# water feature and frogs? safe?



## fleshatomb (Jan 24, 2007)

I made a 10 gallon vert last year with a water feature, for easy access to the false bottom, and i liked it. i still haven't put any frogs in it, but i am on a list for some imis. 

but the question is, just how safe is a water feature? heres a picture of my tank, the 'walls' of the water feature are malaysian drift wood and steep, but im sure they can easly climb it.










im thinking now of just keeping it drained all the time. or getting another piece of wood and angle it from the water feature to ground kinda like stairs... ideas? 

btw, all those water plants are gone now. i ignored them and they died off. bad plant owner  lol.


----------



## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

I have a fairly large water feature in one of my tanks. Never has been a problem (I just pulled 12 dozen leuc babies from the tank).

Is that brom planted in the substrate? If so, it will rot.


----------



## Frognut (Jan 31, 2005)

joshsfrogs said:


> I have a fairly large water feature in one of my tanks. Never has been a problem (I just pulled 12 dozen leuc babies from the tank).
> 
> Is that brom planted in the substrate? If so, it will rot.


12 dozen? holly @#$% come on! you got 12 dozen buyers?


----------



## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

A night's sleep would be good...I meant 12 not 12 dozen.


----------



## Frognut (Jan 31, 2005)

I was thinking you might donate them as leucoton for the auction :lol:


----------



## oldlady25715 (Nov 17, 2007)

Nice work! I'm experimenting with sculpting a backgroud with grout for 10 gal vert too. Where did you get the little plastic hinge for the front and what are those little black corner pieces on the "hinge" for?

I read a post recently that said rushing water can drown forglets but a slow dripping feature is relatively safe . I think deep water can be drown youngins; maybe put some more gravel in there to make it shallower.


----------



## fleshatomb (Jan 24, 2007)

thanks for the replys.

This tank is a year old this month, its grown, and some plants have been added/removed since this picture was taken, yes that brom did rot, but it ddin't show any signs of rot till 1 month ago. I also put another brom in there right infront of the pond, so far its thriving. i had a larger 38 gallon vivarium in the past, it was running for 3 years with 3 or 4 broms planted in the soil and never had a problem with them, so i figured id take my chances with this set up. 

I think the main reason the brom in my tank rotted is the humidifier aim straight for it and kept it even more moist then it would have been if it was pointed a different direction 

heres a recent picture, taken a week or so ago.










The water is still, no circulation, just basicly a pretty access point to the false bottom. 

the hinge for my tank. i got it from josh's frogs. but he doesn't carry it any more. Its just an 'aqaurium hinge' youd think pet stores would sell em, but i couldnt find any one around here, petsmart included that had em. But you can find em online, the evil part is shipping cost 

but, im not sure if all hinges do this over time, or its becuase i used a heavy 1/4" thick glass, but after a month or so, the hinge 'drooped' and i had a 1/4" gap between the glass and vent. 










but what i did was just get a piece of glass to fit, but of course the glass place cut it too long. but instead of taking it back i decided to could take this chance to remove the vent i made, and make it smaller. then silicone it back in place with it setting on the front glass to insure there was a PERFECT fit with no gap. 

in the parts/construction forum i saw how someone made a front access point like mine, but it opens like a door, check out that forum, it was a neat idea. the black stuff is weather stripping. cause the hinge 'drooped' there was some gaps there, so i used weather stripping to block the gaps and keep humidity in. 

congrats on the baby leucs


----------



## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

The key to a water feature is making sure the frogs can easily get out. With imis, which won't really use them especially with plenty of broms, it's not particularly useful and might be better planted with a couple of bog plants :lol: Maybe anthonyi would like the pond to deposit tads, but they'd prefer a bigger one for their clutches.


----------



## fleshatomb (Jan 24, 2007)

KeroKero said:


> The key to a water feature is making sure the frogs can easily get out. With imis, which won't really use them especially with plenty of broms, it's not particularly useful and might be better planted with a couple of bog plants :lol: Maybe anthonyi would like the pond to deposit tads, but they'd prefer a bigger one for their clutches.


hmmm bog plants sounds like a good idea.... where a good place to get bog plants? this is something i have never had to look for... lol. and with bog plants, even if the water got high, and the frog got in there, the frogs should be able to get on a plant and back to land without getting in trouble if they do panic or whatever...

only place i can think of for bog plants is black jungle,,, but they susually dont have a good selection for bog plants?


----------



## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Plenty of semi-aquatics that would love the wet feet, such as anubias and crypts. Black Jungle actually has an excellent selection, just depends on what type of bog you're talking about  Not an outdoors one that's for sure.


----------



## fleshatomb (Jan 24, 2007)

Hm, pets mart has a decent slection of water plants.... ill have to check sometime to see what they got, thanks for the tip


----------



## pet-teez (Oct 3, 2007)

A small and sturdy plant that would do well down there would be Anubias petite!
The leaves max out about fingernail size and are super sturdy.


