Hello and welcome.

 

thank you!

 

Welcome to Dendroboard.

At least some people won't sit through a video on this sort of topic, but they will scan a forum post and give feedback on it. Videos are great for entertainment, but almost always are a poor way to convey specific information efficiently unless that information specifically involves movement (e.g. showing how a frog walks, vs describing it). If you want the best advice on virtually all dart content, best to post in the form of photos and text.

 

thank you! good to know. will post pics with captions going forward

 

I'll second this advice. ^^^

 

Welcome! I'll be following your build with great interest. You might find something helpful here,

Anyone done a D. tinctorius "azureus" biotope?

 

thanks!

 

Here is a photo of the tank as it is currently (photo taken at night, lights off, to prevent glare). It's 29 gallons and will contain one frog.

Here's an overview of what I'm planning for the tank and why.

Light:

PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) is the light used by plants. It’s a more narrow spectrum than visible light. For that reason, two different sources of light, that appear equally bright to the human eye (or even to the light sensor on your smart phone), can have different amounts of ‘usable’ light in terms of plant growth.

PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density) is the measure of how much PAR is hitting a certain two-dimensional surface area per second. Specifically, micromoles of photons per square meter per second.

DLI (daily light integral) is how many photons of PAR are hitting a certain two-dimensional surface area per day. Specifically moles of light per square meter per day.

If you want to be very serious about evaluating your light for your plants, you need a quantum meter, which is a device that specifically measures PPFD. You can then compare that to existing, free to access information online that quantifies different light intensities. For example, a PPFD of 2000 μmol/m²/s is equivalent to full sun. But obviously, dart frogs aren’t out in full sun, they’re (to my understanding; correct me if I’m wrong) usually in rainforests in the understory. Turns out scientists have actually gone to rainforests with quantum meters and measured PPFD. So you can look it up and find out what you’re going for.

DLI goes a bit further. It’s not just the intensity of light in a one second period; it’s how much light is received in a given day. You can actually find DLI recommendations for different commercial crops then use them as analogues for plants you’re growing at home. For example, most commercial shade plants have a target DLI between 6 and 10.

If you know anyone who is very into coral reefkeeping, they probably have a quantum meter you can borrow. You just need to look up the conversion factor to translate its readings from ‘underwater’ to ‘out of water.’

In my case, the primary light source for my tank will be a south-facing window that is completely covered in a plastic frosted privacy screen. It only lets in gentle, diffuse light, which in my experience doesn’t really have the capacity to heat anything up, and has been fine growing plants the past couple years (the shelf where the tank is going has been a ‘plant shelf’ up until now). If anything, the light might not be bright enough. Especially because as you move away form a light source, the light gets dimmer in a way that is not intuitive (inverse square law); getting even a little bit away from the window will make the light much dimmer. As a result it could be the case that the plants in the back of the tank have enough light, but the plants in the front of the tank do not. I also need to consider plant placement to make sure I don't block the light. For example, I should not have a wall of tall plants in the back of the tank.

I don’t plan to supplement with UV as I’ve read it’s not needed. If this is incorrect let me know.

Heat:

We are in coastal Southern California. We have central air and heat. Our house is usually between 70 F and 75 F year-round. There’s some risk of the window somehow heating the tank up; as we enter the winter months, the sun will be entering the window at peak intensity (Northern Hemisphere means the sun is lowest on the horizon in the winter); I will put a thermometer in the tank that records lowest and highest peak temps to make sure it is staying the same as the room temp.

If, despite the plastic frosted screen on the window, the diffuse light through that frosted screen somehow heats the tank up, I will discover this during the no-frog trial period and move the tank somewhere else.

Ventilation/humidity:

Year round, our relative humidity never really drops below the 50s or above the 70s. I have drilled three holes on the right side of the tank. One is right above where the surface will be once the substrate is added, one is closer to the ‘middle,’ the other is closer to the ‘top.’ All three are centered. I have also ordered a piece of plexiglass for the top of the tank. It will span from front to back, but not from left to right fully; there will be a ~3 inch gap between the left end of the plexiglass and the left end of the tank. My hope is that this will create a sort of cross-current where air enters the holes on the bottom right and exits the plexiglass gap on the top left. There is a heavy duty metal screen lid that will be on top of the plexiglass and cover the gap.

I’m going to mist the tank daily with a pump sprayer and distilled water. Eventually I will purchase an automatic misting system. The tank has a false bottom and a drain.

As I am going to with the temperature, I am also going to record the daily minimum and maximum humidity, during the few months of ‘running’ the tank with substrate, plants, and CUC insects, but no frog.

