Newbie with questions...

[Mmfh]

Hi, I just joined because I have recently developed an interest in amphibians. I currently own a small tomato frog and some eastern toad tadpoles along with an unknown tadpole. I was looking at the tetrafauna viquarium and was wondering if anyone on this site has used one and what they thought of it. Also if you liked it, do you think it would be possible to use the clay balls instead of gravel? Thank you.

[Mentat]

Welcome to FF ! I also looked at the TF Viquarium, but then read many well written reviews at Amazon decided not to get it. Main complain was about the filter intakes and some owners had to make modifications to make it safe for their pets. Guess if frogs are large that would not be a problem.

Main thing about the substrate is, making sure it does not represent an impaction risk, if frogs would accidentally swallow it. Other than that, you can replace gravel with clay balls. As with any other similar sized substrate, if food items (i.e. pellets) fall between balls and are not eaten, they will foul the water .

[Mmfh]

Ty for your response! I too read a lot of mixed reviews and it did seem that most of the complaints were about gaps where smaller animals could get into. I got to see it set up in a tank today and wow there are some serious gaps, which is a shame because its a nice feature. Once again Ty for your opinion. I was leaning away from the product but just needed to hear what other people thought

[deranged chipmunk]

i built a fbt paludarium from a first generation viquarium. i think it was made in '82 and i found it at a flea market for $1. it took extensive mods to make it look good. and the amount of substrate that it took made it extremely heavy (i even used hydroton as a drainage area). not to mention that it takes up a whole lot of vertical space, which doesn't leave much room for plants to grow.