# Naturalistic Ecosystem Vivarium with Aquarium.



## Sankeo (Aug 4, 2008)

In short, arboreal naturalistic ecosystem vivarium with aquarium for thai water dragon.

So i have given myself a pretty large project of which im doing a LOT of research into before i start!

A. Building a vivarium, I have 2 fish tanks which i am thinking of dismantling and adding wood. So keeping the back in sealed wood and the front in glass. Purely as the dragon would have added sense of security also less glass for him to bang his nose on. 
Also think off adding an aquarium to it with a few tiny fish. I understand that Thai water dragons can eat fish, so a nice idea would be fish that he could catch? Any ideas?
Im going to be building a waterfall that will run into the pond/aquarium in the tank but is there a problem with depth of water? I understand TWD's would live next to water and can be submerged for 25 minutes, and they can swim so i was thinking it would be ok and they would probably enjoy it.
Around all this i want living plants. So depth of substrate? And yes keeping plants in their pots. 
Drainage i have a good idea what im doing there.

So any tips and ideas you could give me? Useful websites?

Any other creatures you think might work well in there?

Things to watch out for? Problems you have had?


Oh also Im going to have the Vivarium up and running for a couple of months before putting the Thai water dragon inside just to make sure it is all working and settled. 


Sorry about the essay. Im sure I've missed something too!!

Cheers!


Another really random idea i had was somehow attaching an extra tiny little tank for crickets/locusts where i could just open a sliding door and have a few hop into the tank then able to shut it after. Any ideas? 

Or think its completely stupid idea? lol


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## Markscooby (Jun 29, 2011)

Sounds amazing, sorry I cant offer you any input but this will be something I will be following and looking forward to seeing the end result of!


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## Sankeo (Aug 4, 2008)

Brilliant! Well I think im going to take photographs of all the stages and posting blog about the problems occured, and final results. So when that happens ill send you the link!


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

Go and buy this months issue of PRK, I have and article in it with loads of useful tips and information on doing just this. next months will have info on boactive substrates and planting. 

Also have a looking in the planted habitat section here. 

jay


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## Sankeo (Aug 4, 2008)

Spikebrit said:


> Go and buy this months issue of PRK, I have and article in it with loads of useful tips and information on doing just this. next months will have info on boactive substrates and planting.
> 
> Also have a looking in the planted habitat section here.
> 
> jay


Brilliant!!! What is the full name of the magazine? Im guessing PRK is just the initials. 

Thank you too!!


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## imitebmike (Jun 22, 2008)

Practical Reptile keeping


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## yellrat (Jun 13, 2008)

Practical Reptile Keeping - Homepage


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## Sankeo (Aug 4, 2008)

Ohh that makes sense. Thank you.


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## NewtyBoy (Jun 4, 2011)

Would you maybe have an issue with clean water for the fish if your water dragon started using the water as the toilet? Just a thought


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

Sankeo said:


> Brilliant!!! What is the full name of the magazine? Im guessing PRK is just the initials.
> 
> Thank you too!!


The only thing i'll say is that the pictures havnt come out as good as expected for some of the issues. 

Jay


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## Sankeo (Aug 4, 2008)

NewtyBoy said:


> Would you maybe have an issue with clean water for the fish if your water dragon started using the water as the toilet? Just a thought


No i dont think that would be to much of an issue as the the water would go through a filter... Going to need a bit more thought and a few experiments i think.


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## NewtyBoy (Jun 4, 2011)

Well good luck, it sounds amazing! I did see a youtube vid of someone that had a tropical lizard setup above with a fogger and waterfall. In the bottom he had terrapins which was awesome!


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## Sankeo (Aug 4, 2008)

You have anyidea what that video was called? It would be good to take a look and maybe contact them.


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## OrigamiB (Feb 19, 2008)

Im creating a similar vivarium to this for my cresties, which will be 60:40, land:water 
I've nearly finished it but i've had so many problems designing and making it! The hardest problem is seperating your land and water, in the end I made a basin for the land area so the fish could be seen through the glass. This was made using polystyrene, grout and epoxy resin. I would also highly suggest using an external filter for your water as this saves alot of problems I found


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## Sankeo (Aug 4, 2008)

Interesting. I was told by a lady who grows her tanks and keeps Poison Darts Frogs that I wouldnt be able to keep a crested in a grown tank due to the humidty and heat that the tank would need to be at for the plants.
Or have you heard different? =S


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## bonez007 (Oct 25, 2008)

hope this gives ya something to think about










if ya want to see the vids mentioned before then just do a youtube search exo terra water dragon fish heres one all on small scal but same thing YouTube - ‪Exo-Terra Chinese Water Dragon Terrarium‬‏

nic


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