# New Paludarium



## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

Seems to me that I have all dart frogs except for 4 mossy frogs. All my darts get nice vivs and room to run around in while the mossies have been cooped up in a sterilite with cork bark and water....Nothing more. Weeellll, I decided that it was time to get something nice set up for them as well, and since all my frogs are in the frog room, I miss having a viv in my room at night to stare at right before I go to bed. 

The mossies have lucked out. 

Last week, I started working on a paludarium for the frogs and everything seems to be coming together very nicely. I've never done anything like this before (I've never even owned a fish before), but its really great because I'm learning a ton as I go. Everything is an experiment and I usually end up doing something twice before it works for me. 

I just thought it was time to show some pictures and share with everyone what I've been up to lately.

To begin with, I found a 33 gallon flat back hex with stand at a garage sale at the beginning of the summer decided to make it my canvas. Not a bad deal at $25 for everything either! 

All that I've done so far is to make a background, place driftwood, get a filter and light running, add gravel to the bottom, water and a few plants. 

Enough talk, here's some pictures. 




































All of my mossies I got as tadpoles from Jerry B., and although everything has morphed out fine so far, I have one tadpole left that has been in the water for a good six months now. As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with the tad at all and albeit slow on morphing, he has solid back legs, good size and a healthy appetite. Hopefully he morphs out fine as well. To pass the time until then, I introduced him to his future home so that he can break the place in before his brothers and sisters (I hope there will be sisters!) move in. 










Anyways let me know what you think, and I'll be sure to update this thread as everything progresses. 

-Matt


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## rob65 (Aug 27, 2009)

Matt,
Hey there.
So far I think your doing a great job. I have 2 paludariums myself. It takes a while for things to get off to a good start but once it does they look wonderful. You will be happy with yours when its done I am sure. Get some more plants going in the water and on your background and maybe a branch or two for the frogs. Just keep up on water cleanliness for the health of plants and animals. Maybe after your tad is full grown you can ad a few fish.
Keep up the good work.


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## HunterB (Apr 28, 2009)

nice beginning
i have high hopes haha


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

The background came out well, the piece of wood ads a nice accent to it.


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

Look good so far... Make sure to keep us posted


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

It's a very slow work in progress as money permits....I'm an unemployed college student so we'll see when things can progress. The water looks like crap in those pictures because It all just got stirred up from planting and doing a couple minor adjustments. The water has already gotten much clearer and is continuing to do so. 

As for plants on the background, I probably wont add anything until I can get a glass/screen top for it. I dont want the lighting to dry up epiphytic plants with no way of keeping humidity in. For now, I'm concentrating on the water section and will work my way up. 

Finding water plants that work well in the palu is hard because the water level is so slow. There's some really sweet plants that I really like, but I'll have to hold off on them until I can put together something with more water. 

With fish in mind, I think I'd like to go pretty simple because I want the focus on the frogs with the fish as just an accent. Currently, I have my eyes on some Golden Wonder Killifish due to how easy they are to take care of. They are also one of the easiest to breed just as long as you remember to pull eggs and fry before the parents eat them. After that, just an algae eater and possibly 1-2 more small fish. Nothing special, just an accent. 

I have a birthday coming up! Maybe I'll get a little money to finish things up. We'll just have to see! 

Thanks!
-Matt


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

Well, nothing much changed until yesterday except for the water clearing up to crystal clear again, but now I'm back with a refurbished paludarium and pics o plenty. 

Front left angle:









Front center angle:









Front right angle:









From top on left side:









From top on right side:









Right now, this viv is home to 3 mossys and 4 golden wonder killifish. I'd like to add more plants to the back wall and definitely more to the water section, but first I'll be building a canopy for the top because t5's waking me up at 7 every morning starts to get annoying. Hopefully I can direct more of the lighting downwards towards the plants instead of at my sleeping eyes. 

Let me know what you think!

-Matt


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

A couple more updated pictures with more bromeliads on the background.



















-Matt


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

bet those mossies are STOKED


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## gschump79 (Jun 27, 2009)

dang now im inspired to do one of these as well. It looks really good Matt lets hope for all of our sake you do get some money for your birthday so we all can enjoy this project finished

Greg


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

gschump79 said:


> dang now im inspired to do one of these as well. It looks really good Matt lets hope for all of our sake you do get some money for your birthday so we all can enjoy this project finished
> 
> Greg


Hahahaha! I love that last post! I really wish I get a ton of money for my birthday as well, but hopefully this project is done before then! My birthday was Oct. 30th.... This thread is kinda old and I've just been updating it. Not a whole ton of posts either, but I really got a kick out of your post Greg (I just polished off a 40oz Coors light as well....). 

