# 20 gallon long rock build



## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

So ive have 2 tanks done so far which are 10 gal vets. 1 10 gallon vert has 2 inibico tarapato. another will house lamasi (orange).Also working on another 10 gallon vert as well as going to start working on this 20 long.All of these tanks will be on a frog rock. 

I will be attemping to do my FIRST fake rock backround , becuase looks more natural and not a fan of gs foam. i just finshed doing a false bottom that has a small creek running around. So its a nice feature as well as will be easy to sifin out the water when i need to.will post pictures tomorrrow. Also tomorrow im running to lowes to get blue styrofoam and what ever tools i need. Hope you guys enjoys and give me any tips or tricks on making the fake rock. advice would be great and critzism would help on an errors i make.

do you think this is a good tank to house a trio of D.azureus?


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## dendroguy23 (Jul 31, 2011)

pictures? im thinking of doing that to.


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

dendroguy23 said:


> pictures? im thinking of doing that to.


i will tomorrow.stay tuned


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## dendroguy23 (Jul 31, 2011)

ok but thats a really good idea.


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

dendroguy23 said:


> ok but thats a really good idea.


thanks i thought about it for awhile


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## dendroguy23 (Jul 31, 2011)

ok i built for my first a rock/wood background it looks like wood but its a rock and d. azureus like room to walk so a 20gal long would be good "im new to vivs and that by what i heard" and if you want ill post a pic of my build to help.


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

I think that a trio of tincs is too much for a 20G; you should have 10G per frog because they are very territorial

Edit:

Here are some pages on the subject:
http://www.saurian.net/frog_azureus.html
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/care-sheets/14606-dendrobates-azureus-tinctorius-novice.html


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

hypostatic said:


> I think that a trio of tincs is too much for a 20G; you should have 10G per frog because they are very territorial
> 
> Edit:
> 
> ...


what would you recomend for this


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

heres the pictures of the false bottom im doing for it. not glued down yet. just placing it to see how it will be.




















sorry for the poor quality . it was from my phone


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

this is also the 10 gallon ive been working on as i said above. I CANNOT take any credit for the rock wall i bought it from a guy on here. he did great work


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

Youngherp420 said:


> what would you recomend for this


Well if you're set on azureus/tincs you could always put two in there. I have 0.0.2 in a 20G long, and while I think an extra juvie in there wouldn't upset things too much, I think once they all became adults there might be problems.

As for a recommendation, if you want a species that you could keep 3-4 in there and that would also climb and use the BG, I would recommend leucomelas
Saurian Enterprises, Inc :: Dendrobates leucomelas


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

hypostatic said:


> Well if you're set on azureus/tincs you could always put two in there. I have 0.0.2 in a 20G long, and while I think an extra juvie in there wouldn't upset things too much, I think once they all became adults there might be problems.
> 
> As for a recommendation, if you want a species that you could keep 3-4 in there and that would also climb and use the BG, I would recommend leucomelas
> Saurian Enterprises, Inc :: Dendrobates leucomelas


know what i think i will do that


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## DendroRachel (Jun 21, 2011)

i just did my first fake rocks/waterfall etc. some tips I'd give you...
- know what you will cover it with BEFORE you start! I though grout would look really cool and give it an awesome realistic look - which is did, BUT I didn't realize until I had the first couple coats on it that grout is not technically water proof, and it has a very basic pH that needs to be neutralized (week or two - maybe more, of vinegar and water soaks/rinses). I ended up coating my nice pretty grout with a couple layers of drylok and now i can't really tell i even used grout :/
- buy extra foam so you can experiment and toss out carvings you don't like
- i would do a solid block to insert/silicone into the tank so you don't have to waste a ton of silicone to fill the cracks in between pieces 
- think about having a few ledges that go out onto the sides - it looks cool, adds more perches for your frogs, and breaks up the silhouette of your background to make it look more realistic

good luck!


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

DendroRachel said:


> i just did my first fake rocks/waterfall etc. some tips I'd give you...
> - know what you will cover it with BEFORE you start! I though grout would look really cool and give it an awesome realistic look - which is did, BUT I didn't realize until I had the first couple coats on it that grout is not technically water proof, and it has a very basic pH that needs to be neutralized (week or two - maybe more, of vinegar and water soaks/rinses). I ended up coating my nice pretty grout with a couple layers of drylok and now i can't really tell i even used grout :/
> - buy extra foam so you can experiment and toss out carvings you don't like
> - i would do a solid block to insert/silicone into the tank so you don't have to waste a ton of silicone to fill the cracks in between pieces
> ...



thanks for the tips and advice. i just dont know yet about like what size rocks i want to do like big rock or just many little rock mix with big. and cab=n you explain this to me -


DendroRachel said:


