PDFs on 90g tank

1873 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by jrgobble, Oct 28, 2011

JPccusa

Discussion Starter · Oct 7, 2011

Hello everyone,

I have been a member of this forum for quite some time, and I have read a lot about tank setups and care for PDFs.

Recently I decided to get out of the saltwater aquarium hobby. After some repairs (remove scratches and clean all the surfaces), I will be left with a 5' wide x 2' heigh x 2' deep acrylic tank. Due to the large horizontal area, I would like to keep a group of leucs in that tank.

Here are some newbie questions:

1) Do leucs climb glass/acrylic like the Green Tree Frogs do? I wonder because the tank is an acrylic "box" with smaller access holes cut out on the top. To get out, the frogs would need to walk upside down while stuck to the acrylic.

2) Is there an automatic feeder I could use instead of manual daily feeding? Searches on this forum did not turn out good results. All I found was the "container with a airline on top" approach, which means the quantity and frequency of feeding depend on the willingness of the FFs to move. They may all come out at once, or none come out in days. Any better alternative? Any good DIY projects?

3) I want to create an island effect so the bottom part of the tank is not dark mud/soil/eggcrate. If I give a "beach entry" pond, do I still risk drowning the Leucs or would they stop going deeper once the water is up to their necklines?

If the answer for question 3 above is "go ahead with your idea," then I have the following questions:

4) In order to keep the tropical temperature of the tank, would a water heater be enough to also heat the air? My plan is to have a weak stream (which may separate into several smaller streams) starting at the very far back and crossing the entire length of the tank to finish in the pond.

5) Can I keep a small school (6 or 7) of tetra-neons in the pond area?

This thread will be the determinant if I get into this PDF hobby or if I just transform the tank into a freshwater aquarium. All you inputs will be greatly appreciated.

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B-NICE

· #2 · Oct 7, 2011

JPccusa said:
Hello everyone,

I have been a member of this forum for quite some time, and I have read a lot about tank setups and care for PDFs.

Recently I decided to get out of the saltwater aquarium hobby. After some repairs (remove scratches and clean all the surfaces), I will be left with a 5' wide x 2' heigh x 2' deep acrylic tank. Due to the large horizontal area, I would like to keep a group of leucs in that tank.

Here are some newbie questions:

1) Do leucs climb glass/acrylic like the Green Tree Frogs do? I wonder because the tank is an acrylic "box" with smaller access holes cut out on the top. To get out, the frogs would need to walk upside down while stuck to the acrylic.

2) Is there an automatic feeder I could use instead of manual daily feeding? Searches on this forum did not turn out good results. All I found was the "container with a airline on top" approach, which means the quantity and frequency of feeding depend on the willingness of the FFs to move. They may all come out at once, or none come out in days. Any better alternative? Any good DIY projects?

3) I want to create an island effect so the bottom part of the tank is not dark mud/soil/eggcrate. If I give a "beach entry" pond, do I still risk drowning the Leucs or would they stop going deeper once the water is up to their necklines?

If the answer for question 3 above is "go ahead with your idea," then I have the following questions:

4) In order to keep the tropical temperature of the tank, would a water heater be enough to also heat the air? My plan is to have a weak stream (which may separate into several smaller streams) starting at the very far back and crossing the entire length of the tank to finish in the pond.

5) Can I keep a small school (6 or 7) of tetra-neons in the pond area?

This thread will be the determinant if I get into this PDF hobby or if I just transform the tank into a freshwater aquarium. All you inputs will be greatly appreciated.

They can't really climb and stick to walls like tree frogs, but they can get on the glass dor a while, but eventually they will slide down.

I never heard of a FF dispenser.

Darts need to stay between 68-80 degrees during the day so if you keep a room in within that temp. your good.

How deep is the pond?

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JPccusa

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 7, 2011

Thanks!

The pond will not be too deep. I was thinking probably about 6 inches at the deepest part (against the visible walls of the tank). Definitely enough to drown PDFs.

