Looking to start a FBT habitat

[namiel]

I had been looking around for a good reptile/amphibian to share with my son since he is so in love with my snapping turtle. He is facinated by the turtle and as cool as the turtle is, he's quite sedentary and not child friendly. SO after looking around for an animal that could be both relatively simple to keep but fun for my 3 1/2 year old as well. Fire belly toads seemed to fit the bill everywhere I have looked and one of the FEW things that it was considered acceptable to have in a 10gal tank. If this is wrong please let me know.

I want to do something cool and fun for the toads as it is a smaller tank and I want it to be as nice of a habitat as possiable. I have been researching and looking at pictures and tutorials for a while now and think I have a pretty good idea of what I plan to do. I do want to use live plants in this tank. Where and how I am going to do that I am unsure, hopefully you guys can help me. I was bored at work and made the images below of first the top down layout of the tank and then a side view of the tank. I had issues hosting the images here so they went on my game site.

top down
http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery...690356_md-.jpg

side view
http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery...690357_md-.jpg


The basic design gives them about 60% water area and 40% dry surface with water circulation without too much curent. They will have a covered area in and out of the water. The room that the tank will sit in keeps my turtle comfortly at 72 degrees water temp so I am assuming that it will for the toads as well.

A few questions I had.....
1: From everything I have seen the shoreline of the tank is just piled up gravel, by doing that does it allow me to put a substrate above that which could be planted but stay dryish for the toads? Do I need to build the slope and silicone the gravel down so that it stays in place as the animals cross it?
2:With the lack of square footage would it be worth it for the animals to build a multi level habitat to maximize the surface area? Say having 90% of the bottom being water but having another level with a ramp up for basking and feeding?

Where the tank will be will get minimal sunlight so artifical light for the plants will have to be given. It will be well ventilated as I hear they can have the tendency to stink (Regular water changes should prevent this is what I am told, correct?)

So am I on the right track to keeping 2-3 fire belly toads healthy and comfortable? Any comments or advice would be GREATLY appreciated as this will be a new thing for me (ive done reptiles and fish never amphibians)

Thanks

[badkelpie]

As long as the gravel is too big for your toads to swallow, your setup looks great. River rock works well.

[ThoseNewtsTho]

I would be worried about the buildup of waste under the gravel personally, siliconing a piece of slate or glass in a slanted position and using coconut fibre as the substrate behind it might work though

[privet01]

I don't put a divider between my wet and dry sections either. I just pile the gravel up just above what the max waterline will ever be and then lay my other substrate for land on top of that. IMO, it allows more area for the nitrobacter and nitrosomas to do their part in keeping your water chemistry correct. It also allows any plants you put in there to get water without you having to fuss over them. Plants also draw ammonia out of your water if their roots can get to it. Using divider also restricts how your shoreline runs so your "creativity" in building a unique environment for your fbts is narrowed.

I've had my 10 gallon tank this way for over five years. I don't have a filter, but I do change the water every week. No issues with water quality or funky smells have ever shown up.