> i would do a solid block to insert/silicone into the tank so you don't have to waste a ton of silicone to fill the cracks in between pieces





DendroRachel said:


> breaks up the silhouette


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## DendroRachel (Jun 21, 2011)

if you buy one or two slabs of pink insulation foam and glue them together, then carve the face of the rocks out only - you will have one big slab with a nice flat back. then you can just glue the entire piece into your tank. If you don't do one single piece (carved to look like many rocks), you will have to glue all of them together, which would waste a lot of silicone/glue to fill the cracks between them. 

break up the silhouette - some of the rocks can overhand and go onto the side (it will have to be a separate piece of foam, not a big deal since you will only need a few). it just looks cool and instead of having only the back covered you have more decorative 'background' on the sides and more places to have plants, without blocking too much viewing area or crowding the tank (which all 3 sides completely covered do in a background do IMO)

made a quick paint diagram to show lol 
also attached a pic of the same concept from an old tank pre-planting with the same concept but its cork bark on the sides and gs/coco-fiber on the back


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

DendroRachel said:


> if you buy one or two slabs of pink insulation foam and glue them together, then carve the face of the rocks out only - you will have one big slab with a nice flat back. then you can just glue the entire piece into your tank. If you don't do one single piece (carved to look like many rocks), you will have to glue all of them together, which would waste a lot of silicone/glue to fill the cracks between them.
> 
> break up the silhouette - some of the rocks can overhand and go onto the side (it will have to be a separate piece of foam, not a big deal since you will only need a few). it just looks cool and instead of having only the back covered you have more decorative 'background' on the sides and more places to have plants, without blocking too much viewing area or crowding the tank (which all 3 sides completely covered do in a background do IMO)
> 
> ...



i like that drawing. I was planning on doing that. also your say is put the pink foam against the glass then keep putting piece on or get a very thick long peice and carve it out all in one shot with out glue seprate pieces. and truly thanks for the help


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## DendroRachel (Jun 21, 2011)

no prob  hope all goes well!


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

i will post pictures as i go


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

My question is what tools do i need to cut the styrofoam with. As well as what tools does everyone use to get details on the rocks ?

please help before i start


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## DendroRachel (Jun 21, 2011)

carve it with a utility knife, paint it with a crappy $1 brush from lowes


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

DendroRachel said:


> carve it with a utility knife, paint it with a crappy $1 brush from lowes


what type of knife works best


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

This is a preview of what I would like to do, But I'm not sure if it looks good or not, I need some ideas,advice and or some tips. This isn't the real thing, But it's something I would like to redo and make better.

Thanks!


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## mordoria (Jan 28, 2011)

Youngherp420 said:


> what type of knife works best


any knife that cuts the styrofoam. I use either a pocket knife, bread knif from the kitchen or a razor blade


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

well today i just finsied putting the last of the rock backing on. Cant believe it took me two days each 6hours to do. looks a lot easier when thinking about it but time consuming.

I need to know just touch up and fill the cracks. as well as do touch up details.I wil post pictures tomorrow of my progress

tomorrow i want to go and get stuff for painting this soon.What type of drylok do I need and whats the best way to tint or get a natural color tint to the rocks?


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## AzureFrog (Feb 3, 2009)

Youngherp420 said:


> this is also the 10 gallon ive been working on as i said above. I CANNOT take any credit for the rock wall i bought it from a guy on here. he did great work



Actually... I'm a she! I'll forgive you though, Youngherp, since you paid me a nice compliment and gave me free advertising.


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

AzureFrog said:


> Actually... I'm a she! I'll forgive you though, Youngherp, since you paid me a nice compliment and gave me free advertising.


im extremly sorry. did not know . but you inspired me on making one. any tips


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## AzureFrog (Feb 3, 2009)

Youngherp420 said:


> well today i just finsied putting the last of the rock backing on. Cant believe it took me two days each 6hours to do. looks a lot easier when thinking about it but time consuming.
> 
> I need to know just touch up and fill the cracks. as well as do touch up details.I wil post pictures tomorrow of my progress
> 
> tomorrow i want to go and get stuff for painting this soon.What type of drylok do I need and whats the best way to tint or get a natural color tint to the rocks?



It looks great so far... post more pics so we can see the progress! 

I just finish a wall using drylok on top of mortar (first time using drylok), and I would highly recommend it. Not only does it seal the mortar, but it also gives it an interesting texture (which I sanded a bit). I used the gray drylok and tinted it with Quikrete Liquid Cement Color.


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

AzureFrog said:


> It looks great so far... post more pics so we can see the progress!
> 
> I just finish a wall using drylok on top of mortar (first time using drylok), and I would highly recommend it. Not only does it seal the mortar, but it also gives it an interesting texture (which I sanded a bit). I used the gray drylok and tinted it with Quikrete Liquid Cement Color.


can i just use the drylok right ontop of the styrofoam or i need something eles first?


