New Vivarium (For eventual Poison Darts!)

[moviescolin]

Hey everyone! You may (or may not) remember last year I tried keeping RETFs, but failed miserably; the general consensus was that they were infested with something or otherwise sick.

Since then, I've gotten a very nice job at a local (my favorite) PetStore, which has inspired that little flame of frog ownership.

Our store doesn't carry Darts or much "tropical" supplies but nonetheless, I want to have them!

No pictures yet, I have yet to truly begin. I bought a very nice selection of wood to go into the tank today, and have been researching for about a month straight.

Our tank is going to be (if all goes well and the owner sells it to us at the suggested price) a 125 Gallon glass aquarium. I already have on hand a four-foot flourescent light fixture (6500k bulbs... as a film industry employee, I persist that all the lights in our apartment are 5600-6500k).

I recently bought an abundance of supplies from Josh's Frogs to take advantage of their recent sale. We are picking the tank up on this coming Saturday. If that sale falls through, we have a 45 Gallon aquarium we will be using.

We want to set up the viv and let it go for 6 months to a year before adding any frogs. We want to take our time and make sure everything is going to work!

I have big plans for the tank but alas they are uninteresting without anything to show.

My only question today is about substrate. I know lots of people have lots of opinions on substrate, and I know all the basics. But I guess I'm kinda of torn. I love the idea of using ABG, but it seems a little expensive (especially for a 125g). Is this really the "best of the best?" I know some people use Coco Fiber, is there something to mix into it to make it more nutritious for the plants?

And for those interested, here's my plant shopping list from JF:
(2) Magnolia Leaves
Caladium humboltii 'Mini White' for foreground
Anthurium 'Top Gun' for background
Alocasia infernalis 'Kapit' for background (very excited about this one)
Philodendron selloum 'Dwarf Hope' for background
Selaginella martinsii 'Jori' for foreground
Ficus pumila 'Creeping Fig' to put on the background
Neoregelia 'Black Beauty' to put on the background (also excited for this)
Neoregelia dungsiana for foreground and on the side wall
Aechmea organensis to put on the background
Neoregelia 'Red Dot' to put on a wall or background
Neoregelia 'Wilsoniana' x 'Fireball' to put on a wall or background
And a dozen net cups...

On hand I have a creeping ficus and two earth stars (unsure of the particular species.)

I figured that should be plenty to plant the 125g, or if that sale falls through and we use the 45g, some of the excess plants can go into one of our seven Crested Gecko tanks.

So yeah! Very excited to get this started. Hope everyone in the U.S. enjoyed their holiday last week!

EDIT: For the record (before I become "the enemy,") I don't work at PetSmart or PetCo! It's a privately owned chain in West Michigan (Michiganders might know it - V.I.Pets)

[DartfrogDan]

regarding the ABG mix,In the UK I couldn't find anywhere that sold it so I just made it my self,you can get most of the components on eBay and you could make the charcoal yourself.

[moviescolin]

That's what I ended up doing! I tweaked the formula a little bit (mostly using less charcoal since I agree with theories that it can be harmful) and filled a 5 gallon bucket with my substrate mix!

I have all my plants from Josh's Frogs along with my own ficus and two Crypts all in net cups planted with my ABG mix (this is to keep them going good until our terrarium is ready for them)

We heard back from the tank lady, got some pictures... It's a 120 Gallon Breeder, which will work better for us! 48in long, 24in tall and 24in wide.

Have to pick up some spare bags of Hydroballs and on Saturday when we get the tank, it'll be time to start work on the background!

I'll have pictures of all this stuff up soon!

[moviescolin]

Ta da!

Got the tank (it's HUGE!), did the background (4 cans of Great Stuff), used black 100% silicone (5 tubes) and covered the background with dried Exo-Terra Tree Fern, as I wanted a slightly different look and I still had half of a 21qt bag left over after mixing my own ABG.

Everything is going kind of slow but perfectly - except for one hiccup; I failed to plan for the power cord from the circulation pump for the stream/pond, which means the cord will be visible in the vivarium.

I had thought about using silicone and tree fern to make the cord look like a vine, however I wanted something more simple, in case of failure or maintenance. I'm considering just lining it up the corner and just placing a branch or log to cover it from view.

Other than that, everything looks as it should. I'm done for the day, I don't want to overwork it and miss anything or rush into anything.

[moviescolin]

It's finally set up!

I'm waiting until 10pm tonight to add water to the enclosure, but here it is, set up! Lots of live plants, my shallow pond in the front, and lots of hiding spots and ground cover.

We've got a misting system hooked up as well as a fogging unit.

In a couple of weeks we'll get some Springtails and Isopods and throw them in there and then let everything settle and grow for six months or so before we start looking at frogs.

I told my girlfriend, we're going to need frogs that aren't shy - otherwise we'll never see them! Anybody have any suggestions?

[DartfrogDan]

I have a pair of D.auratus (Capurganá) which were quite shy at first but they're coming out of their sell a bit now

[Heatheranne]

My Dendrobates tinctorius cobalts are not shy at all .

My friend here says her Dendrobates leucomelas are not shy either .