thoughts on paludarium/river tank

[purplestarfish]

Hi all; it's been a while . . .
I've been mildly toying with the idea of purchasing a "river tank" insert for my 55 gallon aquarium. It's a set-up where it creates three or so waterfalls and divides the tank into different pools (some fish, like danios, can jump from pool to pool with ease). There's room for a filter canister and pipes to keep the water constantly flowing from one end to the other. There's room for non-aquatic plants, too; it's designed so that one can keep a few fish, salamanders, frogs, and lizards (as in anoles or tropical lizards; no leopard geckos here!). Has anyone kept these? Advice for or against them? Were I to get one, I wouldn't do something like get fire-bellied toads (actually frogs) which are highly toxic or anything like that. I just wanted to throw this out there and see what everyone else thought about them.
Thanks & happy holidays (AND it's only 3 days until LOTR 3 comes out!!!)--

[Allivymar]

I've never done one, but I would love to (no room for one *sigh*).I know one has to be especially careful about what animals are to be included, as often the fish are natural prey and wind up eaten.

You might want to check here for some ideas on plants and fish for a river type biotope: http://www.mongabay.com/fish/biotope.htm

[Moe36]

Good thing you dodnt mix firbelly toads. They are toxic, and will lower the [acronym:bb556c0835="Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions"]ph[/acronym:bb556c0835] in your tank. You can try anoles, but only mix small species of geckos with them such as Hemidactylus, or even a small tree frog like Hyla Cinerea. I keep a Brookesia minima with Dendrobates Azureus with no problem. (Not in a paulidarium though).




(Sorry for some of the lame quality, pics taken with a 1.3 MP cam, lol).

M.N

[Moe36]

Also, someone on kingsnake has a paulidarium and mixes fish wil posion dart frogs and Anoles (which i dont recommend...though he claims nothing has ever went wrong),



M.N

[fishfreek]

Sorry for some of the lame quality, pics taken with a 1.3 MP cam, lol).

Lame? Those are some great photos

[madasafish]

*Drool*

That paludarium setup is fantastic! I've always wanted to try that!!!! I'm always held back by my practical side (believe it or not, I do have one). I know paludariums are very difficult to upkeep, esp. since the "worlds" are constantly mixing (soil gets into the water, water splashes onto the glass and creates a film etc). I still think there's gotta be a better way to do it...

I was very close to starting a paludarium with fish and Madagascan Mantella frogs (look them up--they'll blow you away), but I realized it was a bit of a dream for now. Plus the mantellas cost $30+, are sensitive, need their substrate changed every week (another problem).

Anyway... some time in the future, but I'm waiting for a company to really perfect the design. Still so many problems.

[Moe36]

Hey,

Where did you read that they need their substrate changed every week? Your never really supposed to "clean" anything in a naturalistic vivarium, because it is mainetnence free. All the springtails, plants, and other microfauna naturally do it for you.

Mantellas are awesome frogs, you just need to keep the temps cool. I keep M. Aurantiaca and Betsileo.

M.N

[madasafish]

Oh, cool. I actually read that changing substrate thing about frog-only habitats, not complete vivariums. Yeah, in theory I def. see how that would work. I wonder if the waste might be too much for the vivarium, though, in reality. Dunno, though. Do you keep yours in a vivrium/paludarium?

[Bearfan]

I had a high crack tank I turned into a paludarium. Not much more work than an aquarium.

I bought the river tank insert. I returned the river tank insert. What a piece of garbage.

[purplestarfish]

I would prefer setting up a paludarium with natural supplies, ie stones and driftwood, to create the waterfalls etc. The problem with that is that it places a lot of extra weight in my tank. I know that the level of water would decrease signifigantly (should I set up a paludarium) and remove a good deal of weight, but I still have to make sure nothing happens (55 gallon tank on the third floor of a building that probably isn't as sturdy as I would like it to be . . . not good!) I suppose it's the idea of the waterfalls that makes the river tank insert so appealing, but if it's been tried and judged as "garbage," then I will definitely take that into consideration! (Better a waterfall-free tank that's nice than garbage waterfalls . . . ) I would not be adding any species that prey on fish, though. If I were to get frogs, they'd be dwarf aquatic frogs (that don't even get past an inch and a half or so) and/or tree frogs (providing all their needs were met). I think, overall, the tank would still be primarily aquatic.
But back to au natural vs. the insert: the good thing about doing it naturally is that I don't have to worry as much about removing all the gravel and replacing it again. Pain in the butt (I have up to [in some places] 6 inches of gravel in my tank; I like it deeeeeep). I would try to stack rocks and things and attatch them to the glass with some sealent or something . . . anyway, thanks for the input; more is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS welcome! (the more advice the better . . . plus, this is aquariumAdvice . . . )