About a month away...

[Sarosaurus]

From giving my WTFs a swanky new pad. Maybe even less than that if all goes according to plan.

I am planning on doing one of those fancy backgrounds in their tank. I know that you cannot rush these things, however, I am going to have to. My female is a Houdini when it comes to the old cage and I would like to get her back in as quickly as possible. Is there something else that I could use for the background? Straight silicone, perhaps? I know it wont look as nearly amazing as it could, but is it possible to make it work?

I was planning on doing a false bottom, but was wondering what the pros and cons of the Hydroballs were. Has anyone used them? Are they worth it? Or would I be better off geting larger gravel and doing it that way? If I do the false bottom, should I have it installed before before installing my background?

I purchased three live plants that are currently in their pots in my tank. If I wanted to use cork rounds for planters, how would I go about modifying them? Or is this where that foam comes in handy?

Thanks in advance for your replies. I know it is a lot of information to be shared, but I want to do things right the first time around.

[Lacibeth]

I would think instead of doing a solid background you could create "stair steps" by siliconing rounds and shelves along the back. Something like this:http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...-treefrog.html and then using tall plants to fill the vertical space.

(Which is my inspiration if I can ever find some time to be inspired instead of tired.)

When you say hydroballs do you mean the small brownish clay balls, or do you mean the blue or black plastic spiky balls?

[Sarosaurus]

Oooh. I like that idea! I can get some mushroom ledges from the pet store I work at for a good deal since they have been there forever. ^.^ They've got the magnetic backs and whatnot, so I could just move them when I felt like it. Also have some turtle ledges that would work since they fit right in the corner. Maybe silicone them down so they stay. I would love to find some driftwood that's kind of "branchy" that I could silicone to the glass so the branches stick out in the middle part of the tank in the front. It's kind of bare at the moment. =/ I could just get some aquarium background to tape on the back and sides of the tank so the "foliage" would be there.

I think that will work better than anything else that I have come up with so far! Thank you for sharing that link with me!

And I mean the little clay Hydroballs. I suppose that if I put a generous layer of them down and then the window screen material on top of it followed by my substrate that it would be okay? Not sure since I have never used them or talked to someone who has.

[Sarosaurus]

I just had a wonderful idea. To secure the lightweight items, I have thought about using Velcro.

My question is...is anything in the Velcro harmful to WTFs? Just figured I would ask BEFORE I go out and get it. If all goes according to plan, I may just have time to make their cage a little better looking before the week is up.

[Lacibeth]

There wouldn't be anything harmful in the velcro, but I'm not sure it would be worth the hassle. You'd have to silicone at least one of the sides to the glass anyway so you lose the movability--unless you're thinking of just swapping items in and out.

If you're looking for branchy, I'd head out after a big wind storm and see what was down that would be useful/suitable and then prep that to use. Or check Black Jungle or a bunch of other places to see what they have.

The little clay hydroballs are one of the staples for drainage layer/false bottoms used. If you look through the terrarium build area you'll see a bunch of that and the egg crate stuff.

[UncleChester]

And I mean the little clay Hydroballs. I suppose that if I put a generous layer of them down and then the window screen material on top of it followed by my substrate that it would be okay? Not sure since I have never used them or talked to someone who has.

Yep, that's fine. I like to use landscape fabric (sometimes called 'weed barrier' or other names) instead of window screen. It's a black cloth or woven plastic type of stuff that will allow water to pass through but not your substrate. It's more flexible than window screening so easier to position and it will never have sharp bits poking out (though these would be buried in the substrate). You can buy it by the foot at some garden centers off of bulk rolls pretty cheaply. Window screen works as well if that's what you have though. Make sure you have a way to access the water that accumulates to siphon it out as it builds up. One way is in the link provided- have a little pond that joins with the drainage (by the way thanks for the compliment Lacibeth!).


I think velcro might be more trouble than it's worth. If I wanted easily interchangeable decor, I'd probably go for a Do It Yourself magnet kind of system. However, silicone cleans up off of glass really easily with a razor blade if you plan to redecorate so this is my approach. You would have to remove the frogs for a couple of days while you reattach stuff if you remodeled. Keep in mind that with living plants the scenery is constantly changing anyway, and it's usually pretty easy to add or remove a plant or two without disturbing the frogs if you want a new look.

[Sarosaurus]

Well, I did it. I bought some Velcro and the ledges seem to be sticking pretty well at the moment. My female is the only one I am worried about sitting on them since she's a little bit chunkier. Haha.

I have got to upload the pictures from what I accomplished today and then will post them here in a thread.