[Beethoven144]

Recent member, but longtime love for and fascination with these amazing animals. With this project, I went ahead and ignored the received wisdom -- not exactly proud of it. The frogs seem to be enriched by the water-wall in some ways -- leucomelas climb anything and everything, and they chill in the two-inch pool of water at the bottom once a day or so. Nevertheless, when I get the chance to redo this tank in the next year, I'll be doing away with the water feature. It uses way too much space in an already limited-sized tank, and it doesn't reflect the environment these animals would otherwise find themselves in.

I set up this vivarium around a year ago using the classic egg crate false bottom technique, constructing a chamber for a pump and filtration system on the right side. This system feeds the front-facing water-wall. Temperature typically hovers around 70 degrees F, humidity around 70-75%.

The tank houses two lovely leucs named Freckles (F?) and Fern (M?), who are both around 14 months old. While I'm leaning toward sexing one as female and the other male, I don't think my eye for that is very reliable. Any opinions on this are welcome. They're both active frogs, and they get along really well. They eat 40-60 melanogaster flies every other day or so, maybe 5 days a week. I also installed a small computer fan in the top left corner, which has helped circulate the air in what's essentially a repurposed fish tank.

Here's a full shot from the front. I'm not using the best camera, but I've set it up with a few common plants, namely philodendron, along with some air plants up above. Mostly a mix of moss, leaves, and driftwood on the ground level, with some gravel, too, leading into a small water section at the base of the water-wall. Soil is a mix of sphagnum moss, peat moss, charcoal, and some coco coir, seeded with springtails and isopods.

This is Freckles, who's been the more active and energetic of the two since the moment she(?) climbed into the tank.

Freckles climbing.

This is a view of how I access the filtration, ideally without disturbing the rest of the tank.

Freckles (again...)

This is both Fern (foreground) and Freckles (background). Fern is much shier.

Fern above an air-plant which recently bloomed. As you can tell, something's been eating the plant behind him.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

Welcome to DB.

Kudos for admitting mistakes that many of us have made, and for learning from them. That's about the best anyone can do.

 

[Beethoven144]

Welcome to DB.

Kudos for admitting mistakes that many of us have made, and for learning from them. That's about the best anyone can do.

Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[solidsnake]

Looks like you’re already aware of some changes that probably need to be made. Congrats for being able to admit that!

I don’t keep frogs, but I have made several vivs out of aquariums before. Air exchange can be an issue with these. If you’re going to renovate the enclosure in the future as you said, I’d suggest adding a few vents to the side(s). They’re easy to drill and install.

Also, using some ABG, gravel, etc would probably make a better substrate choice than what you currently have. Your mixture likely holds water waaaay too well.

Just a few comments meant to help.

 

[Beethoven144]

Looks like you’re already aware of some changes that probably need to be made. Congrats for being able to admit that!

I don’t keep frogs, but I have made several vivs out of aquariums before. Air exchange can be an issue with these. If you’re going to renovate the enclosure in the future as you said, I’d suggest adding a few vents to the side(s). They’re easy to drill and install.

Also, using some ABG, gravel, etc would probably make a better substrate choice than what you currently have. Your mixture likely holds water waaaay too well.

Just a few comments meant to help.

Thanks for these suggestions. You’re spot on about the substrate. At this point, the base of the tank is a mix of gravel and lava rock, at least in those areas in the front without egg crate, but the substrate above it does tend to hold a lot of moisture.

 

[solidsnake]

All the more reason to expedite your planned renovation! 😁