110 gallon Archerfish Paludarium - Frogs viable?

[mantisdragon91]

Originally Posted by thepotoo

My LFS gets them in sometimes, and can order a larger group for me. I've looked at them and confirmed that they are indeed Toxotes microlepis (spots on tail are not connected to spots on body; smaller spots on body in between stripes).

Right now, I'm leaning towards Day Geckos, a Green Basilisk, or nothing. I know very little about reptiles (haven't owned one in almost a decade), so I've got a lot of research to do.

Basilisks can and will hunt the fish especially when the fish only have 50 gallons of water to hide in.

[Blue_Pumilio]

I had a couple day geckos drown in a deeper water enclosure.

Originally Posted by thepotoo

My LFS gets them in sometimes, and can order a larger group for me. I've looked at them and confirmed that they are indeed Toxotes microlepis (spots on tail are not connected to spots on body; smaller spots on body in between stripes).

Right now, I'm leaning towards Day Geckos, a Green Basilisk, or nothing. I know very little about reptiles (haven't owned one in almost a decade), so I've got a lot of research to do.

[the_deeb]

Hi thepotoo,
The 300g archerfish paludarium that oneshot linked to earlier was mine, so hopefully I can offer some relevant insights.

First off, archerfish are awesome! I've kept various kinds of fish for a long time, and that paludarium was definitely the most fun setup I've ever had. I was going to point out that you make sure to get T. microlepis for a freshwater setup (or T. blythii if you have very deep pockets) but it sounds like you know that already.

In my opinion, you should try to get at least 5 or 6 because their dynamics are much more interesting in a school - the more the better. That being said, it sounds like you're only going to have 4'X1'X1' body of water, which isn't very much. When you design your tank, try to maximize the water area - e.g., consider making the land part an overhang, so that there's additional water underneath it.

Arhcers (even microlepis) do get quite large and are powerful swimmers and jumpers. They also need VERY clean water - I found that slight drops in water quality would cause them to lose their appetites or develop cloudy eyes. They also seemed to be very sensitive to chlorine/chloramines in tap water, so be sure to use a good dechlorinator during water changes.

As you know, I decided not to have any animals in the terrestrial portion of my tank. Once the archers settled in, they were very enthusiastic about spitting at anything that caught their attention. They could easily shoot a powerful stream at an object 2-3' away and they were very accurate, particularly if something was moving. It seemed that any animal that moved about was likely to be frequently getting hit with water.

With small frogs and insects that would almost certainly mean getting knocked into the water and being eaten (the archers are really aggressive eaters and will frequently lunge and bite at things that were too large for them to swallow). But even with larger animals I thought it would probably be quite annoying and distressing to be constantly getting spat at.

I personally agree with hydrophyte's suggestion - do a nice planting job on the emersed portion of the tank, include some interesting plants and the archers by themselves should provide sufficient activity and entertainment. You can periodically release some insects, which can serve as temporary inhabitants

Hope that helps.

[jacobi]

Emerald tree boa!!!! No need for land portion, just branches. How tall is the tank?

Jake

[thepotoo]

the deeb! Thank you so much for this, I'm a huge fan of yours!

I was planning on a school of 6 archers, I have a 15 gallon sump under the main tank for additional water volume. Toxotes blythii can not, unfortunately, be bought for love nor money where I live, so microlepis it is. I was planning on having the entire area under the land section open (accessible only to the water via caves). The 4'x1'x1' measurement just applied to the land section. The archers would be the only inhabitants, except perhaps a couple small loaches who will move to some of my other tanks when they get too big.

They also need VERY clean water - I found that slight drops in water quality would cause them to lose their appetites or develop cloudy eyes. They also seemed to be very sensitive to chlorine/chloramines in tap water, so be sure to use a good dechlorinator during water changes.

This right here is gold. It's always good to hear from someone who actually kept these fish. I've kept plenty of sensitive fish (and shrimp) successfully, so I'll be careful with the water changes.

I'll probably go with just plants in the top section.

For the sake of completeness and anyone reading this thread in the future:

I've read on many other forums that Day Geckos can drown. Even in just their water bowl. Some people have said that Anoles would be viable for such a setup (although I'm pretty sure archers would eat them), and the Mossy Frog was recommended by a couple people here. I'm not going with them because: 1) they're nocturnal and I'd never see them in a densely planted tank, and 2), as the deep pointed out, they'd be constantly subjected to jets of water.

There is one issue with the Water Dragon or Basilisk idea (besides the little thing about them eating fish): They defecate in their water. This would increase the bioload by a massive, massive amount. I wouldn't consider keeping them with any aquatic creature without daily 20-30% water changes and 8-10x tank turnover from the filter due to the nitrates. An automatic water change system would be pretty much mandatory.

jacobi, it's possible many snake species are viable, however, I'm pretty sure I would be kicked out if I tried to keep snakes in here, so I haven't even considered them.

[Blue_Pumilio]

I've kept mossys in similar tanks and they are almost always viable sleeping/partially sleeping have submerged or even fully submerged in the water. Sometimes they are on land, but still pretty viable. They become active at night, but they are good subjects, even for daytime displays.

I've had anoles drown, too. Unless it is a semi-aquatic/aquatic species, which aren't really available. There are croc lizards! Well...if your pocket book is deep enough.

Originally Posted by thepotoo

the Mossy Frog was recommended by a couple people here. I'm not going with them because: 1) they're nocturnal and I'd never see them in a densely planted tank, and 2), as the deep pointed out, they'd be constantly subjected to jets of water.