Building a tank have a few questions

[pogigod]

hello all,

I'm looking at building a tank to house a comunity of dart frogs. The dementions are 28 inches by 28, and I haven't decided how tall I want it yet. I was wondering what you guys think about the height. I'm thinking about 24inches high(roughly 81 gallons). I wanted to incorporate a waterfall in one corner with a little "creek" that runs along the side of the tank to the other corner which will be where the pool will be. In the pool I was going to put a led fogger.

I was looking at the clay balls for drainage, but from talking to people I've heard that these balls eventuallty start retaining an ordor after a few months. So instead i was thinking about aquairm rocks. I was wonder what everyone thinks about this.

Lighting, since i want this to be a live plant tank I need some kind of lighting on it. It is going to be kept in a finished basement so there is no natural lighting, and it does tend to stay from mid 60's to mid 70's depending on the time of year. I wanted to have a black light stip light on the tank at night with some colorful decor in there so the tank looks nice at night, since the room is used as a movie room. I'm worried tho that the tempeture drop at night without a heating source might be a little much for the frogs.

For misting I was going to have a misting unit to mist the whole tank a few times a day...

I would like to have an array of colors in the frogs, and also would like noisy frogs lol......

Would like to hear some feedback and advice about my idea, before i go out and start buying.

P.s sorry for all the miss spellings, I'm tired and spell check isn't working lol

[flybyferns]

Hi Matt,
Again, Welcome to Frog Forum.
May I respectfully suggest you do plenty research as to WHY this should be avoided.
Mixing different species of dart frogs is a challenge even for the ,very ,most experienced PDF keepers.

There are thousands of little communities in the BIG ( hint ! BIG ) rainforest where different species may occupy the same small area.
It is done in captivity..........BUT
It is definitely an advanced keeper's undertaking.
One needs plenty of experience with darts of ALL species.
One needs lots of practice with ,successful, natural terrarium set-ups.
One needs years of observation of each species and their habits.


That's my 2 bits
This is a great topic for discussion
Lynn

[flybyferns]

Great basic information
Dart frog care - BambooZoo

[flybyferns]

An intelligent and objective opinion !

see post #8
http://www.frogforum.net/beginner-di...-vivarium.html

Still not recommended for a beginner though ! One would want practice with these species.

[pogigod]

oh sorry, I worded that wrong, only one type, but different subtypes... I'm looking at just having Dendrobates in the tank, but with different subtypes and color morphs.

[flybyferns]

That's ok
These things are great to have good conversation about.
Where you able to check out the links I had in the reply?

While you're planning (even though they are small) keep in mind they need space.
Some say 5 gallons/frog;
Subtracting the space substrate, plants, background etc. takes up........all begins to minimize actual space allotted to the frog.

You want to consider what area of the enclosure the frog will be spending most of its time in as well. In a group, the more they a have to share a small space will increase the day to day stress.

ie
an exo terra - 18x18x24 is about 33 1/2 gallons.
about 18x18x6 " is taken up w/ sustrate -- reducing usable space by about 8.5 gallons ---leaving you with 25 gallons

Food for thought !

Then there is the argument of same species different morphs. That's dangerous territory in PDF land. Highly frowned upon.
Interbreeding will muck-up the color morphs.

[deranged chipmunk]

even housing different sub-species together can bring about disaster. territorial disputes in the rainforest are not handled as "well" as humans. normally a fight to the death ensues. ok, so they are just like us...lol but look, i'm going to be realistic here, you are going to do with your frogs what you want to, so i can help you with the build itself.

more details are needs such as what material you are planning to build it from? if you plan on running an ultrasonic fogger, you are going to need a water reserve, so a false bottom would be better than a hygroton base. how are you planning on sealing it to keep humidity levels stable? heating options? you also have to decide on a pump for your water feature, and how you plan to filter the water.

i'm going to suggest to you to browse through the different build logs on here and on the net and you can get a better idea of the challenge you are up against. any questions, feel free to ask.