Paludarium project

[Jausi]

Hi there,

Can some one help me with tips and stuff that I can use to build the structure for a paludarium in a 75 gallon tank (285 liters), I need to use something that wont be toxic for toads and fish, the paludarium will be half full with water, I'm planing to do weekly water changes, only 10% add some aquatic plants from my 30 gallon fresh water fully planted tank (java moss, anubias, tiger lili and others), I will also add CO2 (home made 2liter bottle), I'll use regular black dirt (for gardening) maybe clay, and really small gravel.
If I want to add some tiger salamanders, instead of toads or both to my paludarium is this a good idea?, wI had some expirence with fire belly toads and fire bally newts they did fine until the fire belly newts start killing each other, and since I'll add fish maybe (platys, mollys, pleco and maybe a blue or fire dragon disscus), I need some advise for tiger salamanders, will they eat fish if they can?

Than you for any advise

Jausi
Attached Thumbnails

 

[coendeurloo]

Maybe you'll find some useful info in this thread: http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=38607&highlight=paludarium

P.s. I think you placed this thread is in the wrong section of the forum.

 

[Jan]

Tigers are fossorial burrowing caudates who are at risk for drowning in deep water, thus if you are interested in tigers, you should design a terrestrial set up such as displayed here:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/setups3.shtml
Tigers require a substate in which to burrow ... 4 inches of coco-fiber or organic topsoil or a mix of both is good. Here is a care sheet for these animals:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml

When you mix species, you are inviting disaster. Species mixing often results in morbidity or mortality of the animals you are trying to keep...often from toxins produced, pathogens, inappropriate environment for one of the species or carnivorous behavior. I would recommend you do your animals a favor (for their health and welfare) and do not mix species. Here are examples of problems that can occur and do occur far too often:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Mixing_disasters.shtml

I would strongly recommend that you do extensive research on all the species you may think you want to keep. Then decide on one specie depending on whether you decide on terrestrial, aquatic or semi-aquatic. Construct your vivarium to support that specie if you decide on amphibians. If you decide on fish, assure community compatability in your aquarium. You and your animals will be much happier in the end.

 

[Jausi]

Hello guys thank's for the advise, I'll keep in mind this comments before adding any animals into the paludarium, but I still need to figure out how to build the structure, any ideas that can help to build the structure??, I check the web link above and it looks great but I want something different.

Any idea will be really apreciated

Jausi

 

[Lasher]

What kind of structure are you wanting? Great stuff and the like are easy, but difficult to make look good. I prefer to build entirely from natural materials, rocks, cork bark, driftwood etc and lots of silicone.

 

[Jausi]

Well I was thinking to use the great great stuff but I ear that is a very messy product, my structure will be 12 inches wide 24 1/2 inches long and 14 inches height, Im planing to build a small creek that will go from the right to the left ( offcorse I also will add a waterfall ) I was planing to do some molds with liquid latex (from woodlandscenic) to create fake rocks, but after I test the product, I decided that it will be too expensive.

Another option was to use plexiglass but I want my paludarium to have natural look , you don't see flat walls or straight lines in nature, is there any other ideas that you guys have that can help me to build the structere?

thanks's

Jausi

 

[Daniel]

Sorry I can't help you with your structure (I never built something like that but I would really like to have a try with this great stuff - unfortunately this brand is not sold over here so maybe someone could PM me the ingredients?). Some time ago I made a tigersalamander-setup and used filter-foam to separate the land from the water part, you can find a description here: Maybe this gives you another idea...

But one important comment on your previous idea: I just heard some hours ago that latex is not suitable for amphibians and can be highly toxic. Right now I am trying to get the original source (it's supposed to be a book on amphibian diseases).

 

[Lasher]

Another option was to use plexiglass but I want my paludarium to have natural look , you don't see flat walls or straight lines in nature, is there any other ideas that you guys have that can help me to build the structere?

Yes, you do, but still plexiglass is perfectly concealable. You only need the plexi as its will provide a strong and water tight divider to retain the water. How you decorate it and thus how 'natural' it looks are entirely up to you.
Conceal the visible top edge with either driftwood with a groove routed out of it to sit on top or a thin curl of cork bark(easily cut with a stanley). A simple approach would be to cover the face of the plexi with bark, using pieces cut to fit rather than tiles will give you a much more even and less uniform look. You could also glue on/pile up rocks, gravel, driftwood etc. iIf you have the patience(and alot of silicone) you can easily build up a natural looking striated rock face using small rocks.
My preference is to use small decorative slate chippings and just layer them up as though you were building a small scale slate wall infront of the plexi.

I recently posted a thread with pics of one of my paludariums, have a look for an example of what you can do with cork bark on a flat surface(with very little time and effort, is certainley not my best work).

 

[Jennewt]

I recently made a tank with a divider made of river rock. I glued the rocks together with aquarium-safe silicone sealant. I made it so that the divider is movable and removable, but it would have been simpler to glue it into place in the tank. I'll try to get some photos. It looks very natural. On the land side, the space is filled with lava rock for biofiltration, topped with smooth river rock. A filter moves the water from the lava rock area into the main part of the tank so the water under the land side does not stagnate.

I would recommend using glass instead of plexiglass. It seals much tighter with silicone sealant.

 

[Lasher]

Sounds like an interesting setup, do you have any pics?

I do much the same where possible, unfortunatley such constructions tend to take up alot of space(thats really down to how much time you have I suppose - afterall you could construct the same arrangement from pea gravel, but you'd have to be pretty patient!). Though they are, IMO, the most astheticaly pleasing, which I usualy hold as a main goal - nicer looking tends to equal more natural, thus better for the inhabitants(no plastic boxes full of bricks in my house!)

 

[Jausi]

Thank you for all your comments, this is one desing that I drew for my paludarium, but I also was thinking to build some under water caves, but like I said I still need to figureout how to build the structure , another thing, does any body know how to build a fog machine from a humidifier??

 

[Jausi]

Does any body konw anything about a product call AQUATIC PLANTS SOIL from profile, is it good to used in a paludarium??

 

[liama138]

I've used shultz aquatic plant soil in a Walstad Natrural Planted Tank with great results, and I've heard of several people who had good results as well.