Newbie / Hello from Colorado

[Mikeco]

Hello everyone!
My name is Mike. Here from Colorado and I am brand new to the hobby. Last December I got married in the middle of the rainforest in Costa Rica and since that time, I have not been able to let go of the rainforest and the creatures we experienced there. It was so amazing! Our Treehouse had a resident Gecko that was very good at leaving us presents from the ceiling that were fun to step on when you had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night! I guess you could also say the "Best man" at my wedding was a tiny baby Gecko that came to hang out with me just before the ceremony. Anyway, I am here doing research. I want to build a Vivarium or ultimately a Paludarium to try to bring the outdoors inside my home. I have wanted something like this for as long as I can remember so I have decided to give it a go. I have really enjoyed looking around the forum, seeing the amazing habitats and reading member advice. I'm looking forward to researching and planning my eventual build but I don't want to attempt this before I am certain I will be able to provide a habitat where the creatures that live there will be happy and thrive.
Right now I am all about the habitat but don't have any idea on what to put in there. I really want to build a Paludarium. I want a waterfall inside the planted tank and have a pretty good idea on how to go about the build and incorporate the land and water. I really don't have any specific species in mind for residents at the moment, so thats why I'm here. I was hoping for some advice on maybe which frog(s) would be best suited to this type of environment and possibly some suggestions for fish and tiny crabs(or advice against having them) to co-exist with the frogs. Any advice and suggestions would be welcomed as I start to put this together. Looking forward to connecting with other members here. Take care all.

Mike

[Larry Wardog]

Hello everyone!
My name is Mike. Here from Colorado and I am brand new to the hobby. Last December I got married in the middle of the rainforest in Costa Rica and since that time, I have not been able to let go of the rainforest and the creatures we experienced there. It was so amazing! Our Treehouse had a resident Gecko that was very good at leaving us presents from the ceiling that were fun to step on when you had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night! I guess you could also say the "Best man" at my wedding was a tiny baby Gecko that came to hang out with me just before the ceremony. Anyway, I am here doing research. I want to build a Vivarium or ultimately a Paludarium to try to bring the outdoors inside my home. I have wanted something like this for as long as I can remember so I have decided to give it a go. I have really enjoyed looking around the forum, seeing the amazing habitats and reading member advice. I'm looking forward to researching and planning my eventual build but I don't want to attempt this before I am certain I will be able to provide a habitat where the creatures that live there will be happy and thrive.
Right now I am all about the habitat but don't have any idea on what to put in there. I really want to build a Paludarium. I want a waterfall inside the planted tank and have a pretty good idea on how to go about the build and incorporate the land and water. I really don't have any specific species in mind for residents at the moment, so thats why I'm here. I was hoping for some advice on maybe which frog(s) would be best suited to this type of environment and possibly some suggestions for fish and tiny crabs(or advice against having them) to co-exist with the frogs. Any advice and suggestions would be welcomed as I start to put this together. Looking forward to connecting with other members here. Take care all.

Mike

That's a great place to be! I wanted to build a native setup of the area around me and then selected my animals. I feel it's much better wanting to create a specific area then making a fictional one. I am not an owner of dart frogs but I admire and checkout all the cool enclosures the people who own them build.

If you are going with dart frogs they are a little more difficult to care for being dependent more on good temp and humidity. There are many good keepers who would be able to help you pick out some possible inhabitants if you are focused on dart frogs. Like I said they have beautiful setups but are delicate frogs.

If you are looking at another species of frog the notorious Red Eye Tree Frog is also a member of the rain forest so they require similar temp and humidity to the dart frogs but would not be good tank mates because the tree frogs get bigger and could potentially attempt to eat the dart frogs.

