TylototritonGuy
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Hello everyone who is reading this,
A few friends have asked me how to build a live planted set up like I have done for some of my endangered frog species, so I thought “what the hell” and decided to a step by step guide online so other people can happily look at it and try it for them selves.
This guide is going to be based on my now complete set up for my M.aurantiaca, Golden Mantella Frogs but you can use this for Dart Frog and other Amphibian species. Your first step is getting the correct materials and equipment.
Step One “Equipment & Material”:
You will need a lot of stuff however i will tell you the best stuff to use and sometimes the cheapest option if you dont have much money to spare. Anyway make sure you have the following:
Now its time for Step Two, which is of course the most important part to get right!
Step Two “The Aquarium & Expandable Foam”:
First of all make sure that you have your glass tank all clean and ready for the first stages of your set up, just clean it carefully with a damp cloth (please make sure that you use an un-used cloth which has not been contaminated by cleaning products or disinfectants of any kind, as Amphibians have very delicate skin) which has been soaked in plain and simple water. Also while your cleaning the tank, make sure that the inside edges of the aquarium have been properly sealed and aren’t damaged, because being a Amphibian your tank is going to be very damp and you don’t want to finish the set up only to find that its leaking water!
Right now you have checked it over and cleaned it thoroughly, its time for the application of the foam. Make sure you read the can first, shake it very well to ensure that the chemicals are all properly mixed. It will have a “Corrosive” Symbol on the can but dont worry, this will not harm your frogs, as it just means its corrosive while its in its liquid form.
Before applying the foam, lightly spray plain water over the side you will be putting the foam on, it will state this on the can (or should do). After you have done that, its time to get messy, so make sure your put on the plastic gloves you get with the product. You can apply this is anyway you think will look good, i thought it worked best spraying it in a up and down line across the glass. Try to use it sparingly, as dont forget it will expand and grow in size even if its a tiny bit you have sprayed!
Here is some photos to give you an idea of what it should look like:
Now that’s done, leave it to dry and set for
24 hours before doing anything else to it, I like to play it safe and make sure its properly set………..
24 HOURS LATER
……and now here is what you should have as a result of leaving it!
You Will notice a few things that I haven’t written about yet, which i shall now. I used my Stanley Knife to cut and shape the foam background to how i want my tank to look, this can be anything that gets in the way of what you want to do and where you want to put something or simply, it could just not look natural to you. I was also going to put in a foam base water section which you can see in the bottom left hand corner of the tank, i carved that to how I wanted it to look ready for the next step (I finished the water bit in the end but ended up ripping it out because I wanted more land for the Frogs.
Here is a close up picture of the final outcome.
Right now if you have some foam left over in the can then good because your going to need it to put in the wood branches that are going to come out of your background (I lost the photos i took of this bit so you will have to look out for my example in later pictures.
Right, now your base for the background should be completely set and how you want it to be (hopefully!), however make sure your happy with it and that it doesn’t take up too much room in the Vivarium.
It’s now time for the step where everything starts to look right and natural!
Step Three “The Sealant & Earth Layer”:
Grab one of your Exo Terra Bricks of Plantation Soil or Coco Husk and do what it basically says on the back, which is to place it in a bucket and pour about 1- 2 litres of warm/hot water (doesn’t matter which i tend to use boiling hot water) onto the brick and leave it for about 30 minutes. When you come back to it you should have a hell of a lot of soil in your bucket, so now you have to completely dry it out, and the way i do that is by putting it in the oven for about a hour, every 10 minutes make sure you turn it over so the heat gets through to all of the soil and doesn’t burn it. I would do all of this the same time you are waiting for your Foam to dry because then you dont have to wait the next day and waste time waiting for the soil to dry.
Anyway, now you should be ready to apply the sealant and soil to the background (please do this in a well ventilated area). Firstly, get your old credit/debit cards out and a small container of water (trust me you will need these to apply the sealant and move it without getting your hands covered and seriously this stuff takes forever to come off!). Cut the tip of the sealant tube and the nozzle, make sure its cut so the sealant can come out in large quantities you dont want to be there all day. Then start applying it onto the foam and, this is where the cards come in, dip the credit card in water and smooth the sealant so it spreads out and covers the foam. Do this a section at a time because it does dry out quite quickly, now cover the Sealant in the soil and start packing that on (it doesn’t matter if you pack it on quite heavy just make sure you dont miss any bits).
So now you should have something that looks like this picture below:
After you have covered the entire background with this little mixture, leave it to dry and try and put it somewhere with good ventilation so the smell of the sealant can disappear for a week (I know it sounds like a long time but I always leave it a while just in case!). Make sure you leave the tank on its back so none of the soil comes off before it sets.