Substrate:

I’m going to use 7 gallons of ABG mix (original ABG recipe). I ordered some premade because I realized it was cheaper than making it myself. I may mix some worm castings into the substrate to give the plants a bit of sustinence until the frog is added and begins to add nitrogen to the substrate.

Leaf litter:

There will be a lot of leaf litter on top. This is to prevent fungal issues with direct substrate contact, mimic the look of the frog's native environment, and to catch water for the frog to absorb through its skin. I may also add some sort of shallow water dish especially if I can find or make one that is naturalistic.

Wood branch:

There is a wood branch in the tank that I have covered in GE Type 1 silicone, to prevent any water from getting in and anything nasty from leeching out. I did this by drilling a screw into the far end of the branch and hanging the branch up in the backyard. I was able to coat the entire branch, minus the top couple inches where the screw was. I then sawed off those top couple inches (the branch was a bit too long). I still need to coat that cut end and then it will be completely sealed.

Once it is completely sealed, I plan to wrap the branch in sphagnum moss which I will secure with fishing line.

Another option is, prior to adding the moss, adding one more layer of silicone, then rolling the whole branch in a bunch of peat moss or eco earth or something. If I did this, I would then apply the sphagnum more loosely, as if it's draped over the branch, and let some of the brown 'bark' show through the gaps in the sphagnum.

Overall I'm hoping that the branch eventually becomes so covered in moss and other plants that you can't really tell what's underneath. That's why I coated the whole thing with silicone. It's true that I could hunt down a nice branch from a very rot-resistant tree, but I've read on here that even manzanita branches only last a few years before rotting away. It would be a shame for the branch to get to the point where it's completely covered only to then eventually crumble.

The branch will allow plants to climb it from the substrate. I can also plant things directly onto it. Additionally, it will allow the frog to traverse the tank from low to high, which could be helpful for self-regulation (for example if the upper part of the tank is a bit less humid).

Plants:

I checked iNaturalist for plants observed in Suriname (I know my plants well enough to identify any commercial available plants from scientific names). I then cross-referenced the commercial available observed plants with Kew’s website. They’re a botanical garden in England that has a great website which includes accurate info on distributions of specific plant species. From this I got a decent list of Suriname-native plants to include in the tank.

Regarding plants specifically found in the Sipaliwini Savanna, and even more specifically in the rainforest islands of the Sipaliwini Savanna, that was harder. I found a website with the flora of the Sipaliwini Savanna and looked at what they had. From that I found one commercially available, feasible-for-the-tank plant that is specifically observed in the rainforest islands of the Sipaliwini Savanna: Peperomia quadrangularis (often sold under the name “Peperomia angulata”). That said, it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the ‘generally found in Suriname’ rainforest plants are also found in the rainforest islands of the Sipaliwini Savanna and just haven’t been recorded yet.

Native habitat:

I found some photos of the specific subspecies (azureus) in its native habitat as well as an account of the original discovery of the subspecies. It looks like there’s a ton of leaf litter (you can barely see the soil), lots of vegetation, but that overall it’s a surprisingly a somewhat ‘open’ environment in which the frogs have been observed just sort of hopping around in plain sight. That makes sense to me given the aposematic coloration and toxicity. Color-wise it’s all brown (leaf litter) and green (living plants). I plan to mimic both the colors and the 'openness' of the natural environment. I think doing so will make the frog's coloration more striking and allow me to have conversations with people (e.g. friends visiting) about how for this species, sticking out like a sore thumb is actually kind of the point (in terms of the adaptive value of the coloration).

The frogs are observed using phytotelma, which are little pools of water on a plant, for their tadpoles… but interestingly, not bromeliads. Rather, they use palm tree petioles. That’s not to say they don’t also use bromeliads, rather just that it hasn’t been observed. It does seem possible that they don’t use bromeliads. For example, some frogs in Madagascar only use screw pines.

Food:

I plan to get a wingless melanogaster culture going during the initial ‘dry run’ period where the tank has plants, CUC, but no frog. I plan to dust with calcium and superpig (this is what I was trained to do at the place I’ve been volunteering, they call it ‘salt and pepper’).

 

I plan to dust with calcium and superpig (this is what I was trained to do at the place I’ve been volunteering, they call it ‘salt and pepper’).

I think this is the most important weak link in your plan. Darts (like all amphibians, and to some extent all insectivores) need their prey supplemented with not just calcium but a complete supplement (that contains calcium, and Vitamins A/D/E minimally) -- the best choice by far is 'Repashy Calcium Plus'. This product already contains carotenoids, so additional Superpig isn't necessary (and I wouldn't recommend additional SP, since every SP feeding is a feeding that has none of the vitamins/minerals the frogs actually need).

 

Here's the false bottom. I tried to build it so that the supports were made of the same plastic egg crate material, but it was too bendy for my liking. I don't want there to be an issue down the line and have to tear down the tank. So I used a PVC cutter to cut some PVC supports, and cut some notches in those supports so they don't have standing water.

