[ResidentAlien]

This fern is beautiful but I need to figure out if it will quickly devour a small 12x12x18 tank. Anyone able to ID?

 

[solidsnake]

I honestly can’t ID that particular fern, but “most” common viv plants will quickly gobble up the confines of 12x12x18. Besides…with the already limited floor space, you’d probably be better off to stick with leaf litter and some hard scape. I’d personally go with vines and epiphytes when it comes to planting an enclosure with those dimensions.

What livestock are you planning on adding?

 

[ResidentAlien]

What vines would you suggest @solidsnake ? I have couple broms I'll put in. What other smaller epiphytes that stay small/compact would you recommend?

Here's where I'm at so far hardscape wise:

 

[solidsnake]

There’s a ton of cool(big and small) Aroid vines, marcgravia spp, solanum spp, ficus, even some neat vining begonias. Epiphytes: miniature orchids, miniature ferns (microgramma spp.), mini bromeliads, Tillandsias, etc…the list goes on. There’s many many more that I didn’t mention. Other members will chime in.

It really depends on how big of leaves you’re wanting and what species of frog (if any) you’re building this viv for.


That’s a very nice looking viv you’ve built so far!

If you’re open to comments or suggestions, I wouldn’t get too emotionally attached to your grapewood. It will likely decompose rather quickly in the viv’s humid environment. Ghost wood, manzanita, mopani are much more durable.

One of our ever-so-kind moderators even built a plant database that can help you fine tune your plant search.

Dendroboard Plant Database

Full Database: Dendroboard Vivarium Plant Database - Airtable New Entry Form: New Plant Entries Form - Airtable Gallery: Gallery - Airtable After seeing how I keep my plant records, @Encyclia approached me about creating an official Dendroboard plant database that could be a resource for anyone...

www.dendroboard.com

 

[ResidentAlien]

Oh wow awesome, your list alone will be a lot to start from! I really want to incorporate some marcgravia silensis and ficus thunbergii but can't find any near me at the moment (common theme).

Thanks for kind words RE newbie hardscape setup.

I was looking for ghostwood/manzanita, which I'm more accustomed to working with coming from the world of aquatic planted tanks. But I just moved up to Canada and at least in the area I'm in, they only have grapewood, eucalyptus (tons of sharp jagged edges), massive flat uninteresting mopani, or way overpriced stuff mounted on slate.

I couldn't even find any cork rounds around me. So, I had to just work with what I had.

From reading around here, it seems hit or miss with the grapewood. Some say theirs rotted away very quickly, others report having good success for longterm builds. It seemed to me from other's experiences, a differentiator was whether the wood was constantly in wet substrate and/or heavy misting. Folks who installed it a bit off the substrate seemed to have better durability. There also seems to be some difference between raw grapewood (bark on) vs. the sandblasted/baked perhaps denser wood?

So, in the end I'll just have to make do and hope keeping the grapewood higher up will yield durable results!

Until I can get some nicer plants in, I'll just cycle the tank with what I can scrounge up...

 

[Chris S]

Grapewood, while it will rot away over time, is still likely good for 5+ years in a vivarium. I have it in tanks that I have had running for 3-4 years with no issues, and no real loss of integrity of the wood.