One really good tank mate to the dart frogs or in a solo setup is the Mourning Gecko. These guys are able to breed without a male so they will produce offspring without much effort. They are a small species of gecko and I hear they are very fun and if you research are good for cohabitation with the dart frogs. The geckos could be housed with some inverts like large Millipedes probably not from the rain forest but would help be a good tank mate consuming decaying plant matter and poop. A Hissing Cockroach would be able to possibly live in that setup. They will not hunt or be hunted by the geckos. Large Land Snails would also be okay they don't eat plants if you give them fish food, bird seed and etc. Snails are very funny to watch and have a lot of personality. Remember the larger millipedes and snails are okay. The smaller ones could be consumed possibly. You could allow the Banded Cricket to live in the tank as an additional feeder and inhabitant. You would still have to release some so the geckos get gut loaded and supplemented crickets. I can give you more info on that later but I'd advise releasing the crickets unless you keep the geckos or tree frogs.

If you would do fish I think smaller would be better so they do not harass the frogs. Tetras are good candidates to use as well because they are small, from the rain forest and are peaceful.

If you would look more into the tree frogs they would do okay with the fish too but may try to catch some. The tree frogs are probably better to be the only land dwelling species because they are very good hunters.

I hope you do well and maybe one of these species sparks your interest.

Good luck!

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[Mikeco]

Hey Thank you very much for that advice, it is very appreciated! I'm really excited to start this build and was really hoping that I could find some good tank mates i.e. the Mourning Geckos and dart frogs. Would those dart frogs eat the tetras? If those could all live together, it would be great to have those along with the Snails, millipedes and crickets. I want a lush planted tank with a water feature and little waterfall first and foremost. Would love to have Geckos and frogs together as well, that sounds like a good start. There is a reptile show coming here in February, so my goal is to have my tank ready to bring some inhabitants home at that time. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.


Mike

[Larry Wardog]

Hey Thank you very much for that advice, it is very appreciated! I'm really excited to start this build and was really hoping that I could find some good tank mates i.e. the Mourning Geckos and dart frogs. Would those dart frogs eat the tetras? If those could all live together, it would be great to have those along with the Snails, millipedes and crickets. I want a lush planted tank with a water feature and little waterfall first and foremost. Would love to have Geckos and frogs together as well, that sounds like a good start. There is a reptile show coming here in February, so my goal is to have my tank ready to bring some inhabitants home at that time. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.


Mike

Hello! I am happy to help you with finding some tank mates. I am happy to help you! No the tetras would be too big for the dart frogs. So you could have the dart frogs with the geckos and have some tetras. I would suggest having shallow water leading out to deeper water so the frogs can still sit in the water but not venture out too deep.

Having the inverts might be okay but if you want to have an invert with the other animals I'd suggest looking on Bugs In Cyberspace for large tropical Isopods. They will be too big to be eaten and are no harm to the frogs. The Isopod is a very beneficial crustacean land dwelling that can eat poop, eat decaying plants and fungas. There should be an exotic large species on there. You can post on here pics if you want someone to look at it.

As for the Mourning Gecko I would say that Josh's Frogs is the best place. They are captive bred and very easy to work with should anything happen. Very classy place. I would suggest getting all your geckos from them. They sell dart frogs but like I said you may want to check with the dart frog owners on the forum and say what your plan is. Also I will say before you go on there do not mix dart frogs like have multiple species. People take that very serious. They get very aggressive when someone does that. I'm not into keeping them so it's not something I get frustrated about but I just wanted to give you that advice.

You can YouTube the mourning gecko I think Josh's Frogs has a YouTube video of them.

Post pictures and let us know what you decide!

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[Mikeco]

This sounds like a perfect start! Thanks again and will definitely let you know. One more question if you don't mind? Would you recommend a longer tank as opposed to a tank that is specifically marketed for use as a Paludarium? Say maybe a 20 long so you can do a gradual slope into the deeper water. It seems like a Paludarium enclosure kind of goes right into the deeper water and doesn't allow a gradual slope. The down side is it's not very tall. Any recommendations on tank shape/size for starting out? I have access to a lot of inexpensive tanks on Craigslist/local neighborhood websites etc and I would not be opposed at all to doing my own modifications. Those Exo-terras are nice but just look so tiny.

[Larry Wardog]

I would think a 40 gallon breeder or a 75 gallon would give you a lot of space. I would recommend asking the dart frog people and figuring out what frogs and other inhabitants you want. I'm happy you are interested in making a bigger size enclosure.

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[Mikeco]

Ok I'll ask around to the Dart frog people. Thank you.