10 Gallon Paludarium Choices??

[PhantomPotato]

So for Christmas I got a ten gallon aquarium. Currently, it is sitting empty, but I've been looking into stocking ideas.
One of them, is creating a paludarium. The land part will take up half of the aquarium, only it will be 'floating' with a support to give the fish more room.
I will have some mollies in there and some type of bottom feeder, possibly some shrimp or snails.
The tank is right beside a window, which I open daily for my plants, so I'm not too concerned about lighting under there, and there is a plant light above it.
I could really use some suggestions on bottom feeders, fish, invertebrates and finally, an amphibian or reptile that is semi aquatic to inhabit the land section.
Noise isn't a problem either.
Thanks!

 

[PhantomPotato]

I forgot to mention that I was thinking about a leopard frog, but I'd still like some suggestions. Also, the water will be heated and have a filter. Thanks!!

 

[FinsandFeathers]

10 gallons isn't much to work with for what you're suggesting.
First, it isn't really large enough for mollies; they can get up to 4 inches, and really need at least a 20g tank. If you want live-bearers, I'd try guppies, or a couple platies.
Ghost shrimp, or cherry red shrimp would probably do well, and you could probably also add a couple mystery snails as well.
If you want a reptile or amphibian though, I wouldn't put fish in the tank. There are some very cool semi-aquatic, small amphibians. Fire-bellied toads, and fire-bellied newts to name a couple easy-to-find amphibians, but they don't mix well with fish.
You may be able to get by with a couple African Dwarf Frogs in a tank with fish, but most herps do best in a species only setup.

 

[Wy Renegade]

For aesthetic reasons, I would suggest a modification to your plans. I would switch from 1/2 and 1/2 to more like a 1/3 and 2/3rds. The disproportionate ratios will give the tank more aesthetic appeal, than a 50/50 split.

As was mentioned, a 10 gallon tank is going to be pretty limiting, but there are a number of options you might consider. First of all not much of what is commonly available in a pet store is going to work for this set-up, so you will likely need to step outside the box (especially the box stores).

Several species of fish will do just fine in relatively small amounts of water, provided you can provide a pump for water circulation, however you will find that many of the species require live food or live food mixes, so keeping them requires you to expand your repertoire in regards to fish keeping. If you are wanting a ampibian/fish mix, I would consider a small inexpensive option like white cloud minnows or a small local minnow of some sort, as the amphibians may pick off some fish. If you choose to collect, make sure that you are up on local regulations and state laws before heading out. In regards to amphibians, something like boreal chorus frogs or a similar local variety would be a good choice, leopard frogs are not, as they get too large for that size of aquarium. Regardless, they will likely have to collected rather than purchased, so live foods are again a likely requirement. Additionally, they won't spend a lot of time in the water. Locally however, there are usually several small, aquatic or semiaquatic options of frogs, salamanders, newts, etc. Again make sure you are informed regarding local regulations and state laws for collection. Something else you might consider in that small of a paludarium, is insect species. Many macroinvertebrates are pretty interesting, and would make a nice species only set-up, and they have the advantage of not being real regulated in terms of collection.