[AshleyPants]

Hi all! I just built my first Vivarium last night. It turned out great, I was just wondering if anyone could tell me how long I need to wait to put my dart frogs in it? Can I do it right away, or do I NEED to wait a while?

Thank you!

 

[singhm29]

Congrats on breaking into this addicting hobby. From personal experience if you have used things such as silicone or anything chemical make sure you give a few days for the smell of that to get out of the tank. (Hopefully you had the patience todo this before adding plants and substrate) Aside from that most people like to give microfauna and their plants a headstart before any frogs are introduced so that the microfauna dont get depleted before they are able to establish and the plants are able to root before there trampled by darts.

 

[AshleyPants]

Great! Thank you for replying. I dug a little bit deeper while awaiting a reply and found a wealth of information. Basically, I believe, based on what you put in your tank it’s a matter of opinion and establishment. Being as this was our first go around with a living vivarium, we went about as basic as you can. I used the basic exo-terra background, PVC, window screen, pea gravel, a mix of eco dirt and pre mixed leaf litter substrate from a local breeder, and pre cured plants. Everything was sterilized with a 5% bleach solution and put together. I also got a culture of pink springtails from the local breeder and started half of the culture in the vivarium and am starting the other half as a bigger culture to add in later. I am so excited and all the information on here is amazing!

 

[Shinosuke]

Great! Thank you for replying. I dug a little bit deeper while awaiting a reply and found a wealth of information. Basically, I believe, based on what you put in your tank it’s a matter of opinion and establishment. Being as this was our first go around with a living vivarium, we went about as basic as you can. I used the basic exo-terra background, PVC, window screen, pea gravel, a mix of eco dirt and pre mixed leaf litter substrate from a local breeder, and pre cured plants. Everything was sterilized with a 5% bleach solution and put together. I also got a culture of pink springtails from the local breeder and started half of the culture in the vivarium and am starting the other half as a bigger culture to add in later. I am so excited and all the information on here is amazing!

Yea, it's really impressive how much information there is on this board and how the more experienced folks continually share info with noobs like us.
My .02$ would be to wait awhile, let the springs get really established, and make sure everything continues to function like you want (ie temperature, humidity, fly cultures, equipment, etc). You might want to consider getting some isopods and adding them to the viv before the frogs as well.
Then again, it sounds like you already sterilized everything and could add frogs today if you really wanted!