# Advice on Dart frog Paludarium



## Milnerhome (Mar 21, 2010)

Hi,

I'm new here and first of all I thought I'd introduce myself.

I'm George (16) been keeping tropical fish for quite a few years now, recently went through a patch of being a bit bored of tropical fish after keeping them for so long but I saw a feature on Paludarium tanks in a magazine and it re-booted my interest. Always wanted to set up one but never had a tank available for the job...well sadly after a large disaster with my wild heckel tank left me with only one heckel discus I decided that the time was right!
Over a period of 3 days I transformed a Rio ***** biotope into a really nice (well i think so anyway:lol: )rainforest pool

This is it so far...









excuse the lack of clarity.. its pretty humid in there!

I'm happy with how it is, all the plants have taken to it really well.. already the moss's are growing thickly on the surface so I'm pretty pleased, I also have made a waterfall like feature at one end to add more effect and help with the Humidity.

Its a 60"x18"x24" I'm putting in splash tetras, these should spawn on the overhanging leaves, quite looking forward to seeing this take place.. some hatchetfish and probably some apisto species.

Basically, I've done a bit of research regarding desired habitat, food and various things but I'm wanting to know.. 

What Species would you recommend?

How many should I place in the tank?

Where is the best place to aquire them?

Any help/comments will be much apreciated!

Thanks


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

i think that tank is calling out for fire bellied toads or mossy frogs. i would go with the latter though im not sure on the height. 

I dont think it would suit many if any dart frogs as the water appears to be too deap. 

Jay


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## Milnerhome (Mar 21, 2010)

Spikebrit said:


> i think that tank is calling out for fire bellied toads or mossy frogs. i would go with the latter though im not sure on the height.
> 
> I dont think it would suit many if any dart frogs as the water appears to be too deap.
> 
> Jay


Hi Jay,

Thanks for your response.. I've not come across anything regarding water height so I'm glad you mentioned it, what would you say an ideal level is? 
Forgot to Mention but the "land" section to the side is covered in about 1"-1.5" of water.

Thanks


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## llamafish (Aug 19, 2008)

Could try rocket frogs, subspecies of PDF but live in semi aquatic setups

Mannophryne trinitatis


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## jaykickboxer (Feb 11, 2008)

if not mate its gotta be realy shallow as most darts cant realy swim so will probably drown.


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## Bearnandos (Nov 24, 2009)

Fantastic looking viv 
I would maybe suggest that you get a fan for some ventilation as it look like humidity must be at least 90% which most plants will start to rot after a while if there is no ventilation....good thing is - with a fan....you won't get the humity all over ya glass so visiblity will be much better.
I say....mossy frogs!!!!! coz imma biased.


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## LIZARD (Oct 31, 2007)

Hi dude and :welcomealways wanted to use that welcome sign) lol
the tank looks OMG fan bleeding tastic :2thumb:


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## llamafish (Aug 19, 2008)

OR anther setup with water and a different type of dartfrog

the jungle juwel - Dendroboard


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## llamafish (Aug 19, 2008)

hill stream paludarium - Page 4 - Dendroboard


another dutch viv... 

Basically do some research of the PDF suitable and got from there.
Alot of PDF live near water.

www.DendroBase.de is a german website, but just google translate the website and you learn alot!!

Good luck and go for what you want !!


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## Milnerhome (Mar 21, 2010)

Hi,

Thanks for the comments and welcomes 

So many choices of frogs, its going to be a tough one I still need some time to decide I think..

llamafish, thats the tank I got my inspiration from, thanks!


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

him llama nice link.


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## llamafish (Aug 19, 2008)

Going back to the plant rotting thing (excuse my bad spelling know)

bromliads, orchid and airplants cannot be constantly touch a damp surface, as in the rainforest there normally grow off trees etc.


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## Bearnandos (Nov 24, 2009)

Ahhhh just read your post title.......if you really want to keep pdfs then you will have to change several things about your viv - are you willing to do such a major overhall?? your viv is suitable for many frogs - just not your mainstream pdfs...but we can help you chnage your viv so that you can keep pdfs if thats what you wish


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## llamafish (Aug 19, 2008)

mainstream PDF? that some pun intended


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## Bearnandos (Nov 24, 2009)

llamafish said:


> mainstream PDF? that some pun intended


:lol2: it was ment as when you ask ppl which pdfs they are thinking off its normally, leus, tincs, auartus or terriblis....so I kinda call them the mainstream ones lol.


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## llamafish (Aug 19, 2008)

Well to be fair, those choices would be BAD!

there a number of species that live around streams


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## Bearnandos (Nov 24, 2009)

llamafish said:


> Well to be fair, those choices would be BAD!
> 
> there a number of species that live around streams


Yeah but they are not as readily avalible, but I am sure if he decided he wanted pdfs he could do a overhall, do a false bottom with maybe waterfall into small pool, insert fans...use same decor...just lose the water and sand, increase ventilation...then his viv would be suitable.....


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## llamafish (Aug 19, 2008)

Well AJC,Chrism and to lesser extent myself have a few species suitable for that kinda setup.

But anyhow given the lad a number of link to look over and learn from first


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## Bearnandos (Nov 24, 2009)

llamafish said:


> Well AJC,Chrism and to lesser extent myself have a few species suitable for that kinda setup.
> 
> But anyhow given the lad a number of link to look over and learn from first


Ahhhhhh well then it is a different ballgame altogether! pshhhhh should have told me earlier - just changed re-vamped my spare paludarium coz I didn't know what to put in there.....:whip:


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## fatlad69 (Oct 22, 2009)

Dartfrogs are generally poor swimmers, however many keepers in the States and Europe keep them successfully with large bodies of water. The Dutch tend to keep killie fish with PDFs. As long as you provide easy access into and out of the water you should be ok. You also say that the water extends onto the land area, dartfrogs like it humid not wet so you may need to lower the water level or increasecthevland height. From the pictures I can't tell what sort of a background you have in the viv. A background is important to provide the PDFs with security. 

I agree with mommy bear that you should use a fan to increase are flow and reduce the humidity to around 80%.

Great looking viv but you may be better trying something other than dartfrogs if your new to the hobby.


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## Lego (Jun 22, 2009)

Hey George!

Welcome to RFUK 

Your scape looks stunning! Sorry to hear about your discus though  What happened? Can't help with the frog thing 'cos I hate them but good luck 

Jo x


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## Beardie king (Oct 22, 2007)

First off, that tank is AWESOME! Ahaha, my dream tank.
Personally I'd kepp Phyllomedusa treefrogs in there, with that lovely body of water for them to spawn in


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