Natural U. Phantasticus vivarium (hopefully)

[Ptindy]

Hey everyone, I just finished constructing a natural vivarium that I hope to keep a pair of Uroplatus Phantasticus (Satanic Leaf-tail) in. It is a 29 gallon tank with a false bottom and what not. I am looking for suggestions on how I can make this a little better and also comments if you have any before I put the water into the vivarium. I have a screen top that I will be covering a lot with plexiglass and a uvb fluoresent bulb as well.

Right now I have a substrate made up of peat moss, potting soil and coconut fibre/chunks in there. I have no idea what the ratio I used was I just kinda threw it all in a rubbermaid and mixed it together and added what I thought would work well. Here are some pics and descriptions of what's going on in em.

Here is a side view showing most of the vivarium.


Here is a different angle that shows a plant dish full of sphagnum moss that I plan to wet down once I get the water in and start testing out the environment and such. It shows some dead leaves I grabbed from a provincial park off the ground. The live, soon to be dead, branches are there for more stuff for the geckos to climb as they may not always be happy with the live plants.


The piece of cork bark here will have water running down centered in the canal looking part. I was having troubles at first keeping the water from pooling up by the substrate going into it's draining area so I layered up some pieces of the false bottom I used to the substrate level to prevent the substrate from finding it's way under where the water falls through. I placed the pump on the opposite side of the tank from the waterfall so the water in the reservoir moves a lot better. I assure you my clothes aren't actually in the tank.


Here is a shot of the whole vivarium. The lighting in the room was bad and I found it hard to get a decent shot. This also shows the false bottom. The layers are substrate, fiberglass window screening, polywool filter fluff, the egg crate and then the reservoir.


Thanks for looking.

Mike

[Jordan B]

Very Cool! The only thing I would do is add some sanseviera (snake plant). Nice job.

Jordan

[Matt_K]

Very nice!! Everyone should have at least one Natural Setup in their collection in my opinion! Good Job :thumbsup:

[Ptindy]

Hey, thanks for the complements guys, really appreciated. It required a little bit of trouble shooting, but it wasn't that hard. It was actually quite fun and too see the geckos in it will be rewarding.

Jordan - I have a huge snake plant I use to keep in the tank when it was on it's side for my crested gecko so I just ripped a little leaf off that, hopefully it will develop some roots and some more leaves. Just curious, do you think this would add to the apperance or is there something beneficial from a snake plant in your opinion?

Matt - I agree, everyone should have a natural setup, they're awesome. I have a 10 gallon that I'm debating to make into one for a pair of dart frogs with my leftover stuff.

I hope the substrate holds up and I don't have to replace it in a couple months.

Thanks guys,

Mike

[scaly]

nice setup. gave me some good ideas for my phantasitcus

[Ptindy]

Thanks scaly. Thats good, hopefully you wont make the mistakes that I did, like maksure that the bottom 2 inches could hold water haha. What are your plans?

Mike

[Double J]

What sort of lghting are you using? Good lighting.... that is meeting the needs of your plants is the key to a successful naturalistic vivarum. I recommend two 24" fluroescent bulbs.... one at 6500K color temperature (bascally a daylight bulb), and one cool white. This lighting formula has worked well for me for years, and keeps plants like bromeliads happy. Now as for the soil.... I have found black earth and peat mixes to get soggy and mucky after a while... but you are using a false bottom with good drainage so hopefully that will not be an issue for you. For my mixes, use in roughly equal parts, eco-earth/bedabeast/coco-husk fiber (all the same thing), peat moss, play sand, repti bark, sphagnum moss, and crushed oak leaves. Putting a layer of oak leaves on the top looks fabulous, and is great for the plants. Not to mention, your phants will LOVE IT!! But that said... they may be a little harder to find... but thats half the fun right? The mixture that I listed above drains well and is nutritious.. the plants will thrive. Do not worry, you do not need to boil or sterilize the oak leaves or anything like that. They often come equipped with some nice healthy bacteria that will keep the soil healthy, plus handy little isopods called springtails.. they help to keep fungus levels down.
Good luck with your phantasticus.... may the vivarium thrive!

[Ptindy]

Well, there is no where for me to find oak leaves, I'll have to wait till I go back home and I can find some. I'll keep that substrate mix in mind if I have to remix and change the substrate. Hopefullly this formula will work as I'm not too keen on ripping it apart again unless I have to. The light I'm planning on using is a 18 inch plant and aquarium bulb I picked up at home depot, do you know anything about the light spectrum of these? I have spaghum moss I can mix into the soil that I can reach. Thaanks for the tips double J, I knew you made natural vivaria but I didn't even think about asking you before I went ahead with this. I'll use that mix when I get some darts. What species of darts do you recommend for a 10 gallon natural vivarium? I would like to keep a pair. Thanks for your input.

Mike

[Double J]

No problem Ptindy.
As far as dart frogs go, you can easily put a pair of one of the larger species in a ten gallon tank. Something like Dendrobates azureus, Dendrobates tinctorius, or Dendrobates auratus. Oddly enough, the smaller darts like imitators and ventrimaculatus prefer taller vivaria.
About the lighting..... you are using an 18 inch plant and aquarium bulb. Sounds good... but I totally recommend using a double fixture... one that can hold two bulbs. They are around 14 dollars at wal-mart and will make the biggest difference in your plant growth.
So good luck