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Please Suggest Species for Half-Wet/Half-Dry Vivarium

Rivethead

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Jul 1, 2011
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Feel free to move this. I was unsure if I should post it in Enclosures, or Species, or...

I have a rather large, half-wet/half-dry, vivarium in which I am housing 3 Blue-Spotted Sallies.
I’m convinced my Blue-Spotted’s only ever utilize the small shallow pool on the dry half (understandably so, given the species). My real estate is grossly under-utilized because of this. I have dedicated my wet side to a single goldfish, some snails, and an algae eater just so I felt it was actually being used.

I would like to get some critters that would make far better use of my vivarium, which has a 72 x 18 inch footprint. I don’t mind releasing the Blue-Spotted Sallies to do so. They were wild-caught anyhow as I was trying to breed them, but I think they’re all female.

My questions:
1) What species of Sallie or Newt, native to the Midwestern US, do you feel would better utilize my set-up? I say native, because I would like to attempt to breed them and help repopulate/reintroduce them back into some local areas. Construction wiped out a lot of vernal pools and wet ditches in the last couple years and they’re now only starting to refill.
2) Lacking suggestions on native species that would properly utilize a large half-wet/half-dry (moist soil, really) vivarium, what non-native species do you think would adequately utilize my vivarium?
3) Upon finding a candidate species, the goldfish is getting donated/adopted out. But what of cleaner fish for the wet side? What small fish can I keep in there for basic maintenance. I have heard horror stories about your basic Algae Eaters leaving scars on some newts/salamanders, but I have read far more stories about it not being a problem.
Is there a thread or guide for this subject? If so, I could not find it.

Thank you, everyone.
 

Rivethead

New member
Joined
Jul 1, 2011
Messages
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Location
US Midwest
And in case anyone is curious, when I said I don't mind releasing the blue-spotted's, that's because I have not had them very long at all, and I interact with them as little as possible (as I was trying to get them to breed), so I'm convinced they have not really acclimated to captivity or being fed by humans.

Of course, I could always move them to my smaller, empty tank.
 
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