Plants for a tiger

[CravingCresties]

So my little Bruce Lee got an upgrade into a 10 gallon aquarium from a 5 gallon which was basicly something to keep him in until I could find a cheap aquarium. I do plan to upgrade him again to maybe a 15 long or a 20 long, I have an 20 long, just bein used by 2 geckos at the moment. Anyways right now he has a well started pothos plant cutting in there because I know this plant does well with low light and the tank gets indirect sunlight and thecutting was started and thriving in indirect sunlight. The question is, are there any other low light terririum plants that would work well? I know he my just trample through them, but they make the tank look a bit nicer. Also are there any native/wild plants that I could easily use as this species is native to this side of the US?

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Philendron (sp.), English Ivy, some ferns, a few species of seleganella, a few species of ficus, and of course local moss all do well in my low light terrariums. Now on some of those they need moist but well drained soil to survive the low light.

 

[Azhael]

Hedera and Philodendron are great choices, and so are Pothos and spiderworts, but i´m not sure about Selaginella, it grows well but i suspect it would suffer if the salamander was to dig under it.

 

[CravingCresties]

Although I did just set it up, it isnt the way that I wanted. Next month I plan to either do large aquarium gravel or Hydroton to give better drainage in his tank to make sure I dont get water logged and mold start growing. When I do that I want to get the roots of the plants that like more water down here (I know pothos does well either way in wet or moist dirt), and plant something that likes just the dirt a bit more. I will have to go moss hunting this spring. Should I worry about bringing something like that into my aquarium though, will it house parasites?

 

[Azhael]

There´s not much to worry about moss, except maybe ticks hiding in it. Sometimes you get centipedes and such with the moss, and although i doubt they can be a problem, large ones can in fact bite...
Also mosses carry fungus, and they will collonize the tank...this shouldn´t be a problem though.....but beware of uneaten food and feces becuse they´ll promote uncontrolled fungus growth.

 

[CravingCresties]

This is Bruse Lee's tank right now, doesnt look too bad, woud just like it a bit more planted

 

[Jan]

Good luck with live plants - I've not had much success with live plants as when my tigers burrow, they expose the roots and the plants over time do not survive. From your first post, it appears you were trying to make your viv look nice by adding plants. An alternative that provides the aesthetics would be silk plants. These can look very natural, are easily cleaned when cleaning substrate and no worry about parasites or other unwanted guests from live plants.

 

[CravingCresties]

Well maybe I will stick with just the pothos plant and when i go to upgrade him again in tank size I will just add in some nice silk plants. I use these in all my other tanks as I dont want to deal with eco-earth with egg laying geckos! Thanks all!

 

[ferret_corner]

Now that I have it to do over again....

... when my first tiger was younger - I made the tank, put the plants in, filled the pond and plonked him in. I went through a LOT of plants because he uprooted them.

NOW..... I'll probably make the tank, put the plants in, fill the pond and give it a month or two for the plants to take root. If that doesn't work, I'll sink the plants in their pots!

Sharon

 

[stanleyc]

Are there any mosses that I can buy in stores or online? Also, do you have to replace the moss every year or will it continue to live over a long period of time.

 

[xMIDNIGHTx]

That's what I do now, I just leave several smaller pothos in pots and bury them, plants are doing great and the tigers can go under, around, and on top of them now (which they do) with no real harm to the plant.

Mitch

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Spider plants, hosta, pothos, and various miniature ferns are my favorite terrarium plants.

 

[xMIDNIGHTx]

I would love to use small ferns but fear (and know) that they would be tramped and dead in less than a month. I have tired native moss and was able to keep it moist enough but the consist traffic and movement ultimately killed the moss. Tigers are very destructive, with many of the other species of salamanders you would be fine with but tigers seem to just tear everything up. Got to love em!

Mitch

 

[jclee]

Since digging is a concern, I might try draping a joint of the Philodendron into the water bowl. They can grow (albeit slowly) hydroponically, so once the stem sprouts roots into the water dish, the plant shouldn't die, even if the terrestrial roots are dug up and dried out. (The roots won't "attach" to the dish, or anything, so you can still remove it easily for regular water changes.) Another thing that I've done with philodendron that might work well to prevent digging related deaths: Keep a potted plant of it above the cage. Lead a new shoot into the cage through a hole in the lid. (If you have to cut into a wire hole, you may want to seal around the edges to prevent the unlikely event that your salamander injures itself if there's a way to climb up.) The main root body is in a small pot the salamander can't reach, so no matter what it does to the new growth below, it will live and continue to spread.

Good luck. Let us know how it all turns out.