Show me your Paru vivs

[Ed]

Originally Posted by cbreon

Also, I would assume that you use it with a soil mix?

You don't have to, it can used directly under the leaf litter.. It retains a little more water than ABG or regular clay mixes but drains well after it is hydrated. It retains a little too much water for many ephiphytes to root in as a layer on the bottom but a lot of other plants like it. I've used it as a soilless medium in pots for holding bromeliads until I could plant them with great success.

Ed

[frogparty]

I just dump a few isopod cultures on top of the clay/turface as the only organic layer, then leaf litter or sheets of Manurans moss over that.

[EricM]

Stu,

here are some shots of the tanks. they are glass cubes with a short screen strip along the front top, which slides out of the molding for feeding and watering the broms. The tanks have been set up for years and minimal work is done to the interior as to minimize the disturbance to the frogs.

pics in order
outside tank shot, 30 gallon cube
male
shot inside tank, cluster of of compacta broms
tank two same size with differant Neo brom
female of tank two under the drape of Rhaphidophora on background
female of tank one feeding tad
juvie from tank one

thanks
Eric

[stu&shaz]

Originally Posted by EricM

Stu,

here are some shots of the tanks. they are glass cubes with a short screen strip along the front top, which slides out of the molding for feeding and watering the broms. The tanks have been set up for years and minimal work is done to the interior as to minimize the disturbance to the frogs.

pics in order
outside tank shot, 30 gallon cube
male
shot inside tank, cluster of of compacta broms
tank two same size with differant Neo brom
female of tank two under the drape of Rhaphidophora on background
female of tank one feeding tad
juvie from tank one

thanks
Eric

Aww Eric your thanking me,no sir its the other way around the gratitude is all from us,Eric i'm almost sleep typing,hmm what's new,buddy for the moment i'd just like to say a huge thankyou for taking the time for me and Shaz i'll reply,properly as befits your post in a couple of days,its looking like another 18hr push tomorrow,so just a thanks and Damn your frogs look good for now,
huge gratitude
Stu

[stu&shaz]

Eric some questions and an apology for the slow reply.
What temperature range works best for you?
Do you have a rough template that you work to in setting up a viv for large oophaga,does this vary for different morphs/species?
Are there specific broms you have a real preference for or better worded you have noted that your frogs have a preference for?
Do you have any preferences as to which viv custodians work best for you?
How long do you set a viv up for before it gets occupied?
I'll stop there say thanks for the help,and again apologise for taking so long,
regards
Stu

[EricM]

Stu,

the room is set at 75 degrees F, but the tanks run a few degrees higher due to lights.

I don't have a template for tanks. My tanks are top opening so I like to place the broms far enough back that the feeding doesn't dump into the bracts. And that the broms don't grow up high enough for the frogs to jump out when the tank is opened. This is no differant for other species of frogs, I normally don't put broms in tanks with frogs that don't need them but I try and plant dense enough so if the frogs want to stay hidden for days they can. I hand mist everything as well.

I use Neo broms and compacta has been a good one for many years but I will try most any Neo that looks sturdy enough.

viv custodians, I dump in springtails and there are striped isopods in all my tanks.

It's rare that I have the tanks set up much longer than a week before the frogs go in. Usually it's the day they come in. It doesn't seem to be problem, I've moved out my histos and cleaned up the tank and put them back in and so far no problems.

Hope this helps
Eric

[stu&shaz]

Thankyou I'm a bit under the weather at present, amongst many other reasons for the slow replies,but its important you realise how much all these little details are helping us.
Eric how are you cycling these large oophaga down from breeding?
regards
Stu

[EricM]

Stu,

I don't deliberately cycle any of the frogs. The lights are on 12/12 cycle and the ac is set at 76, it does get cooler in the room during the winter as we don't use the heater at all. All the tanks are hand misted by visual "as needs be" so I tend to keep the frogs drier than other collections I've visited. Food production is also in some state of flux depending on the weather etc. so that could also come into play.

The histos were fairly quiet for the past few months but have become active lately, seeing eggs in a few tanks and some newly transported tads, so they seem to be on their own calender.

Hope this helps
Eric

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by EricM

The histos were fairly quiet for the past few months but have become active lately, seeing eggs in a few tanks and some newly transported tads, so they seem to be on their own calender.

Hope this helps
Eric

I was going to mention the same thing, they seem to shut down on their own for months and then start back up like crazy out of nowhere, all my morphs did nothing all at the same time for the past many many months and now all are courting like crazy, just found a froglet also that I posted on another thread, so they seem to cycle on their own.

[stu&shaz]

Chris i noted you mentioned this somewhere,part of the reason i actually asked Eric about this,was to see if this natural cycling by the frogs was aplicable to other breeders as well.
Eric thanks all of this has been a huge help.
both best of luck with your new influx of breeding
regards
Stu