Thanks for all the compliments guys! I hope to get some nice aquatic plants while bugging Derek at work tomorrow. I just need something vining to fill in between the bromeliads and I'll be set! 

The mossies really seem to love their new setup. It just took me forever to get this far!

-Matt


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## gschump79 (Jun 27, 2009)

haha thats too funny. I didnt even pay attn to the dates, just noticed it was updated and i assumed it was new. Oh well better have another beer and we can pretend its an early start to the next b-day


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

Hahaha. I wish I could have another beer! Too bad I have a 730 class in the morning! Nothing like waking up early in the morning, driving to class in the freezing cold and sitting in a classroom while my Russian teacher attempts to teach the class chemistry. I hate chem more than anything in the world. 

-Matt

Ps. Maybe I should have another beer in class in the morning. Anything to numb the boringness of that class!


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## mnellis3023 (Feb 19, 2010)

Looking real good Matt!

Nellis


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## Duffey (Mar 22, 2010)

Man, 
Your paludarium is what made me register on the site, so props to that.
I think I'm going to hijack your idea, with the 60 gallon trap tank I was going to sell, I just need to clean it up.
A few questions though, how are you filtering it?
And what is the background made out of?

And as for algae eaters, I wouldn't add any unless you can find a smaller vegi loving pleco. The common pleco that most people call algae eaters get up well past 18" in length, way too large for this tank. And the only other algae eater I can think of are Otto catfish, but they stay small so I don't know if the mossys would eat them. 

How do the mossys fair with just those branches and roots?

Thanks, 
Duffey


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

Duffey said:


> Man,
> Your paludarium is what made me register on the site, so props to that.
> I think I'm going to hijack your idea, with the 60 gallon trap tank I was going to sell, I just need to clean it up.
> A few questions though, how are you filtering it?
> ...


Thanks for that UBER compliment Duffey! Much appreciated!

In terms of filtration, I currently am running a Zoomed 501 canister filter that is hanging from the back. It seems to do pretty well, but eventually I would like to upgrade the filtration. It just seems that I'm not getting as much water flow as I would like from it. I would like to upgrade to either the Fluval 205 or Fluval 305 canister filter. 

As for the back ground, I used pink insulating foam that can be bought from Home Depot or Lowes. I cut the foam to fit inside the back wall perfectly and then took it back out of the viv. Using Great Stuff, I created different shapes and bumps/valleys in the foam so that it isnt completely flat like the pink foam is. After the Great Stuff has cured, I slathered everything in a hefty coating of brown 100% silicone and then covered everything in a mixture of peat, sphagnum and shredded leaves. Make sure to push everything into the silicone real well and then let it cure. After the silicone has cured, you can brush away or vacuum off the excess background material and then silicone the whole piece back into the aquarium. 

As for the algae, I have snails that seem to do an okay job, but it really gets old always picking them out because they are such prolific breeders! I plan on getting a couple snail eating loaches to take care of some snails for me. 

Plecos.... I dont know much about them, but I DO know that once I can research them some, I would like to pick out one that will help with algae. The algae seems to be not too bad most of the time, but a pleco will surely help. 

With all the water changes I do, the algae really stays under control. All the drowned crickets foulin up my water all the time!

My mossies seem to love it in there. Every night when I check on them with my flashlight, they're always in a new spot hunting crickets. Being that they are just as aquatic as arboreal, they dont seem to mind having a big water section at all. They pretty much love it! 

Once again, thanks for the compliments!

-Matt


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## Duffey (Mar 22, 2010)

Of course, I'd been wanting to do a Riparium for a long time, so you and Hydrophyte from other forums have made me decide to.

So you're just hiding the intake to the canister by a log or something? Or is it drilled?

Thats what I figured, background wise, for above water. Does everything stay in place underwater? All the moss/peat/leaves don't come off or decay? 

Make sure you don't get loaches that'll grow too big. Try some assassin snails maybe? They eat other snails. 

Yeah, definately do research on the plecs, or get some Ottos. I've got two in my planted tank but want more. They only get to be 2" or so, would the frogs eat them if they could catch them? I'd say get a shoal of those and try them.

