on smaller ones. Something to keep in mind -- whether the frogs can actually use the plants, or whether they're just visual filler/ frog speedbumps.


Is having a small vining plant as “visual filler” a big concern? Cause I really do like the look of a smaller vining plant (don’t remember the name) and wanted to have it wrap around some ghostwood I have.


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## DendroJoris (Apr 13, 2021)

Marcgravia species are nice, and if you want a fast growing filler you can use ficus pumila. 

That golden pothos you planted is also going to vine and send airroots all over the tank.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

froggy_guy said:


> Is having a small vining plant as “visual filler” a big concern? Cause I really do like the look of a smaller vining plant (don’t remember the name) and wanted to have it wrap around some ghostwood I have.


It's a yes and no answer. Yes it's a problem if it renders all or most of the climbing areas unusable for the frogs. No it's not a concern if there's only a small section of the visual filler plants and still lots of climbing and usable space for the frogs


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

I agree with FG.

I think that the prime motivator for how to design a frog viv should be the question 'what benefit will this design element give to the frogs' (which is a different idea from 'if it isn't going to actively hurt the frogs, I'm gunna put it in there', not that you're doing that, of course, but sometimes people seem to conflate these two ideas). 

As long as that's the main driver of plant (and substrate, hardscape, lighting, moisture sources, viv size and dimensions, etc) choice, I personally feel like I've done well for the frogs. Sometimes a plant slips in there because I think it is cute, though.


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## fredk (Oct 25, 2021)

fishingguy12345 said:


> It's a yes and no answer. Yes it's a problem if it renders all or most of the climbing areas unusable for the frogs. No it's not a concern if there's only a small section of the visual filler plants and still lots of climbing and usable space for the frogs


So, frogs will tend to avoid branches covered with small leaved vines? Or to put it another way, they have a preference for bare wood or larger leaf surfaces?


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

fredk said:


> So, frogs will tend to avoid branches covered with small leaved vines? Or to put it another way, they have a preference for bare wood or larger leaf surfaces?


You can't lump all dart frogs together on this. Leucs are larger frogs, and will use larger leaves differently than smaller leaves. At a certain leaf size (smaller), they do more stumbling than anything. Whether this is entirely bad I don't know, but it seems to make sense to provide design elements that are more rather than less usable, given that space is so extremely limited in vivs.

Tincs are different again, as they don't climb so much as walk, so move better on surfaces that are more walkable (ramps, overlapping horizontals).

The thumbnail species that I keep, on the other hand, navigate all leaf sizes pretty well, and climb surfaces at any angle, and because of this are actually easier to choose plants for, IMO (though they're more difficult to care for in other ways).


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## fredk (Oct 25, 2021)

Socratic Monologue said:


> You can't lump all dart frogs together on this...


Understood. This is a really good rundown though for all types of frogs.


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## froggy_guy (Oct 6, 2021)

Socratic Monologue said:


> I agree with FG.
> 
> I think that the prime motivator for how to design a frog viv should be the question 'what benefit will this design element give to the frogs' (which is a different idea from 'if it isn't going to actively hurt the frogs, I'm gunna put it in there', not that you're doing that, of course, but sometimes people seem to conflate these two ideas).
> 
> As long as that's the main driver of plant (and substrate, hardscape, lighting, moisture sources, viv size and dimensions, etc) choice, I personally feel like I've done well for the frogs. Sometimes a plant slips in there because I think it is cute, though.


Thanks for the thoughts. Here is what I was looking at getting, do you think these would be good enough:
*Pellionia pulchra 'Watermelon'
Marcgravia sp. 'Copper' 
Ficus pumila*
Will these plants like the ficus pumila just take over the whole tank or will it grow until a certain point and then slow down?


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## DendroJoris (Apr 13, 2021)

No, ficus pumila grows vigorously and it growth even accelerates the more leaves it gets. However, I quite like the “overgrown” look and when you trim it regularly it can look very nice without taking over other plants.

Some people also don’t like it because it has incredibly strong roots, but I haven’t had any problems with that.

There also seem to be some slower growing species available, but I don’t have first hand experience with them.


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## froggy_guy (Oct 6, 2021)

DendroJoris said:


> No, ficus pumila grows vigorously and it growth even accelerates the more leaves it gets. However, I quite like the “overgrown” look and when you trim it regularly it can look very nice without taking over other plants.
> 
> Some people also don’t like it because it has incredibly strong roots, but I haven’t had any problems with that.
> 
> There also seem to be some slower growing species available, but I don’t have first hand experience with them.


I don't mind it growing a lot and I like the overgrown look too! I just wasnt sure how fast it would grow. Like a couple weeks or a couple months?


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

froggy_guy said:


> Thanks for the thoughts. Here is what I was looking at getting, do you think these would be good enough:
> *Pellionia pulchra 'Watermelon'
> Marcgravia sp. 'Copper'
> Ficus pumila*
> Will these plants like the ficus pumila just take over the whole tank or will it grow until a certain point and then slow down?


Personally, I'd shoot more for something with pathos-sized leaves to make the vertical walls a bit more accessible. It would be fine to just let the existing pathos grow in for a while and the frogs can use that until you get your feet wet.

One nice thing about plants is when a keeper gets more first hand experience it is really easy and productive to swap in different plants.


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## froggy_guy (Oct 6, 2021)

Socratic Monologue said:


> Personally, I'd shoot more for something with pathos-sized leaves to make the vertical walls a bit more accessible. It would be fine to just let the existing pathos grow in for a while and the frogs can use that until you get your feet wet.
> 
> One nice thing about plants is when a keeper gets more first hand experience it is really easy and productive to swap in different plants.


Hmmm ok, so are any of the plants I looked up good additions or should I just scrap them lol. I just wanted 2-3ish more plants to fill in the blank space a bit and to vine up some wood I am getting soon!


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

It is up to you, you have the info you need I think.


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## froggy_guy (Oct 6, 2021)

Socratic Monologue said:


> It is up to you, you have the info you need I think.


Thanks 👍


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