# How to introduce Hemianthus Callitrichoides and Riccardia Chamedryfolia to vivarium



## stevenacres (Jan 20, 2020)

Specifically, they were both purchased here:

https://aquaticarts.com/products/coral-moss-mat
https://aquaticarts.com/products/dwarf-baby-tears-tissue-culture

The Mini Pellia/Riccardia came on a steel mesh, wrapped in fishing line. I unwrapped it and placed it on various surfaces (wood, cork bark, and on top of leaves, seen pictured here at the bottom right, above the HC mound). Should I have left it on the mesh and just attached that somewhere?

Same goes for the Dwarf Baby Tears/Hemianthus... as shown in the picture I separated all the clumps and placed them around one area that I would like them to carpet. Humidity stays between 80-99% throughout the day, but the system isn't SUPER wet all the time.

Just looking for any tips/advice/things I should keep an eye out for.

In this situation, if it goes well, how long should I expect before it takes root and/or starts to carpet? I have a trio of young P. terribilis that will be put in this tank mid-February, so hoping they won't completely trample them.


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

My experience is that at least Baby Tears likes it really wet (wetter than I like to keep my dart tanks usually). I am afraid this is not a very good combination to have with Terribs, in my opinion. They are prone to foot infections, from what I read, so I keep them in drier conditions, especially on the ground (and have never had issues with foot infections). Maybe you could try to grow the "ground cover" aloft or vertically on the back wall? As cool as it looks having a sort of "lawn" in a dart tank, it is usually not as beneficial to the frogs as leaf litter substrate would be. There are a few exceptions to this, but it has been my experience that you don't want the wet/stagnant air conditions in a dart tank that would favor immersed growth of some of the nice lawn plants. That's just my opinion, though. Maybe other folks have had different experience.

Mark


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## Tijl (Feb 28, 2019)

Encyclia said:


> My experience is that at least Baby Tears likes it really wet (wetter than I like to keep my dart tanks usually). I am afraid this is not a very good combination to have with Terribs, in my opinion. They are prone to foot infections, from what I read, so I keep them in drier conditions, especially on the ground (and have never had issues with foot infections).
> Mark


Mark is correct, this is very good advice.


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## stevenacres (Jan 20, 2020)

Thank you both!

Are there any darts that like a wetter tank? I'm considering building a second tank to put this kind of stuff in—something that might be a bit more moist, in that case.










I've seen tons of videos where P. terribilis are in tanks with full ground cover and seem to be happy. Is there any ground cover you'd recommend, like in these videos? I've read on here/seen stuff about "low growing tropical moss" but not sure where I can get my hands on that—not a fan of the "mood moss" or others that seem to be sold by most of the popular frog vendors.


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## Tijl (Feb 28, 2019)

stevenacres said:


> Thank you both!
> 
> Are there any darts that like a wetter tank? I'm considering building a second tank to put this kind of stuff in—something that might be a bit more moist, in that case.
> 
> ...


Yes, the internet is full with incorrect information.. You should look up in situ video's of terribilis so you can try and recreate their habbitat as best as it gets.

I will give you this one for free  : https://youtu.be/OPJUTYb9eCw


Unfortantly I've seen Terribilis gow trough their legs all the time from these moist tanks... Their feet or belly just rot from sitting on a moist substrate.. So anny type of Moss is realy not a good substrate at all! as you can see in the video, there is no inch of moss on the botom. it only grows on trees.

In my experience only Ameerega and Epipedobates can "benifit" from more moist tanks, but you have to provide dry spots aswell. Most tanks are very quickly too small for being able to maintain this.. And they are not the most bold or easiest of dart frog species. Except for E.Anthonyi, these are strong hybrid Tricolors that are very resistant to more "extreme" conditions.


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## stevenacres (Jan 20, 2020)

Thanks so much—it's appreciated!

I see so much moss in all the photos of builds here, and pretty much every dart frog site sells different species of moss. I also see lots of people reference Troy Goldberg's builds/frogs, which all have moss growing pretty healthily in them, so this is the first time I'm hearing this!


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

I have an area in my orange terrib viv where moss has grown volunteer. Frogs seem to like to sit there and "wiggle their toes" but most of the ground has generally dry leaf litter. I've seen no issues with infections, but they get to self select where they hang out. This moss is probably peat moss that has resurrected and moved around by spores. I don't do anything special for it, except a good soak when hand misting. It's not Ricca or baby tears, so it's not an aquatic grown emersed.
I bet a lot of the moss you see is the result a similar situation. In my experience patience is the best moss husbandry method.


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## stevenacres (Jan 20, 2020)

Yeah, I'm wondering if I aim most of my misters to one side of the tank to keep that more moist and have the other be a tad drier, so they can choose. Tijn's (great) link above shows the forest is a bit drier, but that could also just be that moment of the day/year... they're naturally from the Pacific coast of Colombia, one of the rainiest places on the planet. So maybe it's more about making sure they can dry off and not be on 100% wet substrate always? Or is that just too risky? I'm not going for a 100% moss covered floor, just a section. There will definitely be plenty of leaf litter.


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