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Thread: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

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    100+ Post Member daybr4ke's Avatar
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    Default 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    Hi! I'll soon be acquiring a used 75 gallon tall tank with some WTFs I am rehousing for someone. It's going to need a little cleaning, but after that I want to put in an almost fully australian planted living vivarium. I love the idea of housing a frog with the plants they would encounter in nature. Larry Wardog's 55 gallon tropical Forest Paludarium is absolutely beautiful, and an Australian paludarium or vivarium was his idea initially. Here's a link to that thread:
    http://www.frogforum.net/showthread....lon-Paludarium
    I'm going to start with the plant list.
    1. Ficus Benjamina-The weeping fig is an Australian native. Ficus microcarpa is an alternative, also australian.
    2. Schefflera Arboricola-The Dwarf Umbrella tree may not be native to Australia, but it looks like a smaller version of a larger plant which is native to Australia. Not sure I have room for this.
    3. Epipremnum Aureum- The humble pothos is naturalized across Australia(and New Guinea), and is a good option as a naturalized species.
    4.Epipremnum Pinnatum- Cebu Blue Pothos is an Australian native, a relative of Golden etc pothos. I am searching like some sort of plant fiend for it.
    5. Chlorophytum Comosum-Spider plant. While not a native of Australia, in the same genus is C. Laxum, AKA Bichetii Grass, which looks almost the same as normal spider grass. Spider grass should make a good stand in.
    6. Austral Gem fern-Hybrid Australian fern. One of the species it is bred from is from an island off the coast of Australia and the other is native. Native enough for me.
    7. Dendrobium Kingianum-An Orchid Native to Australia. Not sure I wanna use it yet. Havent worked with orchids.
    8.Codiaeum variegatum-Gold Dust Croton. My gf wanted me to get it because she thought it was pretty. Looked it up and it's native to Australia.
    In addition to these I want to add another australian fern. I'm still working out what will make it to the final version. Any experiences with these plants would be useful as would recommendations on the additional ferns(preferring hardier ferns. Austral Gem is pretty sturdy.)
    Layout-wise I'm planning to have the ficus as a centerpiece in the middle to give it growing room, with the other plants distributed around it.

    Thanks for reading!
    1 Male Giant African Bullfrog
    2 Woodhouse's Toads
    11 Pacific Treefrogs
    1 Dubia Roach Colony
    2 Australian Green Treefrogs

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    100+ Post Member elly's Avatar
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    Default Re: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    Ambitious! I would be excited to find Epipremnum Pinnatum myself. I've found orchids to be not too difficult but I don't know whether they need cold spells to bloom. I do know they need enough light.

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    100+ Post Member daybr4ke's Avatar
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    Default Re: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    I think it is a bit ambitious, but I feel like I've learned quite a bit from my preliminary builds to help me construct this. Plus lots of reading lol.
    If you ever find Pinnatum, I'd love to get a cutting sent over. They're in the Exotic Angels selection from Costa Farms, so I keep checking Wal-Mart's. I got a Pearls and Jade a few days ago, though. Not like checking doesn't still pay off. I made some posts on Gardenweb and Dave's Garden recently looking for the plant. No results yet.
    As for the orchid, there are a few other possible orchids I could get as well. I'm glad to hear they aren't overly troublesome. I think one problem I remember reading about is they need additional nutrition to bloom, and tou can't spray them with nutrients in the frog's tank safely.
    Even if it wont bloom and it just sits there, that's cool. I figured I'd plant it in a hollow cork log filled with orchid bark. I'm planning to read more about the care of the orchid before getting it, rather than just the national origin lol
    1 Male Giant African Bullfrog
    2 Woodhouse's Toads
    11 Pacific Treefrogs
    1 Dubia Roach Colony
    2 Australian Green Treefrogs

