My First Setup

[ApxWingman]

So I decided I would start a new thread and show my build with all my pictures and the progress. I had to redesign it after a pump stopped working, so I will show the progress of that , and how I changed it.


This is the tank that I am using. It is a standard 20 gallon tank that I picked up on kijiji for a cheap price.


I bought some eggcrate from home depot and a couple cans of great stuff, and started to work. I also got a exo terra (I think) waterfall kit and an exo terra fogger on kijiji, as well as some random stuff like fake plants and rocks.




I covered the entire background with great stuff and let it dry and then put more on. My goal here was to make it come out a bit so I could carve a cave into the background.


For my background I used silicone and bought a bag of All Thing Things cocofibre substrate. I put the silicone on the background and while still wet, applied the cocofibre. In this picture you can also see the cave that was created. Also provides a spot to hang out on the top. You will also see that I have covered the eggcrate in a mess material I was able to get from work for drainage.


This is the end result after putting cocofibre substrate for the flooring.


After some consideration I changed the layout to give more room for the herps to move around. The cave was sticking to far out and taking up some well needed land area.
I was able to pick up some driftwood from the nearest Big Al's






After the GS cured I again applied the cocofibre to cover up the gs.


And again the end result.






This is where the pump in the waterfall stopped working. After many attempts to fix it, I decided to go a different way, as I had to nearly take the whole thing apart just to get at the pump. So I decided to get a canister filter for easy access, as well as to open up the water area, as I know the FBTs like the water. I left the left side of the tank alone as I liked the finished product. I added some aquarium rocks as well as the larger rocks to help the FBTs get in and out of the water with ease. Here is the finished and final product.








I have now added 2 snails (hard to see as they have black shells)



I also added a bamboo plant into the water section and covered the substrate and log with moss. Here are some pictures of the FBTs (yet to be named)

[firebellied zach]

Looking good! I was thinking about getting snails for my toads.

[Poly]

Very nice set-up! Love all the creativity you put into it!

Those are some lucky FBT's!

[ApxWingman]

Looking good! I was thinking about getting snails for my toads.

Thanks. The snails are pretty good, they basically help clean the tank and they were cheap, and adds more life into the whole tank besides just the toads

Very nice set-up! Love all the creativity you put into it!

Those are some lucky FBT's!

I am still not fully happy with the setup and I am debating changing it again, but we will see how they like it. I am toying with different ideas before I start on my 90g build. For that one I plan on making a river that flows into a pond, and starts with a waterfall.

[ApxWingman]

so after a couple days the FBTs seem to have settled in. I was able to sex them as well (1 male and 1 female). They are much more active now then they were when I first got them, and they like to sing, and have sex. lol I started to hear a noise and I didn't know what it was. I came into the room and looked at them and sure enough that's what they were doing. One of them is loves to jump around, he was hoping from one side of the tank to the other.

I also must say it is fun to watch them hunt for crickets. Quite a show.