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## AzureFrog (Feb 3, 2009)

Youngherp420 said:


> can i just use the drylok right ontop of the styrofoam or i need something eles first?


I think you probably could (I have not tried it), as it is pretty thick, but you would need to do several coats.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

ive used it directly on GS (which is most easily carved in detail with NEW x-acto blades replaced regularly) i added some silica sand for texture, and tinted white drylok with black and tan acrylic. after it was done i watered down a little black acrylic in a spray bottle, misted it heavily to fill cracks and give a little darker tone, and dry brushed the high spots with the tan. 

james


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

james67 said:


> ive used it directly on GS (which is most easily carved in detail with NEW x-acto blades replaced regularly) i added some silica sand for texture, and tinted white drylok with black and tan acrylic. after it was done i watered down a little black acrylic in a spray bottle, misted it heavily to fill cracks and give a little darker tone, and dry brushed the high spots with the tan.
> 
> james


thankyou that sounds great and easy


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

So here are the pictures of my rock backing. Now i need to get some sand paper to round edges and also get a knife to add more details. today im thinking of going and getting some drylok and acrylic paint

before finished 









now:
front









top:

















middle:









right coner:









left coner:


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

also after a lot of thinking. maybe a pair o trio n the best choice maybe i will. but my head pointing towards luecs


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## AzureFrog (Feb 3, 2009)

Hey Youngherp... don't forget to put small drainage holes in your plant pockets, I learned the hard way (with flooded plants).  I use old airline tubing to keep the holes open while working on my walls.


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

AzureFrog said:


> Hey Youngherp... don't forget to put small drainage holes in your plant pockets, I learned the hard way (with flooded plants).  I use old airline tubing to keep the holes open while working on my walls.


hahah thankyou


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

here is the first coat of the drylok. it needs to be alittle darker but so far so good











i want to paint agian today but it is raining real bad here so not sure where to paint


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

Can anyone tell me how to get rid of the paint that goes on the glass? and that is dryed up?


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

Scrape it with a razor blade.


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

Okay so the poeple that are following. i put my last coat of drylok on just before. now i am waiting till it drys. Now I think i will paint some spots dark green to look like moss and like someone said before on this thread to get watered down black paint and spray it on and then whip it off. 
once my rocks dry ill start

stay tuned


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## shibbyplustax (Feb 28, 2011)

Youngherp420 said:


> Okay so the poeple that are following. i put my last coat of drylok on just before. now i am waiting till it drys. Now I think i will paint some spots dark green to look like moss and like someone said before on this thread to get watered down black paint and spray it on and then whip it off.
> once my rocks dry ill start
> 
> stay tuned


Here is a great link on painting realistic rocks and water features. How to make a waterfall (rainforest edition) . if you watch the jungle waterfall video, he gives you great tips that i use in all of my terrariums. its a long video but the important painting stuff isnt till the ending 1/4 of the video. you should essentially put on three coats of paint after your drylock to make it very realistic. 1st coat is a shadow coat you want a real dark gray almost black. wait for that to dry and put on your 2nd (base) coat (whatever you want your rocks to mostly be colored) . then on your third coat use a really light grey and use a fan brush and apply a very light amount of paint to the brush, brush this out on a peice of paper so theres barely any paint on it and its very dry. use this to highlight all of the texture on your rocks and everything will pop out very nicely. after that you can touch up with some moss marks or whatever but i think youll find that video very helpful


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

shibbyplustax said:


> Here is a great link on painting realistic rocks and water features. How to make a waterfall (rainforest edition) . if you watch the jungle waterfall video, he gives you great tips that i use in all of my terrariums. its a long video but the important painting stuff isnt till the ending 1/4 of the video. you should essentially put on three coats of paint after your drylock to make it very realistic. 1st coat is a shadow coat you want a real dark gray almost black. wait for that to dry and put on your 2nd (base) coat (whatever you want your rocks to mostly be colored) . then on your third coat use a really light grey and use a fan brush and apply a very light amount of paint to the brush, brush this out on a peice of paper so theres barely any paint on it and its very dry. use this to highlight all of the texture on your rocks and everything will pop out very nicely. after that you can touch up with some moss marks or whatever but i think youll find that video very helpful


so you are saying that after the i finish drylok. then start painting ? and ill watch the vidoe but thankyou fore the help


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## shibbyplustax (Feb 28, 2011)

Youngherp420 said:


