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