 

Acrylic sheet came, exactly as ordered. I might put a couple little dabs of silicone where the front left and back left edges of the acrylic rest on the tank, to elevate it slightly and close the gap between the sheet / the metal screen. (These wouldn't be to adhere the acrylic to the tank, just to elevate it)


BTW I know the glass is kind of dirty, planning to clean it off before adding substrate

 

Coated the wood branch with one more coat of GE Type 1 silicone, which mostly covered existing silicone, and also covered a couple bare spots. I did this by cutting the end off the silicone tube and pushing the whole contents out into a paper bowl, then smearing it on the branch by hand with gloves. I then rolled the branch around in eco earth.

I regret not having completely sealed the branch with a cured layer of silicone before performing this step. For the couple of spots that were bare wood before this application, it's possible that the eco earth pushed through the silicone, which would compromise the waterproofing of the silicone layer. If this branch ends up rotting, that is most likely why it happened. That said, I tried not to press the eco earth into the wood in those spots.

I'm now letting it cure on top of a big pile of eco earth, the same pile I tossed it in.

The vinegar evaporating off of the drying silicone is overwhelming. I would not recommend this sort of silicone application unless you can do it outside.

The branch looks nice. It kind of looks like a big muddy root. If I ever need to replace it, I think I'm going to redo this technique, albeit while being more disciplined about making sure there is a fully cured layer of silicone over 100% of the wood prior to the final silicone application.

 

Cleaned the glass with a razor blade (scraped off the silicone that got on the glass), added some black duct tape to hide the false bottom area (front side only). Cut the duct tape with the razor blade after applying to get a clean edge on each side

to eliminate the gap between the plexiglass and the screen lid, I put two small zip ties where the two corners of the plexiglass rested on the far left, then slid them to the right until it elevated the plexiglass high enough to close the gap. I then marked their location with a pencil and superglued them in place

 

THE BRANCH ™ is complete! I secured the sphagnum moss with monofilament fishing line. It's the same method I use to mount epiphytes (with roots in sphagnum) onto trees at the botanic garden conservatory where I currently volunteer. Just this time there's no plant, lol.

Wrap the line around the branch once, tie a knot (leave extra line on the end), wrap the branch with the line in one direction, then wrap back towards the initial starting point, cut the line, and tie a second knot with the two ends. I do a square knot but with two or three loops per direction instead of one loop per direction. The friction from the extra loops will hold the tension in the first knot and keep the line very tight.

I'm very happy with the moss dangling off the underside, completely intentional

I purposefully mixed the sphagnum with the leftover eco earth to make it a bit darker in color, a bit dirty looking, I think it adds to the realism

I think the plants I put directly on the right third of the branch (which is against the front glass) will grow towards the window and fill the space behind the branch with green. It will look nice. Also, the light source being behind the tank will hopefully keep the top of the branch somewhat unobstructed by plants, which will keep a nice pathway open for the frog to traverse the branch.

Although I had to mod it to add ventilation, I think I really prefer the aquarium style tank over a front opening tank. It's nice to have an unobstructed view and it was easier to position the branch given that I could just lean it against the front glass

Finally, it occurred to me today that even if the silicone layer on the branch is compromised and the wood rots, the silicone itself might be enough to keep the branch from collapsing, considering how thickly I applied it.

 

My current plan for plants is as follows:

Philodendron linnaei - front left corner

Monstera obliqua 'Suriname' - back left corner

Calathea micans - back right corner

Peperomia quadrangularis - various points on branch

Guzmania minor - front right corner, wedged between branch and glass

Epidendrum microphyllum - right end of branch, next to the Guzmania

All plants are native to Suriname, and Peperomia quadrangularis is confirmed in the specific rainforest patches where the frog (blue tinc) is local to.

I may also add some Anthurium species native to Suriname later on (e.g. scandens, gracile, obtusum etc). If so they'll also be on the branch. I would specifically want to get some fresh Anthurium berries from any of those species and mash them directly into the sphagnum. A friend of mine did that at the botanic garden and it worked beautifully.

 

Two more commercially available Suriname plants:

Paradrymonia campostyla
'Marcgravia Suriname'

 

I've realized my false bottom is way too high. I made it high enough to accommodate the drain I put in. Gonna redo it tonight like this (red = drain)

 

The drain needs to be positioned such that the water level is always below the bottom of the substrate; if it isn't, the water won't drain out of the substrate. Maybe that's obvious, but your drawing doesn't make it clear.

 

Thank you! I appreciate it. The drawing was very sloppy. I'm going to have it set up so all substrate is above the drain opening.

 

Done!

