Wy Renegade's 40B Tiger Salamander Paludarium

[Wy Renegade]

So some of you may remember the original attempt at a paludarium dedicated to Tiger salamanders http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f136/wy-renegades-30gal-paludarium-192117.html It turned out to be far too small for the salamanders, and ended up with some leak issues, so it is currently back on a back burner waiting to become my first ‘el natural’ tank. However, the salamanders still needed a home, so this semester we are in the process of attempting to create the perfect Tiger salamander habitat.

Tank:
The tank is a 40 gallon breeder turtle-tank aquarium (36"x18"x17" - really only 9"). Since my goal is a paludarium setting, the tank will only be about 1/3 full of water. To provide for the waterfall and stream, we will drill the dividing glass for a single bulkhead.

Equipment:
Filter: Aquaclear 20
Lighting: Aqueon strip light w/ standard aquarium bulb and an Aqueon twin tube strip light w/ one standard aquarium bulb and one Floraxam plant bulb

Scape:
The tanks scape will be created using a combination of silicone, Great Stuff Pond Foam, River rock, and driftwood.

Substrate:
Aquatic: assorted sized river gravel – so that if the salamanders go fishing, we don’t have to worry about them swallowing sand.
Terrestrial; organic potting soil covered with leaves and dried spagnum moss and driftwood pieces.

Fauna:
Invertes: daphnia, planaria, rotifers, scuds, tubifex worms to start, additional varieties will be added as they are acquired

Vertebrates:
Tiger Salamanders (x2)
Fish will most likely be some type of nano livebearer, possibly endlers (if I can get my hands on some) or White Cloud Mountain minnows

Flora:
Emergent: Forget-Me-Nots and Mint to start, will add others as I get a chance
Floating: water hyacinth
Submergent: hornwort, maybe some bladderwort if I can find some
Terrestrial: bonsai plant, moss, and a native fern

Set-up: 40B turtle tank. The tank will end up being about 2/3 terrestrial habitat and 1/3 aquatic. To accomplish that, we divided the tank into approximate thirds using a glass pane and silicon. Of the third that is aquatic, a little less than 1/2 will be a bog type environment, contained behind a wall consisting of natural river stone and foam. The remaining portion will be aquatic with a sand substrate. the wall dividing the aquatic portion will be curved and sloped on one side to allow the salamanders access to and escape from the water. The terrestrial portion will contain a small waterfall and flowing stream (at least in theory, we will see how my glass drilling and epoxy skills stand up to the test).

So since I know everyone likes photos, here are a few shots of the build getting underway.

We did a lot of dry stacking to try and get a concept;


Finally it was time to just get started;

 

[Wy Renegade]

Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum)



Tiger salamanders are a large, robust salamander that is a member of the mole salamander family. Adults average 6 to 8 inches in length, although individuals up to 12 inches have been found. Distrubuted nearly coast to coast in North America, it is the only salamander native to the state of Wyoming. There are currently 6 recognized subspecies found throughout its range. Adults have distinct bars or splotches on a black, brown, or olive green background (although all black individuals also occur), while the larva lack the yellow bars and are a brown, grey or olive color. The larval form which is gilled is sometimes referred to as a waterdog or mudpuppy.

Habitat: Tiger salamanders require a moist environment in order to prevent desiccation. The adult form is primarily terrestrial and are found in forests, grasslands or marshes. They typically inhabit burrows or reside under leaf litter, but are also good swimmers. During the breeding season (late May to August), they return to shallow water to breed. Eggs adhere to submerged vegetation singly or in clusers up to 20. Larva are aquatic and have gills on their head which appear feathery in the water. Transformation from larva to adult can take anywhere from two months to two years.

Niche: Strict carnivores, the adults feeds primarily on insects and worms, although they may also occassionally consume small frogs or baby mice. the larve form feeds on aquatic invertebrates when small, but can become predacious and sometimes even cannibalistic when larger.

Breeding: Breeding occurs in the water in late May to August, with the male nudging a willing female to initiate mating. Females deposite an egg or egg sack during a mating dance, and the male then deposites a spermatophore. The female picks up the fertilized pack and adheres it to the underside of submerged vegetation.

