# My Current WIPs



## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

Hey guys, I have a few projects on the go right now. They are taking longer because of the weather where in Canada, making it hard to get plants right now. I'm waiting on a big bromeliad shipment currently and some other goodies  Anyways, here's what I have (uninhabited right now).

18x18x18. It is going to be home to a trio of oophaga pumilio 'popa'. I have a few bromeliads and film canisters in here, and the bromeliads will get larger as they age. It still needs one more med-large bromeliad in the corner though I reckon. 









12x12x18. This is going to be home to a pair of some kind of thumbnail. Undecided as to what. Still needs a couple bromeliads, and I'm thinking about putting some kind of gobenia in there. Not too sure though. I'm generally not as happy with this one, but maybe I'll be more satisfied once there's broms to fill up the space.









18x18x24. This is my newest build, just started last week. I snagged a bunch of cool driftwood pieces for really cheap, and made a cool looking tree structure out of them. I also used black matala as the drainage layer to try something new. This is gonna be home to some kind of oophaga pumilio. Right now, I am thinking about salt creek. The philodendron I have in there right now will probably be switched out for philodendron verrucosum. There will be a few mini orchids in here later.

























Lastly, I have an empty 24x18x24 that's just being used as a plant nursery. I'll be doing something with it later in the year. Thanks for looking, hope you guys enjoyed. I'll be updating this thread semi frequently


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## DPfarr (Nov 24, 2017)

I really appreciate the first with wood as the main floor. 

What’s the background on the first?


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

DPfarr said:


> I really appreciate the first with wood as the main floor.
> 
> What’s the background on the first?


I actually got Phil Ramos from green oasis to make the background. I believe it's made of foam and other materials, and drylok there was a lot of unused space so I thought the driftwood floor/hill helped fill it up a lot more to give the frogs more usable area.


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

Just a little update, someone offered me a couple of unsexed ranitomeya variabilis southern a few weeks ago and I bit the bullet. They were on my short list so I'm glad I could pick them up. Right now they are in the 18in cube, but they will be moving into the 12x12x18 when I get the pumilio popa.

I've heard calling from one of them and the other is looking to be female, so hopefully I got lucky!

















I put together the 24x18x24 with mostly whatever I had left laying around, so this is my last build for a while. Im still waiting for good weather to ship plants and a couple of the other vivs also need some more plants. Anyways I'm going to let the 24x18x24 do its thing for a week to build up humidity before I do anything to it. I have some dusk moss coming in from the states so we'll see how that goes









The cat loves the frog rack 









Also, I snagged a few mini orchids during a sale! I'm pretty good at killing sensitive plants, so hopefully this goes well. The first one someone gave to me and its constantly in bloom. Not sure what it is tho


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

Beautiful setups thanks for sharing. Love the frog rack.


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## Bengt (Aug 27, 2014)

Hey, what kind of rack do you use? 

Gesendet von meinem SM-G960F mit Tapatalk


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

Bengt said:


> Hey, what kind of rack do you use?
> 
> Gesendet von meinem SM-G960F mit Tapatalk


It's just an industrial one I found at costco in canada, not sure what the actual model is. The dimensions are 4ftx18inx6ft and cost like 80 CAD so it wasnt a bad deal. I'll let you know the model and brand if i see it again.

Also as an update:
Did some initial planting of the 24x18x24 using moss from my old viv. I also moved the mini orchids into here. Still need way more plants 😞









The 18in cube is growing really well, everything is taking off. The marcgravia has grown a ton and the microfauna is flourishing. It'll be ready for the isla popa in a week or so.









I was talking to someone locally and I'll be getting a punta laurel trio, and a salt creek pair (all juveniles) in a couple months, so the 18x18x24 and 24x18x24 will house them.


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

Got the isla popa, they are crazy bold frogs despite their size. I've only had them for a few days but they're always out. One of the females is constantly on the front of the glass. I got a trio, and it's looking like 1.2 (heard the possible male calling!)


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## andrewdingemans (Jan 15, 2019)

The Isla Popa's look great, and awesome there could possibly be a breeding pair. If you don't mind me asking, where are you sourcing the orchids, I'm in Toronto and Paramount in vancouver seems to be the only reliable source I can find.


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

andrewdingemans said:


> The Isla Popa's look great, and awesome there could possibly be a breeding pair. If you don't mind me asking, where are you sourcing the orchids, I'm in Toronto and Paramount in vancouver seems to be the only reliable source I can find.


Thanks, I am mostly getting my orchids from people locally. However there is a place in edmonton called Ecouarium where I got some stuff during a sale. The owners are great to deal with. Maybe look around for orchid societies though or see when the orchid show is in your city. We have one in June, I cant imagine there not being one in Toronto of all places


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

Still missing a few plants but heres an update of the salt creek vivarium (getting frogs around end of month). Still needs a few more plants but I think it's coming together


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

indrap said:


> Still missing a few plants but heres an update of the salt creek vivarium (getting frogs around end of month). Still needs a few more plants but I think it's coming together


The picture (s) isn't working for me


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

> The picture (s) isn't working for me


Weird, I'm just using imgur. I attached as a pic now


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

Love your tanks. Keep the updates coming!


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

varanoid said:


> Love your tanks. Keep the updates coming!