You will notice a few things that i never mentions in step 2 but i shall explain them now. The Flower Pot is basically there for, well its main purpose, to contain a plant. I stuck this in with the extra bit of my expandable foam however the sealant can act as an adhesive, I will explain more about plants to go in certain places later on don’t worry.
Also, I hope you noticed the piece of wood that’s sticking out the foam, this needs to be done in step 2 so hopefully you remembered that I said that at the end of the last post.
The sealant/soil mixture should of set now so you can turn it up on its side and let the excess soil fall off. You might get a few gaps where you have miss the foam, dont worry just go over it again and apply more and let it dry again but leave it a day or two, not a week (you will get tiny gaps that your never going to get so don’t worry).
After your happy with the out come of step 3, then its time for where your artistic side comes out which I think is the best thing about the whole build! Seeing it all come together and making it look natural.
Step Four “The Decor & Planting”:
Right, its time to start preparing your decorations to be placed into the vivarium. There’s not a lot i can really write about this step really, as I can’t see into the future and know what your going to use! But i will tell you what I used for my set up and maybe you might even want to copy. Here is a list of basically every item I used in the tank:
Anyway back to the task in hand, with the Cork Bark and Rocks, I boiled them 2 or 3 times (mainly for the rocks) to get rid of any bacteria or parasites that might be on them just to be cautious.
Now, everything should be sterile by now so you can start putting the rocks in (as the soil will be set around it leaving a small amount of the rock poking out the top like an ice burg really). Also if you want to put the live plants in the soil then position it when positioning the rocks. Once your happy with where they are, the layers of substrate can be put in the viv. Firstly put a layer of clay beads in the bottom of the tank, it apparently helps with holding moisture in the beads and stops it for a short while from saturating the substrate, after you have done that you can start packing, very tightly, the plantation soil. This time you dont need to dry out the soil in the oven to prepare it, just pour the water on the brick and then use the soil when its all loose. I sort of made the substrate hilly, to make it look more natural and certainly more exciting for the Frogs.
If your happy with that, then we can talk a little bit about what plants to use and which do well in set ups. I mainly use Bromeliads, for many reasons; 1. they are easy to look after and easy to maintain, 2. many of the different species look really nice mixed in together and finally 3. they are very cheap, you can purchase them for £3 in your local Tesco’s supermarket (for people in the UK) and even most gardening centers will have a large selection of species for you to choose.
However, Bromeliads aren't the only plants you can use, there are hundreds! Here are a few you can use (I have written only the Latin name because its easy to find the correct plants using the Latin):
Foliage Plants:
Anyway, you should of planted those exactly where you wanted them in your viv, and now its times for the final stage, the moss. This is completely up to you in what you wish to use, Sphagnum moss is the easy option to go with, I used it because its all i had at the time and plus i like to drape strands on it over bits of wood etc and make it look like swamp moss (considering that’s where Golden Mantella Frogs are from).
You should be completely finished now! What a relief eh?! Right, now before you put anything in the viv, leave it to mature for a few weeks maybe more if you have the Time (if you used live moss, you might want to leave it longer so you could perhaps allow the moss to grow more densely and dont be fooled its rather difficult), just so you can make sure nothing goes wrong with the set up and that the plants remain healthy.
Thank you for reading my little step by step guide , dont be afraid to comment on my posts if you would like to know about anything more in-depth, Here are pictures of my completed set up and one of my female Mantella’s i have in it.
Take care
TyloDude (AKA TylototritonGuy
A few friends have asked me how to build a live planted set up like I have done for some of my endangered frog species, so I thought “what the hell” and decided to a step by step guide online so other people can happily look at it and try it for them selves.
This guide is going to be based on my now complete set up for my M.aurantiaca, Golden Mantella Frogs but you can use this for Dart Frog and other Amphibian species. Your first step is getting the correct materials and equipment.
Step One “Equipment & Material”:
You will need a lot of stuff however i will tell you the best stuff to use and sometimes the cheapest option if you dont have much money to spare. Anyway make sure you have the following:
- Glass Aquarium Tank: can be any size you want, completely up to you just make sure that you buy enough stuff for your tank size, this guide is for a 3ft long x 1ft deep x 2ft high glass aquarium.
- Expandable Foam Spray Can: you can get this in B&Q (If you live in the United Kingdom) or any DIY Supermarket, for this size tank you will need a 500ml and 350ml Spray can of the stuff.
- Aquarium Grade Silicone Sealant/Mastic: you must make sure that this is aquarium grade sealant and that it is “Free From Fungicides & Solvents”, I used “Aqua Mate Silicone Sealant” which you can find on eBay for good prices. Make sure it’s transparent, however black would be quite good to use.
- Old Credit/Debit Cards: I will explain why you need this when it comes to it.
- Can of Black Spray Paint: I will explain why you need this later too.
- Soil Substrate: you will need a lot of this so make sure you stock up on it, I used 2 brick of “Exo Terra’s Plantation Soil” which is 8.8 Litres of fertile soil. You will need this for a lot of stuff not just the animals substrate.