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    100+ Post Member daybr4ke's Avatar
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    Default Re: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    Alright, other things:
    I am currently checking plant ranges since sometimes there's erroneous info on plant range on Wikipedia.
    Plant placement is another beast entirely. Ferns need some shade, for this build specfically the Cadiaeum will need to be away from the Ficus Benjamina(which will require some bonsai type work). I don't want the ficus to be too tiny. I want it to give partial shade to a lot of the tank, with the ferns and pothos ground cover below. Dwarf Umbrella Tree was my alternate for this role. I dont think there is room for both, even in a 75 gallon tall tank. I think the codiaeum in to the left so it gets light with the ficus slightly on the right.
    I have some questions: in a full scale vivarium/paludarium, how many plants are usually used?
    Should I use 2 or 3 embedded plants on the back wall?
    I could use 2 cultivars of epipremnum Aureum, like Golden and Manjula or something. I want one for Pinnatum. Maybe the spider plant should be in one.
    Should I put a foam backing on the sides? I was thinking of putting foam on one or both sides in addition to the back. I want to make this a really nice tank, but I dont know if that's going overboard.
    Thanks again everyone.
    1 Male Giant African Bullfrog
    2 Woodhouse's Toads
    11 Pacific Treefrogs
    1 Dubia Roach Colony
    2 Australian Green Treefrogs

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    100+ Post Member elly's Avatar
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    Default Re: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    I don't think foam on the sides is going overboard. It just depend on if you want to see the tank through those sides.

    I wish I had given my plants more space than I thought they needed, though that's hard to do with Pothos because it will take everything available. I guess I just want to say, remember, some of them will grow like crazy.

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    100+ Post Member daybr4ke's Avatar
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    Default Re: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    Thanks for the advice on the plant spacing and the foam on the sides. I think I'm going to put a background on one side, maybe with a ledge, possibly a planted ledge.
    Also, I checked around and the following plants have conflicting origins from different websites:
    Codiaeum Variegatum, Chlorophytum Laxum. Some sites dont mention Australia.
    http://bie.ala.org.au/species/http:/...01574#overview
    This one is for normal spider plant rather than bichetii grass. Spider plants seem to be naturalized in australia anyway. Wikipedia says Bichetii grass is from Australia in addition to other locations. I found bichetii grass online, but I don't wanna buy it if its not native to Australia.
    The codiaeum is similarly listed as from Australia in Wikipedia, but not some other resources.
    1 Male Giant African Bullfrog
    2 Woodhouse's Toads
    11 Pacific Treefrogs
    1 Dubia Roach Colony
    2 Australian Green Treefrogs

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    100+ Post Member daybr4ke's Avatar
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    Default Re: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    Alright, another update!! Today I went out and bought plants and did research on native origins. First off, new plants, pics, and where I got them!

    That's all the plants. From left to right: Spider Plant, Weeping Fig(OSH), Gold Dust Croton(IKEA), Bird's Nest Fern/Asplenium Nidus(OSH), Neon Pothos(OSH).
    OSH had some really nice stuff. I really liked both the dark and white splash weeping figs, but I went with dark green.


    There's a close-up on the Croton(Codiaeum). I think its a very pretty plant. I finished research on Bichetii Grass and Codaenium, and found not only were they in Australia but they were both from Queensland. All the plants I plan to put in are from Queensland, except the Gem fern which is a hybrid anyway. Technically I seem to have designed a Queensland Vivarium. I also found another plant candidate, also native to Queensland. Hoya Australis. I can substitute Hoya Carnosa if need be. I might not bother with the orchid. I have to see about floor space and plant space etc. I'm going to ask Larry Wardog for advice on that, I think. I need to figure out how many plants I'm using. I don't have the tank yet, so I can't just place them inside and see how they look space-wise yet. Right now I have 5 plants bought with at least one more I plan to get.
    I'll post with anything new.
    1 Male Giant African Bullfrog
    2 Woodhouse's Toads
    11 Pacific Treefrogs
    1 Dubia Roach Colony
    2 Australian Green Treefrogs

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    Default Re: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    I picked up the frogs and the tank. Unfortunately the tank suffered a major crack while being moved into the car, pictures to follow(also a probable separate thread about repairing, replacing or substituting the glass.). It is a very nice tank, however, and after some work I think it is going look very cool. I also have Cebu Blue pothos ordered.
    I'm most interested on the pink rock orchid, but if It's hard to find I'll just use a common phalaenopsis since they are found in australia as well.
    I need to pick up peat moss, expanding foam, some branches and cork flats, some false bottom materials and do some work on the tank for step 1.
    This is what I have been using to check Wikipedia on plant range:
    http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/ur...names:532931-1
    http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/ur...:names:85073-3
    http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/ta...:names:98382-1
    The above link should link to some of my possible plants. The site is pretty useful for checking plant origins.
    Last edited by daybr4ke; October 10th, 2017 at 10:52 PM.
    1 Male Giant African Bullfrog
    2 Woodhouse's Toads
    11 Pacific Treefrogs
    1 Dubia Roach Colony
    2 Australian Green Treefrogs

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    Default Re: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    Alright, UPDATE!! Epipremnum Pinnatum, "Cebu Blue" Pothos has arrived! I am so excited!!

