Species mixing in a 120g tank

Hey guys,

I know the common consensus on species mixing, and I'm aware of the risks (but I'm going to attempt it anyway and could use some advice).

I've created several vivs in the past, my most successful one housing about 10 Notos. This time, I decided to aim higher and try a 120g tank (48x 21 x 24 or something like that). My vision for the tank right now is a large land portion, pond in the center, with rock cliffs and plants making up a canopy.

I have several species in mind:

Ambystoma maculatum or laterale (yellow or blue spotted sals)
Bufo Americanus or fowleri OR rana sylvatica (toads vs wood frogs)
hyla versicolor (gray tree frog)
white cloud mountain minnows vs some aquatic notos?

Here is what I was hoping to accomplish: 120g is fairly large, and I was going to underpopulate the tank to help avoid potential issues; additionally, I figured:

- spotted sals are fairly shy, and probably the least likely to have issues with a terrestrial frog or toad that it either couldn't catch, or couldn't fit in its mouth. On this point, I know I'm capable of raising bufos, but know very little about rana s. so I'm a little more hesitant to house them.
- Hyla v. are cannibals (or so I've heard), so I'm going to have to make sure that everything else in the tank is equal or greater size
- Back to point one, which would make a better inhabitant: bufo a. or rana s.? I don't think I'll be able to find bufo f.
- I'm very tempted to put an aquatic newt in the pond, but concerned that they'll ravage the other animals eggs if I manage to induce breeding; I suppose this isn't an issue if I'm on my A-game and find eggs fairly quickly and move them, but what do you guys think?

So, I do plan on mixing species, but want to do it in the least harmful way possible. Any and all advice appreciated.

If you keep notos with maculatum, your notos will become food, and may in turn kill the maculatum. If you decide to keep A.laterale instead of A.maculatum you'll find that the blue spots make a tasty treat for the toads. I wouldn't worry about a noto eating A.maculatum eggs, because you'll most likely never breed maculatum in an aquarium. I'm not saying that your idea is totally off, just wanted to point out those possible problems. Also, the toads may eat the notos.

jett862 said:

Ambystoma maculatum or laterale (yellow or blue spotted sals)
Bufo Americanus or fowleri OR rana sylvatica (toads vs wood frogs)
hyla versicolor (gray tree frog)
white cloud mountain minnows vs some aquatic notos?

Click to expand...

:errr:

That is quite a few opportunistic feeder carnivores in one spot...


And if you know the general consensus around this forum, why post such a thing here?

In addition, if you have any Ambystomatid in a tank that has a large water feature, you'll risk drowning them. Toads are also not that great of swimmers.

I think any combination that includes large toads is by it´s essence, a very bad idea.
I agree with the points made by the other posters...it´s really hard to find two species that can trully thrive together.

I don´t think the noto/minnow mix is bad though...it´s not ideal, and i´d say it´s advisable to ignore the idea, but if you do it i doubt you´ll have many problems(specially if you used the whole 120g for aquatic space).

Macalatum can swim, I've seen them deep in vernal pools. Toads are big carnivores, along with macalatum. Tree frogs have been seen on the floor before, and they can easily become a snack. Notos can also be eaten and they add poisons to the water. Toads aren't great swimmers, so a deep pond is a risk.

I have a great idea, let's add two bullfrogs. That way, every other animal would be afraid to show its face. :lick:

Well, I posted this here because I haven't gone out and purchased any animals yet; I realize there are dangers associated with species mixing, but figured I could immediate catastrophe if I got some opinions.

At the moment, I'm leaning towards blue spotted sals, the hyla, and the rana; it'll be a judgement call if I throw in any aquatic adult notos, but I may ultimately throw in a single desmognathus fuscus instead. Heck, I may eliminate the sal entirely and go with something else.

Maculatum CAN swim, but only do so during breeding season. Ever see them in the water any other time? They're not the strongest swimmers, and don't just 'take a dip' for no reason. Any Ambystomatid is the same. They're not aquatic, and will likely drown.

My issues are:

Hyla versicolurs have high temp requirements coupled against bufo americanus's low temp requirement (especially if you are using the more commonly found B. a. americanus subspecies)

One of the bufos eating/trying to eat the ambystomas/hyla species . In my experience with bufo bufo and bufo viridis, I know they can eat surprisingly large prey items and move pretty quick when they want to.