Fire-Bellied Toads, Am I doing it right?

[Marinecrab]

Looks good for now. If you are going to put driftwood in, use Mopani. it holds up well over time and is smooth. For rocks, nice flat pieces work well for stacking. Throw some java Moss in for them and they will love it.

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I'm unable to currently get anything until the end of the week or tommorow, But I intend on having a sloped setup, my question is, what are all of those little white balls at the bottom of some setups? Again, this is temporary for the FBTs.

[jasonm96]

Thanks jason. If I was doing it over again, I would have put a background in and root some ferns or other plants to it. As of now, I would have to tear it all down to do it and I'm not inclined to just yet. I was hoping the Moss would stay green but that was a pipe dream, I now know. Have pulled it all out and going to replace with new stuff every few months.

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Just put an aquarium poster on and cut round the bracket supports, will look fine. no need to tear it down it looks to good. You could try the plant 'mind your own business' , it will probably do better and look the same

[ericbrookey]

Just put an aquarium poster on and cut round the bracket supports, will look fine. no need to tear it down it looks to good. You could try the plant 'mind your own business' , it will probably do better and look the same

Good idea. I just really wanted a live background to fill in with plants and moss. I thought about velcroing some cork flats to the back wall like puzzle pieces and filling in the gaps with spaghnum. I have seen that done and looks good but I'm not sure if the velcro adhesive would stay due to moisture for very long.

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[jasonm96]

What about a coco panel? You'd need to silicone it in tho, not sure if this would be safe... would be a good question for dart frog keepers as they might have done this. Unless you drain the water and remove the toads and only put them in once the smell has went? Bromeliads can be planted in this

[Marinecrab]

Very interesting guys! I wish to one day have the know-its to do something like that.

[ericbrookey]

I'm unable to currently get anything until the end of the week or tommorow, But I intend on having a sloped setup, my question is, what are all of those little white balls at the bottom of some setups? Again, this is temporary for the FBTs.

Those are called hydro balls. Clay pellets that are used for a drainage layer. I put about 6 inches of those, held in place by a turtle bridge placed on its side, which allows water to flow through but not frogs. Then I put a mesh layer on top of the balls, then coco fiber. Before that I installed a black PVC tube with holes drilled in the bottom few inches, down through the balls and that is my water intake to my cannister filter. The water comes back in on the other side onto a corner unit I bought at petsmart for a waterfall. They love to sit on it and let water run over them.

Here is what that looks like...










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[jasonm96]

Very interesting guys! I wish to one day have the know-its to do something like that.

I'm quite new to the bio-active stuff myself, live plants and all, but it's easy enough with all info online and most books will go into detail. It is better this way you never really have to do much cleaning, the tank takes care of itself

[ericbrookey]

That is a really nice setup, How much did it all cost?

Hard to say. I got the tank for free, built the stand, so filter and all the setup, maybe $300 - $400 or so. Not including lights, of course. I have used different lighting over the last year to see what works best.

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[ericbrookey]

quick question...are you treating their tap water with any conditioner like Prime to remove chlorine?

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[Marinecrab]

quick question...are you treating their tap water with any conditioner like Prime to remove chlorine?

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No, its not tap water, its filtered bottled water.

[ericbrookey]

Personally, I would stay clear of distilled water in the long term. When tap water is properly dechlored, it is actually much better for their soaking because it still contains trace elements that they absorb through the skin and are beneficial. Distilled and purified water has had all of that removed and can actually be a detriment to frogs that like to soak as it deprives them of the naturally occurring minerals. Either leave it out and open for a couple days or treat with Prime.

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[ericbrookey]

What about a coco panel? You'd need to silicone it in tho, not sure if this would be safe... would be a good question for dart frog keepers as they might have done this. Unless you drain the water and remove the toads and only put them in once the smell has went? Bromeliads can be planted in this

I have also considered this. Not a big fan of the look as it seems a bit like wallpaper, too uniform. But it's definitely an option. I think if I did this I would have to remove them for about a week and that is doable. I have a spare 40g breeder I could use. I just like the natural look of the cork flats but getting them attached is the challenge as they aren't completely "flat".

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[Marinecrab]

Personally, I would stay clear of distilled water in the long term. When tap water is properly dechlored, it is actually much better for their soaking because it still contains trace elements that they absorb through the skin and are beneficial. Distilled and purified water has had all of that removed and can actually be a detriment to frogs that like to soak as it deprives them of the naturally occurring minerals. Either leave it out and open for a couple days or treat with Prime.

