New Paludarium

[Rebbi]

I am going to start a new paludarium in a 20 gallon tank with 70 percent of it being water and the rest being terrestrial. I plan on stocking it with 1 angelfish, some fancy guppies/endlers and a bottom feeder, for the terrestrial part i want 1 or 2 green anoles, or any other small cool reptile or amphibian and a smooth green snake/ grass snake. I will have a few drift wood branches( some will be poking out of the water and into the land) for a the snake to rest on/ curl around and a section of land that covers up some of the water, it will still allow some water to be showing. There will be lots of rock and a decent amount of soil. I don't know hat plants i want, but i want some type of moss and flowering plants and other types that are easy to care for. Are all these animals compatible, the tank will mostly be centered around the angelfish which i already have( its is around 5-6 inches tall, and has long fins). I am really looking forward to this and any tips will be helpful.

[jjhill001]

I am going to start a new paludarium in a 20 gallon tank with 70 percent of it being water and the rest being terrestrial. I plan on stocking it with 1 angelfish, some fancy guppies/endlers and a bottom feeder, for the terrestrial part i want 1 or 2 green anoles, or any other small cool reptile or amphibian and a smooth green snake/ grass snake. I will have a few drift wood branches( some will be poking out of the water and into the land) for a the snake to rest on/ curl around and a section of land that covers up some of the water, it will still allow some water to be showing. There will be lots of rock and a decent amount of soil. I don't know hat plants i want, but i want some type of moss and flowering plants and other types that are easy to care for. Are all these animals compatible, the tank will mostly be centered around the angelfish which i already have( its is around 5-6 inches tall, and has long fins). I am really looking forward to this and any tips will be helpful.

Not sure if you're gonna have enough vertical space on a standard 20 gallon to have room for an angel fish AND a land part. In fact I think angel fish need more height than that anyways. If its a 20 gallon tall then you're not gonna have enough ground space for many snakes or lizards. If its a long 70% full of water would only give like 3 inches of vertical space from lid to ground or 5 inches of vertical space on a tall.

If you turn it on it's side and convert the 20 standard you're not gonna have enough surface area on the water to keep many more than a very small amount of fish.

If you meant 70 percent from side to side and maybe half filled that would maybe work for guppies and some firebellied toads or something. Not saying it can't be done just thinking it's gonna be rough to get the fish you want in something so small.

[Minkness]

For all that you are talking about wanting, you will need a minimum of a 40 gallon breeder. A 20 gallon tank of any type of dimension should only hold 2 angel fish. And that is 100% water. So, for the water and the land idea you will need lots more gallins to ensure the water quality and space is suitable for the fish, but also that the land space will be good for the reptiles. Anoles or the snakes you are talking about would need a 20 long just to themselves. Both are active but also need a temp gradient. Which, if only able to access 30% of a small tank (and yes, 20 gallons is small), they would not have the space they would require for temp gradient, climbs and hides. S9 basically each type of animal you want to keep would require a minimum of 20 gallins of space each. So really you ahould be looking more at a 60 gallon.

[chairman]

Angel fish are crazy aggressive, they'll probably kill any small reptiles or amphibians that you put in there. I'd stick with guppies and maybe some freshwater shrimp if you want a cleaning crew; most bottom feeding fish make more mess than they clean and the ones that do clean well need to live in schools.

It will be very close tho impossible to have filtration that will prevent the escape of a small snake while still being safe for a small snake. Maybe look at firebelly toads for the land portion.

That world give you semi aquatic toads, a group of pretty male guppies, and some glass shrimp flitting around. Put in aquarium soil, some aquatic plants, maybe a couple floating plants set in a basket of aquarium soil to create the land area... that should meet your goals.

[Rebbi]

Thank you very much i just wanted to know if my crazy idea would work before i set it up, but is there anything that i can keep? I really want an angelfish in a paludarium, but if snakes wont work what will, i might lower that water down a bit and be able to keep something up there. Will that work? my tank is abt 17 inches tall and angelfish only need 10, So is there anything i can keep in that 7 inches? There will be areas of land for anything that lives up top(if anything does) since some of the water wont be covered(there will be dwarf lily pads on top of the water) it will probably be humid, so is there anything that i can keep there?