How to use a 120

[matt]

Ok, so I'm new here so I just want to say hi first, so hi.

So I am an avid Senegal bichir keeper, I've got 8, and in a few months my little babies are gonna be getting too big for the 20 that they are currently growing up in and I'll have to move them to the 40 breeder, but that has the 4 larger bichirs and all 8 won't fit in there so I'm gonna need a bigger tank. (Well that's the excuse I'm using anyways.)

The plan at the moment is to purchase and All-Glass 120 gallon aquarium, the dimensions are 48x24x24 which provides a lot of swimming space for my fishies. The great thing about bichirs is that they don't need a whole of depth for the water they live in, in fact they like about a foot's depth, especailly the Sen's since they are a smaller species and max out at a foot.

So I was wondering to myself one day what to do with that foot of air above the waters surface and I thought, hmm prehistoric-ish fish, what would go with that, then a lightbulb went off and it was obvious that some sort of terrestrial salamander would fit the bill because I could build a multi-tiered platform/jungle over the water and provide ample space for digging, climbing and there would be lots of water. So my thoughts obviously turned to the tiger salamander due to its large size and nearly strict terrestrial nature.

The problem that I forsee though is that bichirs are a tropical fish and they like the temp of the water somewhere between 75-82, and they eat like horses.

So does anyone think I could swing this?

 

[chris]

what's a bichir?

 

[matt]

http://www.polypterus.info/Images/p_s_senegalus1.jpg

 

[ryan]

a bichir is a fish, this is a salamander forum

 

[abrahm]

Correct on both accounts Ryan, but he was specifically asking a question related to salamanders.

I personally would recommend against this kind of a setup.

The temperatures involved would be the first problem. The fish water would constantly heat the salamander's substrate, which should be the coolest part of their terrarium. Having the substrate being at least 5, preferably 7 to 10 degrees cooler than the water a few inches away will be very difficult. That is if the water is kept at 75F.

Also, tigers can drown if they fall into the water and coupled with the heat stress of the water this is likely to happen faster than normal. It would certainly be possible for either animal to injure the other if they should encounter each other, Bichir's could easily bite off a salamander's limb and the sal could bite back also.

Temperate animals like salamanders make a bad choice for this kind of paludarium setup. It will be difficult to have any animals on the upper substrate with predators below. That's just asking for someone to be eaten.

 

[jennifer]

I agree, this doesn't sound like a good setup for a tiger sal, or any other sal. I would suggest that, for visual interest, you could put in an area with plants above water. There are some kinds of plants that can drape down into the water and would give things a jungle look.