Where.to.start..?

[DonLisk]

Any good fish shop should have canopy tops available and I agree that buying is much less expensive then making one.

I have creeping fig in with my Leus along with lemon button ferns. Your design is nice and just keep in mind that you want to not take up a ton of the back wall so you have room for the Bromeliads.

As for Springtails, I buy a starter culture from Joshsfrogs and watch his video on using the culture. Its a starter culture so you have to get the culture going and then add them to the tank. You will want to culture your own fruit flies though. It is so easy and once you have done it a few times in only takes a few minutes to mix up a new set of cultures.

I buy Joshsfrogs and black Jungle fly media and excelsior since both are easy to use and both produce a ton of flies.

Not sure if I gave you this link but here is the build for my Leus in a 20 long tank.
http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...pic-heavy.html

[helm96]

Thanks Don for answering the spring tail question. Joshsfrogs is a great resource and seems to always have what I need in stock. I used to drive around town to try and find what I needed to avoid paying for shipping but then I found that I was spending twice as much as shipping in gas. Joshsfrogs also has some of the fairest prices that I have found on the net. Make sure you keep up on a schedule with your fruit flys. If you miss making a culture you will find yourself frantically driving around trying to find someplace that sells them. This one I speak from experience. Trust me, after you pay overnight or 2nd day shipping on flys once and then you learn real quick!

[froglover27]

Thanks soo much for the link!! GREAT INFO and can't I just stock up on cultures from petco??? Thanks guys

[helm96]

You do not want to stock up. A fruitfly culture will generally last about 30 days. Around 30 days the media in the bottom will be almost depleated and the culture in a lot of cases will start to develope mites at this point. I have 4 darts and soon to be 6 and I do a culture every 10 days, but with the new ones I am looking at getting I maybe doing 1 every week.

Also if you buy them from Petco they are $10 a culture and you will go through at least 2 a month which will be $20. For $20 you can get 10 containers, enough media for 10 cultures and an actual culture to start the process. When you have the needed items trust me, it is easier then driving to Petco to get the fruitflys.

[froglover27]

okay...I guess I won't be doing that So I can just buy the 'stuff' necessary for a culture from like josh's frogs or something?? Thanks I'm glad I didnt do that

[helm96]

This is what I would get! Melanogaster Culture Kit WITH Flies (SMALL KIT) - Culturing Kits | Josh's Frogs They are out of them at the moment, but this is a good start.

After you have cultures going you can then get this Melanogaster Culture Kit WITHOUT Flies (SMALL KIT) - Culturing Kits | Josh's Frogs it is the same kit but without the flies since you will be able to use the flies from your cultures to keep the new ones going.


Watch this video How to Culture Fruit Fly Cultures - YouTube, it will give you a really good start on doing fruitfly cultures from Joshs Frogs.

[froglover27]

This is what I would get! Melanogaster Culture Kit WITH Flies (SMALL KIT) - Culturing Kits | Josh's Frogs They are out of them at the moment, but this is a good start.


After you have cultures going you can then get this Melanogaster Culture Kit WITHOUT Flies (SMALL KIT) - Culturing Kits | Josh's Frogs it is the same kit but without the flies since you will be able to use the flies from your cultures to keep the new ones going.


Watch this video How to Culture Fruit Fly Cultures - YouTube, it will give you a really good start on doing fruitfly cultures from Joshs Frogs.

