[Azriel]

I got my first plants! It's Neoregelia cyanea. Any info on this plant would be appreciated! I also have a few specific questions about it. I got them from Como Park Zoo and Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota. They have divided up some of their broms to sell, so if anyone locally is interested, be sure to check it out! They're being sold in the conservatory gift shop. Most of them are quite large, so best suited for a big vivarium. They're being sold pretty cheaply too, I got these for $3.

1. The leaves are rather dry right now. Should I put it in some kind of container where it can stay nice and humid?

2. When I'm ready to plant this, how should I? I have a couple of plant pots incorporated into my background, should I plant it in those? If so, what would I use as a substrate for inside the pot? I've heard people say to just poke them into the foam background, but I'm not sure how this works. Wouldn't that damage the plant?

3. It seems the three plants are connected at the bases (see photo). I would like to detach them if possible, so how can I do this without harming them?

4. Finally, is this a good type for a vivarium? The tank size is 29 gallons. They won't outgrow this will they?

5. I lied, one more question! How can I sterilize these? Should I even sterilize them?

 

[Frogtofall]

You might find this useful...

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/plants/68551-bromeliads-dart-frog-terrarium.html

 

[Azriel]

Thanks for the link! I skimmed through, but will read more thoroughly later. The more I think about it, the more unhappy I am with the broms I got, so I might not use them. At least they were cheap...

 

[ZookeeperDoug]

You can just cut the stolons apart to separate them. Try to leave a good length of woody stolon on each plant to jab into your background or attach with fishing line, wire, etc. They look really tall so even planted at the bottom of your 29 in a vertical orientation they might be too big. The also don't seem like they have much water holding capacity. I don't know what darts you plan to keep but that could be an issue as well. For now I'd just set them upright in a small pot with some orchid bark and sphagnum moss around the base to hold them up. Just keep the axils moist and avoid over saturating the substrate as this will lead to rot.

 

[Azriel]

Thanks for the input! I'm planning on a pair of D. tinctorius (suriname cobalt). So the broms aren't really for them to use, more just for looks.