----------



## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

And they probably wouldn't get higher than his water level either... those things are tiny! I recomend Anubias nana or barteri... they would actually get above water level :lol: It's worth taking the time to search these out (some of the sponsors sell them, local fish groups and aquabid.com are other good sources) as they aren't always easy to find at petco/petsmart (my local store never seems to get them in stock) and you don't want to buy them from a store with serious algae problems in their plant tanks. Most of the other plants tend to be inappropriate for what you're looking for or just flat out get huge (why do they always seem to carry the sword plants that get 2-3'?!).


----------



## pet-teez (Oct 3, 2007)

The petites can grow above the water level so they could grow on that divider, plus the barteri (non nana and petite ones) would get way too huge for that water area, I had one that was over a foot tall and about 9" wide and the leaves get pretty large. The nana would be alright but are still kind of big, petites can make pretty good size hunks since they grow on a rhizome.
You can find different sizes of Anubias in the swap n' shop forum over at plantedtank, Thats where I got my large clump of petite 



KeroKero said:


> And they probably wouldn't get higher than his water level either... those things are tiny! I recomend Anubias nana or barteri... they would actually get above water level :lol: It's worth taking the time to search these out (some of the sponsors sell them, local fish groups and aquabid.com are other good sources) as they aren't always easy to find at petco/petsmart (my local store never seems to get them in stock) and you don't want to buy them from a store with serious algae problems in their plant tanks. Most of the other plants tend to be inappropriate for what you're looking for or just flat out get huge (why do they always seem to carry the sword plants that get 2-3'?!).


----------



## fleshatomb (Jan 24, 2007)

Thanks for the replys. I was actually eye balling those two plants. great minds huh? But you both gave me really good information concerning both. I saw em on aquabid.com 

iplan on keeping the water 1 inch of less in height, might get higher at times, but thats what im planning on maintaining it at. Either plants would still work right? 

the bottom just has some loose gravel. is they good enough to plant either of those plants in there? or do i need to do something extra?

hmm, i love the way the petite looks. im just worried the nana might get too tal for this water area, its only 3 1/2" tall at the tallest point,,, im leaning towards the petite now...


----------



## pet-teez (Oct 3, 2007)

Well, the Anubias plants don't get planted in substrate, you can tie them to rock or driftwood and the roots can be in substrate but the rhizome will rot if they are under. You can use a little hunk of rock or wood and some thread or something so it looks like it's just hanging out in there or you can put it up against your divider wall and it'll crawl up on that 
I actually have some right now, I bought too many. If you would like a small rhizome or two send me a pm.



fleshatomb said:


> Thanks for the replys. I was actually eye balling those two plants. great minds huh? But you both gave me really good information concerning both. I saw em on aquabid.com
> 
> iplan on keeping the water 1 inch of less in height, might get higher at times, but thats what im planning on maintaining it at. Either plants would still work right?
> 
> ...


----------



## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

When in doubt, use one of each  the nana may peek out over the pond edge, and if that's not what you want, stick with the petite. Just remember... it will want light, so make sure nothing blocks it's light. Anubias are semi-aquatic and many species actually grow better, and are usually mass propagated as emergent plants... basically their roots under water, and their leaves growing emergent out of the water. The petite will do fine either way as long as it's roots stay wet. Just don't let the water level vary too much... the leaves adapt to the conditions they are grown in, and while emergent leaves can take the occassional drowning, they usually grow new, better adapted leaves... they deal well with seasonal flooding, not water levels that vary week to week. The more constant you have it, the happier the plant.

OMG I love the idea of the petite growing up the divider wall of the pond! pet-teez if you have extras left over I'd love if you'd consider sending some my way... I've been trying to talk some of the local fish people out of some but their clumps aren't big enough to divide yet!


----------



## fleshatomb (Jan 24, 2007)

Thanks for the great info.

im assuming the rhizome is different then the petite we have been talkign about?


----------



## pet-teez (Oct 3, 2007)

The rhizome is part of the plant, it's what the leaves grow off of, it's kind of the middleman between the roots and leaves. hehe



fleshatomb said:


> Thanks for the great info.
> 
> im assuming the rhizome is different then the petite we have been talkign about?


----------



## Christer (Feb 18, 2008)

oldlady25715 said:


> I read a post recently that said rushing water can drown forglets but a slow dripping feature is relatively safe . I think deep water can be drown youngins; maybe put some more gravel in there to make it shallower.


Good that I read this. I´m currently setting up an 120 gal viv with two water features in it. The "river" part has a healthy current in it in order to keep the Lemna minor from clogging the end that runs into the pond, and also keep the pest from covering the water with a green mat. Guess I´ll have to come up with another solution to the problem.


----------