Okay thanks I was just wondering...Do you HAVE to use ABG jungle mix?? And also I currently have a culture going....so could I just buy the one without flies currently?? Thanks

[J Teezy]

basically if you have a fly culture already all you need is to buy one of joshsfrogs kits without the flies and start your own off the flies you already have. I personally would go with this kit DELUXE Melanogaster Culture Kit WITHOUT Flies (BIG KIT) - Culturing Kits | Josh's Frogs It has everything you need including mite spray. I suggest getting a sterilite 3 drawer bin. What you do is take some paper towels and spray the mite spray on the paper towels and let it dry. Once it's dry line the inside of each drawer with those paper towels. Now you can store your cultures in there. Change out the paper towels every month. What i do is keep my freshly started ones in the top drawer. after about 1.5 weeks they get moved down to the second drawer. After 1.5 weeks there they go to the bottom (i just pull the drawers out and swap them around. Your culture cups are reusable please don't pitch them after one use. Clean them out good with hot water. Some people use a very diluted bleach solution to clean them but i just use hot water. To clean the lids i run hot water over them and lightly brush the fabric with a toothbrush. You'll get many many many uses out of your cups and lids. Get in the habit of starting cultures once a week. I only have 2 Leucs atm so i only make 1 culture a week, sure its more flies than i need but you never want to be in a bind where you don't have backups in case one or two cultures crash. When my cultures hit 30 days they go in the freezer over night to kill everything in them then thaw them out and dump it in the trash (i dump them in plastic bags i get at grocery store so i can immediately take them out to the dumpster). After 30 days they smell pretty gross. You definitely want to seed your viv with springtails and you don't have to culture them outside the viv as well but it wouldn't hurt to. I bought a starter culture from Joshs which i then moved to a bigger container like he shows in his video. The culture took about 1.5 weeks to really get booming. Once that happened i just dump some in the viv once a week, this way i have some in the tank and some outside the tank as well. Never know when a nearby frogger may need some springs!!! I'm also now culturing Spanish Giant Orange Iso's which i will be adding some adults in my vivs later on to help clean up. Springtails like to eat mold, Giant Oranges will eat frog poo!

Like mentioned, it's pretty silly to buy flies from the pet store. They are way overpriced. You can make cultures for under .50 a pop.

A properly set up viv pretty much takes care of itself. Lights on timers and an automatic mister, and drain makes life easy. I spend less than 30 minutes total a week taking care of one viv. I feed 3 times a week and clean the visible poo and glass once a week.

You'll love the leucs, they are great frogs. They will hunt around on the ground for food and even climb the background. Mine like to hang out on the background alot and when they are hungry they come down to the ground and root through the leaf litter for springs if it wasn't a fly feeding day. One of my leucs started calling today and it's a nice call. Very pleasant if you ask me.

For your first tank keep everything simple. I've made a couple detailed rock wall backgrounds that took alot of time, but really in the end they all look the same once the plants take over. My next one will be much simpler (Great Stuff and cocofiber most likely, or as we call it "dart frog brown" background). If you are geting leucs i suggest making some little ledges on your background because they will climb it.

The one thing i tell anyone looking to get into darts is this. Get good lighting and a mistking misting system. You'll thank me later.

[helm96]

I am not sure if you used Eco Earth or something similar if the plants will do nearly as good. That is all I have ever used and my plants seem to always go crazy in it compared to my tree frog tanks where the plants in Eco Earth have not really grown at all. It is a great mixture of soils and mosses to hold moisture for the plants but not enough to rot roots. Plus the ABG mix is an ideal breeding ground for the springtails, they seem to love it.

As far as the cultures, if you already have a culture then the kit with out the flies will be fine. You will need to read the directions carefully on the Fruitfly culture and follow them on your first culture. There is an extra step if the flys came from a different culture then Joshs Frogs.

[J Teezy]

the extra step is adding the yeast. If your original culture comes from Joshs you don't need to use the yeast as the flies going into your new culture will carry some in. I started with joshs flies and use his media and have never used the yeast and get lots and lots of flies.

[helm96]

Good to know, although I have been using Joshs media for about a year so I forgot what that step was I just remembered that there was an extra one. When I started I was not sure if the yeast made a difference or not so I just did it.

I do like your advice about doing the back up culture. I have had a couple cultures crash over the last year but I have the luxury (although I should not rely on it) of having 3 shops within 5 miles of my house that carry fruitflys.