With feeding, do you just throw crickets in and hope the frogs see em? 

Asking so many questions makes me feel like a noob haha.

One more, that I can think of at the moment, whats the water temp/humidity like?


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

Duffey said:


> Of course, I'd been wanting to do a Riparium for a long time, so you and Hydrophyte from other forums have made me decide to.
> 
> So you're just hiding the intake to the canister by a log or something? Or is it drilled?
> 
> ...


On each side of the background, it comes out from the back glass a little bit and there is a small cavity for both the intake, the outtake and the powerhead cord to come out without being in front of the background. 

I've always considered loaches, but have never even heard of assassin snails. This is actually the first tank I've ever had that had fish in it (Read my first fish ever). 

I'll also check out the Otto cats. I've never heard of them at all either. Something more for me to check out. 

As for feeding, I am careful when I put the crickets in the tank. I try to get as many as I can to catch ahold of one of the branches, plants or background. Plenty of crickets still end up drowning in the water, but the killifish that are in there seem to appreciate the extra food source as well. 

At the top of the tank right under the canopy and lights, the temperature stays right at 76 degrees. The water stays right at 71 degrees and the humidity hovers between 75 and 85%. 

-Matt


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## Derek Benson (Feb 19, 2004)

We have otocinclus cats at work. They are pretty tiny. I'd go with a few of those or a clown pleco or a type of bristle nose pleco. What happened to that striata loach you had in there?


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

The striata loach died a long time ago. The kribensis picked on it until it died. 

It has only been the killifish for a few months now.

-Matt


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## Duffey (Mar 22, 2010)

Listen to Benson.

A small shoal, 7 or so Oto's or a Bristlenose [Ancistrus temminckii, Ancistrus sp.] will work. Both are pretty cheap/easy to find, assuming you have a good local pet store? And I'd say assassin's for the snail problem, but thats just me. 

I'd say bristlenose actually. Should be big enough so the frogs don't bother it. 

And thanks for the background tips, I'll probably do the same thing.


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

Duffey said:


> Listen to Benson.
> 
> A small shoal, 7 or so Oto's or a Bristlenose [Ancistrus temminckii, Ancistrus sp.] will work. Both are pretty cheap/easy to find, assuming you have a good local pet store? And I'd say assassin's for the snail problem, but thats just me.
> 
> ...


Okay. To begin with, I'll probably start out with 5-6 otto cats. I dont think the frogs will even notice that the extra fish are there, and even then wouldnt have anything to do with them. 

As for the snail problem, I still havent decided what I'm going to do yet. I did a big water change today and pulled out a ton of snails and killed any egg patches that I saw. I know this wont fix my problem, but for the time being, I dont mind too badly. The big problem right now is finding money to fund all of this and still be able to purchase some frogs from Derek. I'll get it all figured out in time. 

-Matt


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## Duffey (Mar 22, 2010)

Pics when you get the ottos?

And, how much are frogs from Derek? All the ones I see on the net are like $80 a pop. Is that normal?

My tank is gonna be put on hold for a little, since I've got to finish getting my turtle set up for college, and then revamp the would be frog tank.


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

Duffey said:


> Pics when you get the ottos?
> 
> And, how much are frogs from Derek? All the ones I see on the net are like $80 a pop. Is that normal?
> 
> My tank is gonna be put on hold for a little, since I've got to finish getting my turtle set up for college, and then revamp the would be frog tank.


When I get the Ottos, I'll be sure to post some pictures. I still have my girlfriends camera that I'm holding hostage from her. She'll probably want it back soon though as she purchased a 2.1 highland bronze auratus tonight. I got a clutch of eggs as payment for driving her 4 hours tonight. 

As for Derek's frogs, you would have to get ahold of him. I dont want to throw numbers out when they're his frogs. 

College? Where you going? I'm currently attending KState (GO WILDCATS!) and studying wildlife biology. 

-Matt


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## Duffey (Mar 22, 2010)

Sounds good. Do you have any good LFS's around there?

I wish I could keep frogs and stuff at the dorm, but only fish sadly. Not too bad though. New planted tank? I think so.

And I'm going to Auburn, its the family school; but I've got to upgrade the tank/stand/filter setup for me Alligator snapping turtle so my mom doesn't die doing water changes.


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