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I will keep this in mind when I move them to their 40 gallon.

[monster]

What about a coco panel? You'd need to silicone it in tho, not sure if this would be safe... would be a good question for dart frog keepers as they might have done this. Unless you drain the water and remove the toads and only put them in once the smell has went? Bromeliads can be planted in this

If your going to silicone anything into your viv/terrarium that's going to require a nice bit of silicone you will have to remove your live plants. The fumes from the silicone while curing will kill them. Jason remember awhile back when your green tree frog went behind your background and we were trying to figure out a way to solve it and we thought of using silicone to attach it. I remember Bill came to rescue and told us not to unless everything was taken out because of the fumes killing everything. And Bill makes some of the nicest vivs for dart frogs I have seen and his knowledge of plants is amazeing, just thought I would throw that out there.

[ericbrookey]

Couple other things you will want to purchase. A digital hygrometer to measure temp and humidity, the manual ones are highly inaccurate, a temp probe for the water and make sure the cage has a secure screen top as they are notorious escape artists. With this type of setup it's not necessary to mist to keep the humidity up. I do for my plants but only every so often. Humidity should be easily maintained at 60-70% which is fine for them. If you use a glass top the humidity will range much higher and you will constantly have condensation on the glass.

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[ericbrookey]

If your going to silicone anything into your viv/terrarium that's going to require a nice bit of silicone you will have to remove your live plants. The fumes from the silicone while curing will kill them. Jason remember awhile back when your green tree frog went behind your background and we were trying to figure out a way to solve it and we thought of using silicone to attach it. I remember Bill came to rescue and told us not to unless everything was taken out because of the fumes killing everything. And Bill makes some of the nicest vivs for dart frogs I have seen and his knowledge of plants is amazeing, just thought I would throw that out there.

Good point and I remember that. Others have told me the same thing. I think LilyPad killed all her plants once, too. My thought was to use as little as possible and run a fan directly into the tank to help reduce fumes. It wouldn't be too hard to remove the plants and probably the safest move.

Sorry to thread jack Marinecrab!

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[monster]

Couple other things you will want to purchase. A digital hygrometer to measure temp and humidity, the manual ones are highly inaccurate, a temp probe for the water and make sure the cage has a secure screen top as they are notorious escape artists. With this type of setup it's not necessary to mist to keep the humidity up. I do for my plants but only every so often. Humidity should be easily maintained at 60-70% which is fine for them. If you use a glass top the humidity will range much higher and you will constantly have condensation on the glass.

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I would have to agree that these little guys are great at escaping. When I first got mine a few years ago I didn't have the right size lid so I had to use one that was bigger then the tank for abit so there was a small gap in the back. Didn't think anything of it till I went to check on them one morning and 2 of the 4 were missing, one was in a plastic grocery bag and I found him because I heard him trying to get out of it. While putting him back the other little bugger came hoping into the frog room and he had so much dog fur on him he looked like a living dust bunny. L.O.L Gave him a nice bath and a good cleaning and back he went, and I own a Siberian husky so you can just imagine how much fur he had on him. I vacuum everyday and still have a hard time keeping up with the constant shedding. And ya sorry for not staying on topic. Cheers and I hope everything ends up working out for you.

[jasonm96]

If your going to silicone anything into your viv/terrarium that's going to require a nice bit of silicone you will have to remove your live plants. The fumes from the silicone while curing will kill them. Jason remember awhile back when your green tree frog went behind your background and we were trying to figure out a way to solve it and we thought of using silicone to attach it. I remember Bill came to rescue and told us not to unless everything was taken out because of the fumes killing everything. And Bill makes some of the nicest vivs for dart frogs I have seen and his knowledge of plants is amazeing, just thought I would throw that out there.

Yeah I wasn't sure on this

Oh I forgot that, would have been a while back

[Marinecrab]

I check this thread every four hours or so, you guys are going all different directions its great, I'm learning; but can we stay on topic?

[Marinecrab]

Couple other things you will want to purchase. A digital hygrometer to measure temp and humidity, the manual ones are highly inaccurate, a temp probe for the water and make sure the cage has a secure screen top as they are notorious escape artists. With this type of setup it's not necessary to mist to keep the humidity up. I do for my plants but only every so often. Humidity should be easily maintained at 60-70% which is fine for them. If you use a glass top the humidity will range much higher and you will constantly have condensation on the glass.

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Thank you, I noticed this with the manual gages that came with my setup, I will look for one at the store, if not found I will order online.

Goodnight all, I will post an update around 12 tommorow with what i've bought from the store.