 

I had to trim a big passionfruit vine in the yard so I cut some of the vine (the woody part specifically) to fit the tank. Gonna dry the pieces out a bit in a low temp in the oven (~175 F), let them cool off, then do the same method as I did for the large branch (full coat of silicone, monofilament + sphagnum). Not gonna bother with the eco earth because it should be easy to get 100% sphagnum coverage on both pieces.

I really like the idea of nature 'passing through' the tank. As if the tank is a magic box that somehow contains this rectangular prism of wilderness, that continues to extend beyond the panes of glass back into the rainforest. For that reason my aesthetic preference is to have the above-ground ends of the branch structure terminate directly 'into' panes of glass. For example, that's already the case with the right side of the main branch.

For this same reason I really don't want any sort of background anywhere on the tank.

 

habitat footage

I see some sort of Adiantum everywhere, also some species of Selaginella

 

Added some lights on a mechanical timer, also put a temp / humidity sensor in (it records everything and sends it to my phone) to make sure the diffuse light from the window doesn't turn the tank into an oven

I think I'll run the lights in the morning and have them shut off in the afternoon. The tank looks very cool backlit by just the window

 

The way I put the silicone on the big branch:

+ hang it up outside

+ slather all of it except the top couple inches where it's hanging from

+ let it dry

+ do a second coat on the remaining exposed area

works great.

Tonight, I learned that trying to apply the first layer silicone to the whole branch in one coat, however, does not work great lol. Giant mess, bad idea

 

Here's the tank lit up during the day. Notice how much stronger the natural light from the window is compared to the artificial light from
the LEDs on the tank lid. In my experience it's very easy to overestimate the brightness of artificial lighting, and underestimate the brightness of natural lighting, due to how our eyes adjust to light.

 

Here is a picture of my method for coating things in silicone. Hang it from one end, outside, slather it (minus the end it's hanging from) with silicone. Let it dry for a day or two, then slather the remaining part with silicone (you can hang it up again from the other end to do this). Once it's fully covered and the silicone is fully cured, wrap the entire thing in sphagnum and secure the sphagnum with monofilament.

As an optional additional step, prior to the sphagnum, after there's already one fully cured layer of silicone, slather the branch with one more layer of silicone (this time the whole thing in one go, no hanging) then toss it in Eco Earth and gently press the Eco Earth into it. You can then just let it dry on top of the pile of Eco Earth. This will make the exposed areas of the branch (if there are any) look more naturalistic.

I find it's easiest to cut the end off the silicone tube then use something like a wooden spoon handle to push all of the contents into a disposable paper bowl, then apply it by hand with disposable gloves.

You should dispose of any trash from this either in a sealed bag or in an outside garbage bin, the vinegar smell is really strong.

Make sure to use frog-safe safe silicone.

 

Used gel superglue to fix the pvc supports into place for the false bottom (it's not a strong hold, presumably because the glass is so slick, but I just don't want the pvc to slide around).

Used silicone on the edge of the false bottom to seal it (maybe overkill but why not?)

Both of these steps are intended to minimize the likelihood of needing to tear down the tank in the future.

 

Finished the hardscape, filmed a tutorial. I'm also gonna post the tutorial as a standalone post so it doesn't get lost in this thread.

 

Plants came! Before the substrate, lol. Bare rooted them (mostly; didn't want to literally clean the roots bare because to do that is very destructive to the plant), rinsed them in diluted peroxide. The ones in pots are in reptisoil with a bit of worm castings added. When the ABG mix comes I'll remove the pots and plant them directly into the ABG.

The specific brand of worm castings I use was tested by the water quality department at the AZA place I volunteer at to verify it as safe to use, for plants directly above a bunch of live corals. The brand is "Vermis Terra." I figured out the dilution equivalent to dumping the entire bag directly into the tank (it's a 10,000 gallon tank) and they tested it to see if it would cause a nutrient spike. Not necessarily relevant to frogs but kind of cool regardless.

I'm using the worm castings in tank (very sparingly) to provide a tiny bit of nutrients to the plants while they grow in (I plan to just have plants in the tank for a few months before adding a frog). It's not going to be an ongoing thing, just the one very light initial application.

The Philodendron linnaei is enormous and not what I was expecting (each leaf is over a foot long) but it's a good problem to have. I will probably leave the top two or three leaves on and bury the stem up to the lowest leaf.

Here is the size I was anticipating:

Both the Philodendron and the Calathea seem to be plain green forms, as opposed to more common horticultural selections that have brightly colored leaf undersides, and that's actually exactly what I was hoping for. I want the tank to be brown and green, with a blue frog.

The Monstera is a plant I've had for years. It flowers at less than a foot long if it climbs something. Will be cool to see if it flowers in the tank.