[mavramorn]

I have a planted exo-terra that has been up and running for about two and a half years. I’ve had 3 leucamelas in it for about 8 months now. It has a false bottom with a waterfall at one side. I have a filter in the water section that is buried in aquarium gravel, and have gravel hiding the false bottom.
I have a lot of algae (I believe the blue-green kind—grows in sheets) on the waterfall and a lot of “gunk” (for a lack of a better word) in amongst the gravel were I am guessing a lack of real water flow is allowing it to accumulate.
my question is, what kind of maintenance is needed? I don’t want to disturb the frogs, but I am tempted to pull them out briefly to give everything a good clean out (rinse). Is this necessary? Do I risk poor health for the frogs if I just leave it?
Responses appreciated. Thanks! View attachment 308103

 

[fishingguy12345]

my question is, what kind of maintenance is needed? I don’t want to disturb the frogs, but I am tempted to pull them out briefly to give everything a good clean out (rinse). Is this necessary? Do I risk poor health for the frogs if I just leave it?

I would remove the frogs, get rid of the water fall and pond area.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

Do I risk poor health for the frogs if I just leave it?

Yes.

No dart species benefits from that amount of wetness, but leucs prefer drier conditions than any other dart species. The cyanobacteria is a symptom of high nutrient load, which is very detrimental to frogs. Waste water from misting needs to exit the viv, not be recirculated in the viv.

Sounds like the viv needs a full rebuild. The frogs can be set up in a temporary 'sweater box' holding viv while the rebuild takes place.

 

[mavramorn]

Thanks for the responses. I was considering moving them to another tank anyway. Easy to make that decision now.

 

[bulbophyllum]

Thanks for the responses. I was considering moving them to another tank anyway. Easy to make that decision now.

I would move them out as soon as you can. A temp enclosure can be made out of a translucent plastic tote with vent holes cut in it with screen covering them. Use a 2" hole saw. Sphagnum moss on the bottom and a lot of leaf litter and maybe a big pathos if you have one or some branches so they can use most of the dead space. That is a quick and cheap set up to hold them while you research on this list the proper set up and build out your tank.

Good luck.

 

[DUDA]

Here in Italy having a water feature is becoming a thing and i cannot explain how tough it is discouraging the practice to newbies. They mostly come saying "americans do"...and of course the same old "its a frog, they love water" or "there is many water streams in the forest they come from" and all of the usual argument they bring in. So be aware, many of the things you guys do here, may become popular and eventually spread all over the world like pox. So choose wisely, eheheh.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

They mostly come saying "americans do"

That is typically a clear reason not to do the thing, whatever it is. We've been pretty poor role models in a lot of ways for quite some time now, and I'm very sorry for that.

Less self-deprecatingly but no less truthfully, you might show your neighbors this thread to give them an idea of what dart frog habitat tends to look like. Dry surfaces, a lot of leaf litter, some branches and logs, widely spaced plants.

 

[DUDA]

show your neighbors this thread

Priceless, thank you. Thats what i tipically do, quote the nature and show them how it is supposed to be like. I appreciate one also wants the enclosure to look good and luxurious with plants but had lots of arguments with people, mostly on water features but also on lightning, i have seen lights so bright you would never seen frogs as they would hide from that "football stadium grade" fixtures.

 

[DUDA]

We've been pretty poor role models in a lot of ways for quite some time now, and I'm very sorry for that.

Well, it is also because many do only care of pictures (many cannot read english at all) and skip the whole discussion below where one would clearly understand the many reasons why not to do a given thing.
When needing to address newbies to a very complete and accurate "frogkeeping" knowledge base outside of facebook (which i believe is not meant to spread knowledge), i mostly direct them here on dendroboard.com but they go by their bias and only pick what they like, come back and say "hey, found at least 12 ppl who have a 10 inches deep pond and frogs are alive", or "i have seen a guy who keeps 4 different species in the same tank" or "one is keeping a group of terribilis in a 5 inches tank"...sh**t like this, all the time and so frequently i had to give up at some point.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

(many cannot read english at all)

Google Translate works pretty well (I mean, crazy well when you think about it) -- you can cut and paste blocks of text, or enter the website URL and have all of Dendroboard translated into Italian.

 

[DUDA]

Google Translate works pretty well (I mean, crazy well when you think about it) -- you can cut and paste blocks of text, or enter the website URL and have all of Dendroboard translated into Italian.

Agree, there is many way one could get ANY piece of information on ANY topic in 2022 but it is sad most of those using facebook groups as their solely source of knowledge, want information ready-to-eat in facebook post reply, possibly not too long but still complete and not vague, still not technical and not exceeding three lines of text. Truth is some get into any hobby to enrich themselves and learn, some other just because its fancy, they are bored, they love collecting or are intrigued. meh.

To add my 2cents and stay the topic, i will always reccomend doing any hard or drastic maintenance once frog are removed from the enclosure. I know it often looks like "i can do it by just lifting this, and pull that, then i will move this and that an done, no need to move them". Any door open and hands in is causing relevant stress to animals which may not be too dangerous as any healthy animal would just deal with it but can be fatal on the long run for doing-not-so-well animals, and yes, you want to dismantle the whole thing and keep it simple.
THE one thing i surely learned in decades with acquariums and this last 10+ years of frog keeping even more, is the less you touch "their" environment the better they do, period.
I try reducing any interaction to draining and feeding, plus glass cleaning on a monthly basis, if that helps.