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10G Paludarium Build

Summer's here and I'm stuck at home. Why not make a paludarium for a small project?

I'm using my 10G tank for this project. I had a single 2.5 betta divider that sparked the idea of using those dividers to divide the land and water section. I had to get two more which brought me to 3 dividers. They were enough to create a division in the tank.

Fauna:
Aquatic- shrimp
Terrestrial - need suggestions

Flora:
Aquatic - moss and others
Terredtiral - Venus Fly Traps and need suggestions

IMG_6643.jpg

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Could someone pinpoint me to the right direction pertaining VFTs in this tank? I've seen a few people have them in fluorescent lights but I keep getting mixed reviews.
 
I heard that VFT's don't do well without dormancy.
You could put some dart frogs in there but they aren't good swimmers so there should be something for them to easily get on if they fall in.
Something that might work too, glue the dividers in a horizontal position with the terrestrial stuff on top and water below, that way the aquatic stuff has more room.
 
I was gonna try the refrigerator method over the winter where I take out the VFTs.

I was thinking dart frogs but I didn't really if they would swim or not.

I finsihed gluing them vertically, lol. I wanted to actually create a "paludarium". Instead of half water and a floating piece of land. LOL.

I think I've basically settled on getting Eastern or Fire Bellied Newts since I don't want to risk drownign an anole.
 
I actually don't know what a paludarium is, but I can't wait to see it!
 
Chomp:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paludarium

The start looks good.

I love setting up vivariums. I've got 4 vertical and 4 horizontal 10 gallon tanks converted that I haven't gotten started with decorating. Some will be wet forest and some will be true water/land paludariums. I also have a 37 gallon cube I converted in Dec. of 09 that I have restarted. So fun times are ahead! :)
 
How will you fit the trees in there ? XD
 
Hmm. I don't think dart frogs and CP's would mix very well, LOL.
 
I actually don't know what a paludarium is, but I can't wait to see it!

Basically half land half water

Chomp:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paludarium

The start looks good.

I love setting up vivariums. I've got 4 vertical and 4 horizontal 10 gallon tanks converted that I haven't gotten started with decorating. Some will be wet forest and some will be true water/land paludariums. I also have a 37 gallon cube I converted in Dec. of 09 that I have restarted. So fun times are ahead! :)

SWEEETNESS! Yeah, I can't wait to add life in it! :)

How will you fit the trees in there ? XD


LOL!!

Hmm. I don't think dart frogs and CP's would mix very well, LOL.

I wasn't planning on the Dart Frogs since I was unsude of how well they swam.
 
Finished Paludarium Project

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Complete Stats:

Tank: 10 Gallon

Filter: Pondmaster w/ Whisper 10i (will be added)

Substrate: 3/4 Peat and 1/4 Perlite

Lighting: 2, 26 watt CFLs

Decoration: Crater Rocks, Driftwood, Black River Rock

Flora:

Terrestrial: Sundew, Venus Fly Trap, Creeping Fig

Aquatic: Anubias, Java Fern, Java Moss

Fauna
Terrestrial: Unknown

Aquatic: Black Babualtis, Nerite Snails
 
  • #10
Very nice! Remember though that the vfts probably won't last very long, but the dew might get away with it. Good luck!
 
  • #11
If you look on the far left, I have a window and the VFTs get a lot of sunlight in the morning. Might push the tank more.
 
  • #12
Nice. Do you collect Sb's?
 
  • #13
I wouldn't put any fire-bellied newts in there, because there is too little water in your set up. Healthy, unstressed newts are fully aquatic, and 10 gallons of water is the minimum for even just one newt. Since a good chunk of your setup is land and your tank isn't even half full, I'd say you don't even have five gallons of water, which is a great deal less than the recommended 10 gallons. This would make the water quality and water temperature very hard to maintain.

Also, if the temperatures in your tank are above 75 degrees, then no type of newt would be appropriate. They need it cool or even cold year round, and extended periods of hot (above 75 degree) temperatures can cause stress, immune problems, and eventually death.

Look here: www.caudata.org and its sister sites for the best info on newts available on the web. The people on there know their stuff.

That said, your setup looks great! I hope your venus flytraps do well in there. If not, you could always switch them out for a small growing species of nepenthes in the future.

I'm not sure what animals you could put in there. Tree frogs might be safe, but I'm not sure how well they can swim. Whatever you get, just make sure you do your research before hand, and make the best decision for the health of the animal. If you really want newts, you could always just buy an other 10 gallon terrarium.

Good luck!
 
  • #14
Nice. Do you collect Sb's?

Ishh. I just have two right now.

I wouldn't put any fire-bellied newts in there, because there is too little water in your set up. Healthy, unstressed newts are fully aquatic, and 10 gallons of water is the minimum for even just one newt. Since a good chunk of your setup is land and your tank isn't even half full, I'd say you don't even have five gallons of water, which is a great deal less than the recommended 10 gallons. This would make the water quality and water temperature very hard to maintain.

Also, if the temperatures in your tank are above 75 degrees, then no type of newt would be appropriate. They need it cool or even cold year round, and extended periods of hot (above 75 degree) temperatures can cause stress, immune problems, and eventually death.

Look here: www.caudata.org and its sister sites for the best info on newts available on the web. The people on there know their stuff.

That said, your setup looks great! I hope your venus flytraps do well in there. If not, you could always switch them out for a small growing species of nepenthes in the future.