- Moss: any moss can be used, i like to have a little ecosystem so I prefer it to be live moss (which can be very hard to keep alive if not in the correct conditions.
- Stanley Knife: Don't really need to explain why you need it, however if you are under 18 then please be supervised by an adult or let them cut anything you want to be cut.
- Bog Wood: for terrarium decor make sure you submerge this in water and leave to soak for at least 4 days before using it.
- Rocks: if you are using rocks you have found in your garden or simply found in the woods then make sure your sterilise them by boiling them in water before using them, to make sure you kill off any bacteria or toxins.
- Live Plants: make sure you use plants you know or have been advised are safe to use with animals, otherwise you can risk losing your animals to any toxins the plants might secrete. I find that you can’t go wrong with Bromeliads. Here is a few of the plants that are safe to use with animals such as amphibians Aechema Chantinii, Begonia Foliosa, Fiscus Pumila, Fiscus Panama, Dryopteriss Erthrosa and many others.
Now its time for Step Two, which is of course the most important part to get right!
Step Two “The Aquarium & Expandable Foam”:
First of all make sure that you have your glass tank all clean and ready for the first stages of your set up, just clean it carefully with a damp cloth (please make sure that you use an un-used cloth which has not been contaminated by cleaning products or disinfectants of any kind, as Amphibians have very delicate skin) which has been soaked in plain and simple water. Also while your cleaning the tank, make sure that the inside edges of the aquarium have been properly sealed and aren’t damaged, because being a Amphibian your tank is going to be very damp and you don’t want to finish the set up only to find that its leaking water!
Right now you have checked it over and cleaned it thoroughly, its time for the application of the foam. Make sure you read the can first, shake it very well to ensure that the chemicals are all properly mixed. It will have a “Corrosive” Symbol on the can but dont worry, this will not harm your frogs, as it just means its corrosive while its in its liquid form.
Before applying the foam, lightly spray plain water over the side you will be putting the foam on, it will state this on the can (or should do). After you have done that, its time to get messy, so make sure your put on the plastic gloves you get with the product. You can apply this is anyway you think will look good, i thought it worked best spraying it in a up and down line across the glass. Try to use it sparingly, as dont forget it will expand and grow in size even if its a tiny bit you have sprayed!
Here is some photos to give you an idea of what it should look like:
Now that’s done, leave it to dry and set for
24 hours before doing anything else to it, I like to play it safe and make sure its properly set………..
24 HOURS LATER
……and now here is what you should have as a result of leaving it!
You Will notice a few things that I haven’t written about yet, which i shall now. I used my Stanley Knife to cut and shape the foam background to how i want my tank to look, this can be anything that gets in the way of what you want to do and where you want to put something or simply, it could just not look natural to you. I was also going to put in a foam base water section which you can see in the bottom left hand corner of the tank, i carved that to how I wanted it to look ready for the next step (I finished the water bit in the end but ended up ripping it out because I wanted more land for the Frogs.
Here is a close up picture of the final outcome.
Right now if you have some foam left over in the can then good because your going to need it to put in the wood branches that are going to come out of your background (I lost the photos i took of this bit so you will have to look out for my example in later pictures.
Right, now your base for the background should be completely set and how you want it to be (hopefully!), however make sure your happy with it and that it doesn’t take up too much room in the Vivarium.
It’s now time for the step where everything starts to look right and natural!
Step Three “The Sealant & Earth Layer”:
Grab one of your Exo Terra Bricks of Plantation Soil or Coco Husk and do what it basically says on the back, which is to place it in a bucket and pour about 1- 2 litres of warm/hot water (doesn’t matter which i tend to use boiling hot water) onto the brick and leave it for about 30 minutes. When you come back to it you should have a hell of a lot of soil in your bucket, so now you have to completely dry it out, and the way i do that is by putting it in the oven for about a hour, every 10 minutes make sure you turn it over so the heat gets through to all of the soil and doesn’t burn it. I would do all of this the same time you are waiting for your Foam to dry because then you dont have to wait the next day and waste time waiting for the soil to dry.
Anyway, now you should be ready to apply the sealant and soil to the background (please do this in a well ventilated area). Firstly, get your old credit/debit cards out and a small container of water (trust me you will need these to apply the sealant and move it without getting your hands covered and seriously this stuff takes forever to come off!). Cut the tip of the sealant tube and the nozzle, make sure its cut so the sealant can come out in large quantities you dont want to be there all day. Then start applying it onto the foam and, this is where the cards come in, dip the credit card in water and smooth the sealant so it spreads out and covers the foam. Do this a section at a time because it does dry out quite quickly, now cover the Sealant in the soil and start packing that on (it doesn’t matter if you pack it on quite heavy just make sure you dont miss any bits).