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Mer_

· #4 · Oct 7, 2011

JPccusa said:
Thanks!

The pond will not be too deep. I was thinking probably about 6 inches at the deepest part (against the visible walls of the tank). Definitely enough to drown PDFs.

How big will the pond area be? Just got to make sure the fish have enough room

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JPccusa

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 7, 2011

Maybe about 12 to 24 inches wide (TBD), 24 inches deep, 6 inches high?

Right now all the plans are all in my head. Perhaps when I start putting stuff together I will realize that the slope takes much more space than expected, or that I will want more area for the frogs.

The fish was just an idea. I can skip on it altogether.

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Baltimore Bryan

· #6 · Oct 7, 2011

Darts can climb glass pretty well, especially with the smaller ones (I've seen my male vent climb upside-down on the glass lid). With leucs, I wouldn't be too concerned with them escaping as long as the circles are in the middle of the top, leaving a bit of distance that they would need to climb completely upside-down before they reach the opening. I would be much more concerned with keeping humidity and temperature stable if you leave holes open in the lid or all of the food climbing out. Also, if any plants grow too tall, the frogs could jump out. It's not a bad idea to just get a small piece of acrylic/ glass that can sit on top of the holes, even if it is not hard to pick up/put down, just to help retain humidity and prevent any chances of a loose frog.
There really aren't any reliable "autofeeders" in this hobby, so you will need to feed by hand. It doesn't have to be daily, a good feeding every 2-3 days for adults is usually fine, but feed more frequently if they seem hungry.
Room temperature is fine, you probably won't need a heater.
Good luck,
Bryan

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FoxHound

· #7 · Oct 7, 2011

I'm a total newb so feel free to disregard this post but I saw a fruit fly auto feeder yesterday. Personally I am a bit wary of this approach because the biggest problem for darts in a big tank is locating food from what I heard. This may also play to an advantage of having the source of food be in one or two constant locations if that makes sense. Given my already stated newb status I should probably leave any speculation like that to the pros.

If you want to check it out for yourself the link is:
PRODUCING WINGLESS D. MELANOGASTOR AUTO FEEDER

If you do try it start a thread on your results though please that would be cool.

-FoxHound

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Baltimore Bryan

· #8 · Oct 7, 2011

That is pretty much what a lot of people do when they go on vacation for a few days... make a culture in some sort of container with holes in the lid so flies can get out. I don't know of anyone who uses them one a daily basis, though, probably for a few reasons: there is no guarantee that the flies will leave, the flies might leave before laying eggs (which would significantly lessen the future number of flies to leave the container), in most cases you will need more than one culture for frogs at different stages going and the cultures don't really put out a steady production of flies- it's more of a slow start up, then it increases, then really "booms" for a few days, and then dies off rather quickly if you don't feed out lots of flies while it is "booming" so the flies don't use up all of the media and ruin the culture.
In a nutshell, in my opinion, it's just too unpredictable in terms of how the flies would work culture to culture... it honestly wouldn't be any different than feeding 2-3 times a week because you would need to be switching out and making new cultures frequently even with the "auto-feeders."
Bryan

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JPccusa

Discussion Starter · #9 · Oct 8, 2011

Thanks Byan and Fox-Hound for the answers.

Bryan, the tank has acrylic lids... they are just not sealed, hence my question. And yes, they are in the middle of the top, so the leucs would have to walk "attached to the ceiling" in order to get out. Good point about the tall plants.

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jrgobble

· #10 · Oct 28, 2011

I have a water heater in my tank to aid in keeping the tank at 75 degrees. My room can be a little cool sometimes, so having the water warm also helps the are stay warm. You will get condensation on the sides of the tank. My tank was a reef tank also that I converted to a frog tank. I had to find special bulbs for my VHO for the plants in the tank. But it seems to be working out pretty good now. Good luck, Johnny

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