I'm not sure what animals you could put in there. Tree frogs might be safe, but I'm not sure how well they can swim. Whatever you get, just make sure you do your research before hand, and make the best decision for the health of the animal. If you really want newts, you could always just buy an other 10 gallon terrarium.

Good luck!

Thanks! I've been talking to people on caudata.org and they told me a 10G isn't enough for 1 newt. I might end up turning my planted aquarium into a newt set-up or making another paludarium.

Thanks! I've been looking for some nepenthese but can't seem to find any around my area so I might have to trade people on here!

I'm not a fan of frogs and most people recommended frogs. They scare me so they would probably my last choice of animals on there.

I've been looking at Vampire Crabs or a single anole for this set-up.
 
  • #15
I saw your thread on caudata.org, and they gave you very good information. As they said, 10 gallons is the minimum. If you had just a plain 10 gallon aquarium filled completely with water (no space taken up by land), you could definitely house 1 or 2 Chinese fire-bellied newts comfortably. It's important to utilize the full volume of the tank, so that there's plenty of room for them to swim, and enough water to dilute any waste and keep the temperature stable and cool. So yeah, a planted aquarium would probably be good.

I'll say this: a palundarium complete with animals and plants is wonderful in concept. It's like a tiny natural world in your home, but in practice it is very difficult to provide the proper requirements for each organism therein without compromising the well-being of the other inhabitants. Be careful that you don't sacrifice the health and well-being of your animals and carnivorous plants for the sake of making it look cool. To do so would be selfish and cruel, and in the end, you'd most likely lose out as well. Aesthetics are only worth so much without true quality to back them up.

I understand the frog thing...I have a friend who is so afraid of them that she screams when she so much as sees a picture of one. It's quite funny, but it also proves the point that frogs can be scary.

I just googled vampire crabs, and they are really awesome looking. Very neat and probably your best bet in this set up. Whatever you chose to inhabit your palandarium, please update us with pictures in the future!
 
  • #16
I saw your thread on caudata.org, and they gave you very good information. As they said, 10 gallons is the minimum. If you had just a plain 10 gallon aquarium filled completely with water (no space taken up by land), you could definitely house 1 or 2 Chinese fire-bellied newts comfortably. It's important to utilize the full volume of the tank, so that there's plenty of room for them to swim, and enough water to dilute any waste and keep the temperature stable and cool. So yeah, a planted aquarium would probably be good.

I'll say this: a palundarium complete with animals and plants is wonderful in concept. It's like a tiny natural world in your home, but in practice it is very difficult to provide the proper requirements for each organism therein without compromising the well-being of the other inhabitants. Be careful that you don't sacrifice the health and well-being of your animals and carnivorous plants for the sake of making it look cool. To do so would be selfish and cruel, and in the end, you'd most likely lose out as well. Aesthetics are only worth so much without true quality to back them up.

I understand the frog thing...I have a friend who is so afraid of them that she screams when she so much as sees a picture of one. It's quite funny, but it also proves the point that frogs can be scary.

I just googled vampire crabs, and they are really awesome looking. Very neat and probably your best bet in this set up. Whatever you chose to inhabit your palandarium, please update us with pictures in the future!

Thanks. I have officially decided that the anole idea and the fire bellied newts were off. It's too much of a hassle to have to worry about the newts dying and having to do water changes multiple times and the anole drowning in the tank. It honestly wouldn't want that.

I'm starting to like the frogs since they seem so harmless and they are pretty cool. I just don't know how they'll fare with the CPs. Another downside is feeding crickets but I can handle that.


I reallt want vampire crabs but they are just freaking expensive and hard to find.
 
  • #17
You're very welcome. I'd guess frogs would do OK with the cps so long as they don't trample them. Fire-bellied toads look pretty cool, are inexpensive, and easy to find, and they're small enough that they should be safe with the cps. With the crickets you'll have to watch out that they don't get into the water and drown. I had 10 crickets who managed to drown in a water bowl less than an inch high and about the size of a penny in diameter. Needless to say they don't do well in water ;)

Too bad about the crabs. There's a website called www.naturecoastexotics.com that had them or something like them pretty inexpensively (I think they were called Halloween crabs). They're bogged down with orders right now, but they should be back up soon. Probably still expensive with shipping, but it might be worth a look still.
 
  • #18
You're very welcome. I'd guess frogs would do OK with the cps so long as they don't trample them. Fire-bellied toads look pretty cool, are inexpensive, and easy to find, and they're small enough that they should be safe with the cps. With the crickets you'll have to watch out that they don't get into the water and drown. I had 10 crickets who managed to drown in a water bowl less than an inch high and about the size of a penny in diameter. Needless to say they don't do well in water ;)

Too bad about the crabs. There's a website called www.naturecoastexotics.com that had them or something like them pretty inexpensively (I think they were called Halloween crabs). They're bogged down with orders right now, but they should be back up soon. Probably still expensive with shipping, but it might be worth a look still.

I tried to put the CPs as far away as I can from the fountain where the frogs would most likely come in and out from. The toads are cool but I'd be afraid to hold them and move them, if need be. I'd probably end up just putting a few crickets at a time.

Thanks for the link! I bookmarked it for future prefernces.
 
  • #19
Looks great, Chris!:-D
 
  • #20
Just thought I would comment on how well it looks here too Chris :D
 
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