Disease: Tiger salamanders typically carry both the Ambystoma tigrinum and the Regina ranavirus viruses, and both have been implicated in large scale die-offs of these animals. Batrachochytrium dendrobatides infections can also occur, but are typically not lethal. They can also carry salmonella bacteria, so care should be exercised after handling these animals.

Here's a link to a great care sheet write-up if anyone is interested; http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/tiger_sal_101.shtml

and a great video series here on identifying, buying, keeping, sexing, and building habitats for tiger salamanders for anyone who is interested; http://www.ehow.com/video_2349555_types-salamanders.html

 

[Wy Renegade]

We've made some additional progress, and have a nice little waterfall starting to shape up. It occurs to me that we need to incorporate some root-like driftwood into that wall as well.

 

[vance1013]

Interesting I'm following along can't wait for it to turn out looking good already

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[Alexwm125]

Following this! Looks awesome! Can't wait either!

Just tried to set up a terrarium for my indo whites tree frog and it turned out a little iffy lol just not as picturesque as I'd hoped. I think yours will be 100% better lol


I love my fish!!!

 

[Wy Renegade]

Interesting I'm following along can't wait for it to turn out looking good already

Sent from my SCH-S968C using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Following this! Looks awesome! Can't wait either!

Just tried to set up a terrarium for my indo whites tree frog and it turned out a little iffy lol just not as picturesque as I'd hoped. I think yours will be 100% better lol


I love my fish!!!

Thanks for tagging along folks! This will be a rather slow build, as it only gets worked on every Friday or so, but we are making progress.

 

[Brookster123]

Ooooo I'm very interested in this build!! I used to have newts, they were pretty awesome! Beautiful creatures there!

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[Wy Renegade]

Ooooo I'm very interested in this build!! I used to have newts, they were pretty awesome! Beautiful creatures there!

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Welcome Brookster, thanks for tagging along.

 

[Wy Renegade]

I haven't thrown up a full tanks shot yet to give a perspective, so here it is (excuse the mess, the classroom is always busy this time of year).


And an update on the rock divider - now I'm on a hunt for some drift wood to incorporate.

 

[vance1013]

Update?

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[Wy Renegade]

Indeed I do have one - been a bit slow because we had to order some driftwood in to get the perfect piece of wood. Finally arrived this week, so we were able to move ahead with some more foaming.



That piece of wood fit nicely;


Here you can kind of see the little waterfall effect we are going for;

 

[Wy Renegade]

Finished up the rock wall last week. Need to get the coco-fiber on next.

 

[Brookster123]

Those are some lucky little critters WY

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[Wy Renegade]

Those are some lucky little critters WY

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Thanks Brookster!

Got the hole drilled and ready for a bulkhead.

 

[john_franzwa]

Cool


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[Autumnsky]

Hey, whatever happened here? Where are the tank pics???

 

[Wy Renegade]

Well to be honest, we sold our house and moved, and in the process I lost track of pictures and updates LOL. Finally getting things sorted through, so I'll post a update here in just a bit.

 

[Wy Renegade]

After the wall was dry, we added a peat moss and wood glue mixture to the rocks and sticks.



It was a messy job, but looked pretty good once we finished.

 

[Wy Renegade]

For the wet area of soil, we laid down a 1 1/2" layer of larger rock, covered that with some landscaping fabric and covered it with a mixture of peat moss and sand.


The "dry dirt" area got a organic soil, so the salamanders wouldn't have issues.


The tank has been up and running water-wise for about a year. We've got a population of three tiger salamanders and usually around a dozen whitecloud minnows. The salamanders have been pretty active, and I've even seen them swimming in the water after the minnows.

This year we've been working on 3D printing a waterfall, pond, stream for the land area, so we can get the pump system running. So far the waterfall and pond are printed (my group is a little slow this year on accomplishing things. Other then a large log, the tank doesn't have many features at this point.

 

[Autumnsky]

Nice to hear about the update. Don't forget to send pics when you get more done! Thanks!