> so you are saying that after the i finish drylok. then start painting ? and ill watch the vidoe but thankyou fore the help


yes,the video doesnt explain anything about drylok and to be honest i dont think its absolutely neccesary to drylok before painting but IMO if you just use drylock without painting any details, the rocks dont look real. have you ever seen rocks in the wild that are bunched together without varying in color at all? not really. if you watch that video at about the 20 min mark he gets into painting the piece. it really doesnt take much to make the bland looking styrofoam rock feature into a realistic rock wall. its crazy how real you can get these things to look with the "dry brush method" that he mentions. and coming from someone that has 0 art skills at all lemme just say that i have made some pretty nice looking features using this method. another thing i wanna add is you might have to add a thin layer of silicone to your rocks after you paint them. i am not 100% sure if you have to on things that arent going to be submerged but i did just to be safe. i used non toxic outdoor acrylic paint that was water resistant so its possible that as long as it wasnt submerged under water, you wouldnt have to seal it to avoid it flaking off, but i did just to be sure.

anyway i just figured id let you know about that vid because i thought you were going that route. good luck and good build so far.


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

shibbyplustax said:


> yes,the video doesnt explain anything about drylok and to be honest i dont think its absolutely neccesary to drylok before painting but IMO if you just use drylock without painting any details, the rocks dont look real. have you ever seen rocks in the wild that are bunched together without varying in color at all? not really. if you watch that video at about the 20 min mark he gets into painting the piece. it really doesnt take much to make the bland looking styrofoam rock feature into a realistic rock wall. its crazy how real you can get these things to look with the "dry brush method" that he mentions. and coming from someone that has 0 art skills at all lemme just say that i have made some pretty nice looking features using this method. another thing i wanna add is you might have to add a thin layer of silicone to your rocks after you paint them. i am not 100% sure if you have to on things that arent going to be submerged but i did just to be safe. i used non toxic outdoor acrylic paint that was water resistant so its possible that as long as it wasnt submerged under water, you wouldnt have to seal it to avoid it flaking off, but i did just to be sure.
> 
> anyway i just figured id let you know about that vid because i thought you were going that route. good luck and good build so far.



this is extremly helpful


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

SO I FINALLY finished the rock backing.

i dryed brush light grey onto to the dark gray i had. Then i painted cracks and other spots black but they tap it with a napkin to dry it and then painted it over with light grey agian.Finally i mixed black and a moss green and dryed brush then is many spots to make it look realistic and mossy 

that video on making a fake waterfall and him painting helped alot. that it made me able to paint like this when i have no artistic skills really.

I will post pictures tonight with a camera instad of my phone so you can see the color better and details 

thanks all who are following and who helped


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## shibbyplustax (Feb 28, 2011)

Youngherp420 said:


> SO I FINALLY finished the rock backing.
> 
> i dryed brush light grey onto to the dark gray i had. Then i painted cracks and other spots black but they tap it with a napkin to dry it and then painted it over with light grey agian.Finally i mixed black and a moss green and dryed brush then is many spots to make it look realistic and mossy
> 
> ...


Glad that helped out, i saw what you were doing and figured that video would give a good explination on how to do a good job on it. excited to see the outcome.


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

so here is the rock..









the rack









the whole tank













































in the pictures its hard to see the detail on the rocks and it looks more realistic then from the start. Also in person it looks more real. Also i may touch up spots to help the fax rock look. So far im happy with it

Also hope my luecs will like this


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## AzureFrog (Feb 3, 2009)

Excellent work Youngherp!!!


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

AzureFrog said:


> Excellent work Youngherp!!!


thankyou. its very fun mcreating this.

and once im finished with this i want to make a rock water fall. hopefully you will follow along


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

here it is




























just need plants


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

So today I added more leaf litter and planted some creeping charlies and wandering jew.Ill post pics of this tomorrow

As well as thinking about plants to put in this tanks to really show off a good tank 

any suggestion on any plants to make this tank pop


-Matt


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

i still have to buy plants alot but these were extra clippings i had




















the rack









any plants suggestion?


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

So today i bought a glass hood for the tank and order some plants. once the plants come in ill post pictures. got alot of Bromeliads because im hoping on getting a trio of luecs. what do you think of that for this tank?


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

Great day. I just recieved my plants today and they look great and hoping it will look great in the tank, still need some type of plant for the creek \

sorry for the poor picture quality:














































Now the rock backing i recieved that i showed before for my other 10 gallon:




























And the full rack:


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

I bought 3 leucomelas "nominant from the white plains show, they have been in quaritine and just put them in there new home and its feeding time 

poor quality of pictures but heres two off them









then the third one joined 









and them eating

http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/ii204/NHLfan420/?action=view&current=P1110518-1.mp4


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

Nice! Congrats on the frogs. They look good.


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## Youngherp420 (May 3, 2011)

just an update on the plant growth and a few new plants

right side 











middle










left side










then belly shot










and


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