Thanks you, I appreciate that!

Heres an old ish update of the tanks from my Instagram, I am getting the last few plants tomorrow so I will post tank updates when they are all in. The tank on the ground is going to be the new variabilis tank, i didnt like the way the old one turned out for them. I tried using drylok for this one so we'll see how it goes...


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

Here's a few update pictures

24x18x24 exoterra for a Punta laurel trio









18X18X24 exoterra for a salt creek pair

















I really wanted a heavily planted look so theres lots of small plants here and there including rare ferns. I think the combination of everything to break up the textures really made the aesthetic I was going for and I'm pretty happy with these vivs.

Also, I learned my mistake with ficus pumila, but I really like the shape of the leaf so I'm using the dwarf version of the plant which grows at half the rate, and is half the size.

Lastly, I got a new isopod and springtail species, armadillidium klugii Montenegro, and pink springtails. Hoping they culture well for me!


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

Here's an update from the Isla popa tank just because I have a camera now. Its growing in nicely, and the 2 males are calling all the time. Hoping the third is a female


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

Been a while, so here's an update (some of these pictures are a little old sorry!)

*Punta Laurel 24x18x24*
These were taken today, the tank's really starting to hit its stride now. There are a lot of small gem plants in this tank and the juvenille frogs are starting to bolden up. For a while I couldn't see them at all, but they're becoming a lot easier to spot now.

















*Salt Creek 18x18x24*
Bit of an old picture, but the tank's growing in pretty well.
















A few different forms of elaphoglossum peltatum in this pic









Here's also a couple new projects I have in the works
*18x18x24*
An extra tank I was gifted that I decided to put to use, unsure what it'll be home to yet. Probably some kind of obligate egg feeder or thumbnail. I like the tank, but it'll probably be the last build I make that is colorful bromeliad heavy. It doesn't really reflect nature in my opinion, but at least the bromeliads will be of functional use for the frogs.










*24x18x24*
This is more the direction I want to take my tanks going forward. Not colorful bromeliad heavy and designed in a way that better replicates the rainforest (ie patches of the forest that look 'plain' or 'boring' to most people). I'll also be relying on film canisters more going forward to offset the fact there won't be as many bromeliads (though the ones I do use will be larger ideally). This is very new, and the planting is still on going. I really like the cork mosaic style of tanks and will also probably use it almost exclusively going forward (though if I could get my hands on some nice sized pumice/feather stone that'd be awesome too). I think I goofed up hard here and am actually using pieces of grapewood, but maybe someone can confirm? It hasn't molded up like crazy yet.









*Bonus*
My extremely prolific R. Vanzolinii female


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## Kinstrome (Oct 6, 2017)

These vivs are stunning. They grew in so lush, I think they could be mistaken for an actual rainforest scene, if not for the plastic and glass.


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## Mmkco (Dec 3, 2018)

I have 2 new tanks ready to be built. Found an unexpected killer deal this morning on an Exo 18x18x18 and also starting a vertical 25 gallon. Your builds are very inspiring! Thanks for posting those. Absolutely beautlful! I really like what you did with the floor space and driftwood. Amazing!


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

Kinstrome said:


> These vivs are stunning. They grew in so lush, I think they could be mistaken for an actual rainforest scene, if not for the plastic and glass.





Mmkco said:


> I have 2 new tanks ready to be built. Found an unexpected killer deal this morning on an Exo 18x18x18 and also starting a vertical 25 gallon. Your builds are very inspiring! Thanks for posting those. Absolutely beautlful! I really like what you did with the floor space and driftwood. Amazing!


Thanks for the kind words guys. I can name all of the builds I've been inspired by, I just want to be able to do the same for others.


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## Philio (Apr 16, 2019)

Just looked through this thread. You have some awesome tanks!


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## ds51 (Oct 13, 2017)

starting look great now that the plants are growing and filling out the vivarium
you done a great job building the setup
I sure the pdf are having a great time in there hunting down the fruit flies and any other food they come across 
keep the up dates coming with photos


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

Here's an update on the 24x16x24 reptology vivarium. It's not quite as grown in as I wanted, and I've either lost or moved stuff into other vivs since last picture. At the expo last weekend, I was offered a really good price on a group of 4 Ranitomeya Fantastica True Nominal. They've been on my short list for a while, and the price was so good that I couldn't say no. The true nominals are stunning and all of them look like textbook examples of the locale with the uninterrupted cream band, and solid orange heads.

I was worried that they wouldn't be visible at all, but so far they've been quite active and not super shy. They're very aware of my presence but don't immediately jump away. I think a lot of it has to do with the heavy leaf litter and amount of plants in the viv. I'm excited to see how this viv will grow in a few months, there's a lot of really excellent plants in here. It's not finished planting though and I still have a few more things I want in here to further add to the heavily planted feel I am after...










































Overall I'm really happy with this viv, and for any future display tank that I want to be special I will reuse the cork mosaic background style (or switch the cork with pumice). I think in general not using dozens of colorful bromeliads and focusing on layering the epiphytes to create different textures is a good look and what I'll keep doing going forward.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

I love the way it looks! And nice frogs too!


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## thepotoo (Nov 13, 2011)

Great pics. What camera/lens are you them with?


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