1/2 land 1/2 water amphibian tank

[saltcreep1025]

Hello all, im not exactly sure if this is the place to be posting this, but i am thinkig about setting up a tank that is half water half land. I would be putting in it some frogs, some lizards, some fish, and some crabs maybe.

Firstly... is this a bad idea?

secondly... what would be the best way to go about doing this
tank size
equipment
and the compatibility of the inhabitants

also any other useful/intersting information. especially if any of you have tried this and how ya liked it.

Thank you very much!!!

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

I can't help yas....but I just wanted to say that sounds really cool

Aquatic turtles might be fun too.

I'd love to hear some thoughts...Maybe someday I'll have enough space for this!

 

[Madame_X]

I've seen a couple of these in local fish stores recently so it definitely can be done. Two of the tanks I saw were to house fiddler crabs and were set up with flat rocks stacked high in the center to create an island. The crabs could easily climb out and hang out on the rock, or spend time in the water. One of these tanks had some fish (mollies, I believe--fiddlers are brackish) swimming in it.

Another set up I saw had some aquatic turtles set up in it. It was much more elaborate, with what looked like a custom molded background made to look like rock. It came all the way out to the front of the tank at one end, forming sort of an island. It was very cool--the water was cycled over various parts of the "rock" to make it look like a water fall. There were goldfish swimming in the end that was underwater (which I assume were food for the turtles).

I'm not sure about compatibility but if I had to guess, I wouldn't think you could mix the crabs with amphibians. People told me a crab would eat my fish so I think the same may hold true of a small frog? I'm certainly no expert, though.

It sounds like a cool set up. Hope these ideas help. Good luck!

 

[justDIY]

your best bet for filtration of a land and sea setup would be a canister filter.

it will provide the filtering capacity that you'll need with high-waste creatures such as turtles, and will also allow you to create waterfalls or a stream bed should you desire one.

using a garden sprayer attached to the canister's outlet, you could even make an area of your tank where it is always raining!

 

[tkos]

At petstores in Canada (PetsUnlimited) they sell these little ionizing fog machines in the reptile section. I saw one setup in a paludarium (Ithink thats what these types of tanks are called) so that there was a great little fog layer on the surface of the water. Really cool.

 

[saltcreep1025]

thx for all the info guys!!!! any more would be appriciated.

 

[purplestarfish]

That sounds like an awesome idea . . . I'm not sure but what you're setting up may be called a Paludarium . . . oh, I just realized that someone else said that, good on them! There's also vivariums, which can be like that, but they might include plants as a must. (If you did google searches on either, you'd probably come up with interesting information.) I think the bigger the tank the better would be right for this set-up; that way, you can maximize the room that the reptiles/amphibians/fish have (esp. the fish so they have enough surface area to breathe). The one thing I can really help with is that you shouldn't add fire-bellied toads (which are actually frogs) and fire-bellied newts. This is due to their being more toxic than many of their relatives, and the more toxic they are, the more dangerous to your fish they are. They would easily pollute your water, and frequent water changes would not change that. If you change the water too frequently, it's bad for the fish, so it's really a lose-lose situation with them. However, plenty of other amphibians can be used, like the african dwarf frog, which is strictly aquatic and harmless to your fish. Hope this helps, and send pictures when it's all set up, I can't wait to see!

 

[saltcreep1025]

ahhh yes.... i definetly dont want any toxic critters!!! cuz i like to play w/ em =)

thx for all the info guys, ill run a search for Paludarium and vivariums. When i get this thing set up ill tell ya how it goes!

 

[saltcreep1025]

wow.... ran a search for paludariums and got quite a bit of info. soon as i get paid im gonna go buy some stuff to get this started. Nice thing is i can just go to a creek and collect a lot of the stuff i need =)

soon as i get this thing goin ill post some pics for you guys to see!!!

thx for the help,
ross

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Be careful playing with them. Your hands damage their slime layers, and if you handle it too much you can sometimes see the marks of your fingers on their bodies.