    It's a pretty nice looking plant. Looks healthy! I patched the cracks and put a layer of silicone down to help seal the tank's drainage layer area, after cleaning it with vinegar and rinsing it. Next is putting in backing. I'm starting on that tomorrow. Photos of it coming soon!
    The other day I bought all the materials I need except springtails and some wood, which I need to order, and bichetii grass, my last plant, coming via Amazon at the moment. It should be here next weekend. I also need to construct the false bottom. There's still a lot of work, but it's getting there!
    1 Male Giant African Bullfrog
    2 Woodhouse's Toads
    11 Pacific Treefrogs
    1 Dubia Roach Colony
    2 Australian Green Treefrogs

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    100+ Post Member daybr4ke's Avatar
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    Default Re: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    Just finished spraying the last of the foam. It just has to cure, the drainage layer is 80% done, so soon I'll be on to soil mixing and planting. Before talking about that, Pictures!

    The backing almost done. I wanted to have a branch submerged in the foam, but it came out fine. I did accidentally block the embedded pots drainage so I'll have to fix that...also featured a giant accidental foam thing that sprouted overnight.

    The last plant, chlorophytum laxum. At the moment I've decided the orchid is unnecessary, so it's dropped unless I have too much open floor space in the tank. Another pic below.


    I have my ingredients for my vivarium soil mix, and after some research realized I overused topsoil in my last build, and should have ground down the orch is bark. This build has minimized the topsoil's role. Here's a list, I have everything but the tree fern fiber which I understand is a very important part of the mix. It looks like I'm going with the following mix:
    2 parts Coco fiber
    2 parts peat moss
    2 parts ground orchids bark(3 to compensate for lack of tree fern?)
    1 part aquarium charcoal(do I need to smash it more than the little pebbles it comes in? Directions say to smash standard bbq briquettes with a hammer on Dendroboard, but aquarium charcoal is already pretty small.)
    1 part long fiber sphagnum moss
    1 part organic topsoil
    Please critique and advise! Thanks!
    1 Male Giant African Bullfrog
    2 Woodhouse's Toads
    11 Pacific Treefrogs
    1 Dubia Roach Colony
    2 Australian Green Treefrogs

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    100+ Post Member elly's Avatar
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    Default Re: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    Oh no, the crack. I really dread having to move my own vivarium eventually.

    It's probably smart to leave extra plants out right now. Pothos is really a space hog if you don't keep pruning.

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    Default Re: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    Yeah, this thing is super heavy now...thick glass, wood frame on top and bottom, and now it has the foam backing. My bichetii grass is having a tough time. Now I wish I'd done the order 2 get one free deal lol
    But right now the most interesting thing isn't the plants or tank.

    Its the frog.

    I was really surprised to find that both the frogs were Blue-Eyes.
    1 Male Giant African Bullfrog
    2 Woodhouse's Toads
    11 Pacific Treefrogs
    1 Dubia Roach Colony
    2 Australian Green Treefrogs

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    Default Re: 75 gallon Australia Paludarium/Vivarium

    This setup is great! You went all out for plants I give you a lot of credit. I understand how hard it was to find some plants but you found tons. I am actually going to use some of these plants whenever I update mine this upcoming summer. This was well thought out and that's great that you have blue eye WTF because I think they are beautiful and I may get a male seeing as how I am in need of a male with the loss a year ago of my last male. For the plants yes the pothos you only need a few small pieces because it will spread. I have pothos and it started at the left side of the tank this summer and it is wrapping back around to the left side again. It spread out 4 feet and would keep going if given space. Make sure you keep up with it so it doesn't choke plants out. The plants are in your opinion. I think having many plants looks cool so that would be cool and more natural to have a wide variety. I think you should consider Rainbow Fish or Mosquito Fish because they are native and one is invasive but now local so they both would work and not attempt to harm the frogs. You can't go overboard with the fish because too many rainbow fish will kill them from the size they attain and enough mosquito fish and they will breed fast and out of control. You could if your fish breed feed them on occasion to the frogs or if you had any other animals. I am moving more to a hybrid setup with Asia and Australia as the two conjoined environments for my setup so you have the real Australian setup. If you need help message me. I got a new phone and downloaded the app finally!

    Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk

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