Our build for Ranomafana fauna...

[TKexotics]

Hi, here we will try to keep you posted abouth the enclosure we are building for a mixed group of Malagasy fauna that inhabit the Ranomafana national park.., there will be gecko's, dwarfchameleon's and ofcourse some frogs going in there.
Also al the plants will be Malagasy natives.., but not restricted to Ranomafana alone.

The tank itself is a former aquarium, it's 140cm wide, 50cm deep and 60 cm high, without the hood.
There will be a 6500K daylight tube, a 5.0 UV-B bulb and 2 fan's for air circulation in the hood.
Spraying will be done by hand to keep more controle.

There will be a small, shallow pond, wich will have a camouflaged air bubble thing to keep the water moving.
Water will be changed on a daily basis so there will be no fish, they wouldn't have enough room anyway and finding fish from Madagascar would be almost impossible i'm afraid.

Enough with the talking, let's show you guy's a pic...



Today we cut the plates for the sides and background to the right size, and placed a few planters.
Next we will be giving it structure with foam and we are going to cover the back and sides with peat.
Dont mind the lighting yet and the waterbowl, the lighting is yust to work at it and the waterbowl was to see if we can use it but it will be going into some other project. That's it for now, let us know what you think please.

Updates will follow ofcourse, greetings.

[ColleenT]

what a great tank. please keep posting pics as you go along..

[Fbt123]

Sounds like its going to be great! I didnt know chameleons and lizards could go with frogs. Pretty cool idea though !

[TKexotics]

Sounds like its going to be great! I didnt know chameleons and lizards could go with frogs. Pretty cool idea though !

We have kept al the animals that wil be going in there together before at one point but on a smaller scale than this and it worked fine, in fact, with most of them it still does.
Ofcourse, with a mixed species enclosure there are always several factors you need to have under controle before even attempting it.
Size of the enclosure, niches in it that the animals choosen will inhabit, if they are active during the same time, if there visual lines are broken, emergency tanks need to be up and running, etc, etc...
It's not yust abouth trowing a few different animals together in one enclosure and see what happens.
But i believe that's something for another discussion...

[jarteta97]

We have kept al the animals that wil be going in there together before at one point but on a smaller scale than this and it worked fine, in fact, with most of them it still does.
Ofcourse, with a mixed species encloure there are always several factors you nood to have under controle before even attempting it.
Size of the enclosure, niches in it that the animals choosen will inhabit, if they are active during the same time, if there visual lines are broken, emergency tanks need to be up and running, etc, etc...
It's not yust abouth trowing a few different animals together in one enclosure and see what happens.
But i believe that's somthing for another discussion...

Well, you certainly seem to know what you're doing when it comes to mixing species, and that tank is certainly very large. I can't wait to see it completed, so keep us updated!

[deranged chipmunk]

It's a bit ummmm, sterile looking currently lol


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[TKexotics]

Haha yeah i know.., can't wait to have it all covered and we can get the substrate in, it will be a world of difference.

[deranged chipmunk]

Looking forward to it!!! You guys planning on going with endemic plants as well?


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[TKexotics]

Yes we are, plants that we have bought already and will be going in are:

Aerangis punctata
Angraecum sesquipedale
Stephanotis floribunda
Chrysalidocarpus lutescens
Nepenthes madagascariensis
Dracaena reflexa angustifolia
Cyperus alternifolius

We hope to still add a few to the list but as you propably know, it's not easy..
Some of them will also grow way too big but they are all very small for now and we will trim and replace them whenever necessary.

Animals will be:

1.1 Uroplatus phantasticus
1.1 Ebenavia inunguis
1.2 Brookesia superciliaris
?.? Boophis rappiodes

And then for Mantella we are still doubting between M. aurantiaca, or M. madagascariensis. We like them both but don't want to add 2 species of Mantella.
Considering the availability it will propably be M. aurantiaca.

[deranged chipmunk]

That's a sweet list. So true, it is so difficult to get plants from Madagascar that aren't succulents. I love the animal list and would go with m. Aurantiaca. The uro's are gonna love that tank.


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[TKexotics]

Wel, there has been some progress, and also some minor changing in our plans...
For the background we decided to not build a custom one and use natural cork, in time it will become mostly grown over anyway so we put those in, added a substrate layer and some of our homemade ABG, then we placed some wood and a few sticks of bamboo, and started planting...



The lighting is the same bulb we will use at the end but there will be 2 and we still need to fix them in place.
We also added a colony of springtails today, next will be adding more leaflitter, wood, and ofcourse, much more plants...

Grts.

[deranged chipmunk]

I dig it. Clean simple, it will grow in nice!


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[TKexotics]

Thanks,
plants for now are 2x Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, 2x Dracaena reflexa angustifolia , a Aerangis punctata orchid, and a Stephanotis floribunda.
Next we will be adding a little more bamboo and lots of wood and vines, wich will then be covered with moss, some more Aerangis and Angraecum sp. , and Aspleniums.
We also have a lead on some Peperomia sp. masoala so we hope to add one of those to it as well. And a cutting of our Cyperus alternifolius will also be going in.
The Nepenthes madagascariensis will propably not like the wett conditions so we might have to save that one for another build.