So now you should have something that looks like this picture below:
After you have covered the entire background with this little mixture, leave it to dry and try and put it somewhere with good ventilation so the smell of the sealant can disappear for a week (I know it sounds like a long time but I always leave it a while just in case!). Make sure you leave the tank on its back so none of the soil comes off before it sets.
You will notice a few things that i never mentions in step 2 but i shall explain them now. The Flower Pot is basically there for, well its main purpose, to contain a plant. I stuck this in with the extra bit of my expandable foam however the sealant can act as an adhesive, I will explain more about plants to go in certain places later on don’t worry.
Also, I hope you noticed the piece of wood that’s sticking out the foam, this needs to be done in step 2 so hopefully you remembered that I said that at the end of the last post.
The sealant/soil mixture should of set now so you can turn it up on its side and let the excess soil fall off. You might get a few gaps where you have miss the foam, dont worry just go over it again and apply more and let it dry again but leave it a day or two, not a week (you will get tiny gaps that your never going to get so don’t worry).
After your happy with the out come of step 3, then its time for where your artistic side comes out which I think is the best thing about the whole build! Seeing it all come together and making it look natural.
Step Four “The Decor & Planting”:
Right, its time to start preparing your decorations to be placed into the vivarium. There’s not a lot i can really write about this step really, as I can’t see into the future and know what your going to use! But i will tell you what I used for my set up and maybe you might even want to copy. Here is a list of basically every item I used in the tank:
- 5 pieces of Cork Bark (3 of them were used to cover the piece of wood and to make it look like it carries on the branch, one piece even connects my branch to the flower pot).
- 3 Quite heavy and large Rocks (I got them from the garden but you might have to buy them from your local Exotic Pet Shop or Normal Pet Shop).
- Sphagnum Moss (Temporary use until I buy some live moss for it to start growing). If you are planning on putting Caudata (Newts & Salamanders) into the set up, please do not use Sphagnum moss as it can cause a lot of problems which can prove fatal. A lot of people don't seem to have problems however the bad cases out number the Good.
- Clay Beads (this goes on the bottom layer of the tank, then your actual substrate then goes on top of that, i will explain why later on)
Anyway back to the task in hand, with the Cork Bark and Rocks, I boiled them 2 or 3 times (mainly for the rocks) to get rid of any bacteria or parasites that might be on them just to be cautious.
Now, everything should be sterile by now so you can start putting the rocks in (as the soil will be set around it leaving a small amount of the rock poking out the top like an ice burg really). Also if you want to put the live plants in the soil then position it when positioning the rocks. Once your happy with where they are, the layers of substrate can be put in the viv. Firstly put a layer of clay beads in the bottom of the tank, it apparently helps with holding moisture in the beads and stops it for a short while from saturating the substrate, after you have done that you can start packing, very tightly, the plantation soil. This time you dont need to dry out the soil in the oven to prepare it, just pour the water on the brick and then use the soil when its all loose. I sort of made the substrate hilly, to make it look more natural and certainly more exciting for the Frogs.
If your happy with that, then we can talk a little bit about what plants to use and which do well in set ups. I mainly use Bromeliads, for many reasons; 1. they are easy to look after and easy to maintain, 2. many of the different species look really nice mixed in together and finally 3. they are very cheap, you can purchase them for £3 in your local Tesco’s supermarket (for people in the UK) and even most gardening centers will have a large selection of species for you to choose.
However, Bromeliads aren't the only plants you can use, there are hundreds! Here are a few you can use (I have written only the Latin name because its easy to find the correct plants using the Latin):
Foliage Plants:
- Anthurium Bakerii.
- Begonia Foliosa.
- Fittonia Species.
- Anthurium Scandens
- Callisia Repens
- Fiscus Panama
- Ficus Pumila
- Fiscus Sagittata
- Athyrium Spicatum
- Dryopteriss Erthrosa
- Hemionitis Ariflolia
- Phlebodium Areolatum
Anyway, you should of planted those exactly where you wanted them in your viv, and now its times for the final stage, the moss. This is completely up to you in what you wish to use, Sphagnum moss is the easy option to go with, I used it because its all i had at the time and plus i like to drape strands on it over bits of wood etc and make it look like swamp moss (considering that’s where Golden Mantella Frogs are from).
You should be completely finished now! What a relief eh?! Right, now before you put anything in the viv, leave it to mature for a few weeks maybe more if you have the Time (if you used live moss, you might want to leave it longer so you could perhaps allow the moss to grow more densely and dont be fooled its rather difficult), just so you can make sure nothing goes wrong with the set up and that the plants remain healthy.
Thank you for reading my little step by step guide , dont be afraid to comment on my posts if you would like to know about anything more in-depth, Here are pictures of my completed set up and one of my female Mantella’s i have in it.
Take care
TyloDude (AKA TylototritonGuy
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