# Small "pond" in tank?



## Livia (Feb 9, 2014)

Hey spiderbros Earlier in december a guy posted a pic of his T. Blondi terrarium which included a small " pond" that even housed a few small fish anyways im adding a T.blondi to my collection in 3 week and was wondering if it would be safe to do something like this. Will post picture if I can find it.


----------



## ArachnoAddict (Feb 11, 2014)

As I know, All Living creatures have to go to the bathroom and I know very well that fishes do have to go...
and where do they go? they GO in the WATER! (Not being negative and all) Concerns me... what if your Tarantula
would drink the water full of fish poop (not being awkward) not if you clean it always what I'm saying is that why fishes?!
why a pond?! if you will go through this plan Just separate the water bowl and the FISH bowl because your tarantula might 
drink from the pond (small pond) full of fish poop (still not being awkward)
What IF your tarantula will get sick (accidently drinking from the "small" pond)
Please im just suggesting I'm not saying you should listen to me but... Think it through
Thanks very much..........

---------- Post added 02-11-2014 at 02:25 PM ----------

Sorry for the Awkward Signiture (if you feel bothered)


----------



## pyro fiend (Feb 11, 2014)

ArachnoAddict said:


> As I know, All Living creatures have to go to the bathroom and I know very well that fishes do have to go...
> and where do they go? they GO in the WATER! (Not being negative and all) Concerns me... what if your Tarantula
> would drink the water full of fish poop (not being awkward) not if you clean it always what I'm saying is that why fishes?!
> why a pond?! if you will go through this plan Just separate the water bowl and the FISH bowl because your tarantula might
> ...


i understand your concern. but i also understand the thought of wanting a pond. i wanted the same at one point. till i got too scared of the animals drowning...  but if he uses a proper filter. he shouldnt realy have any problems if he cleans out the pond enough [all depends on the fish, how many, pond size, if proper filtration is used etc etc] if you think about it everything drinks from fishy water.. T's, bears, cows heck even we do.. tho we more or less throw it thru a strainer to get out debris and poo. throw some harsh chemicals in it and call it drinkable [ever seen yellow tap water? YUCK! but it is drinkable *cringe*] unless you buy bottled water your just as likely to drink fish poo... 

its like a fish tank.. the waters pulled in and strained but also some of the filter has GOOD bacteria that more or less kills the bad. making it fresh-er water [im not going to say pure water because of again too many fish or to small of filter will not do this]  



gabe2068 said:


> Hey spiderbros Earlier in december a guy posted a pic of his T. Blondi terrarium which included a small " pond" that even housed a few small fish anyways im adding a T.blondi to my collection in 3 week and was wondering if it would be safe to do something like this. Will post picture if I can find it.


 iv seen it pulled off with other animals. snakes mainly, tortoise a few times. typically its pretty bad water conditions tho. or is bad housing on the fishes behalf [goldfish in 1in pond or very bad filter] tho say like a nice sized pond and a guppy or 2 with a 5-10g reptile filter making a waterfall would be great but overstocking would indeed like drinking stagnant water [which animals do in the wild anyways but i understand arachno's disgust lmao]


tbh if you want a pond id say do for it. theres a diy guy on youtube who does hides n stuff from foam liquid nails and grout. that would work. but id modify it a bit to your personal needs [iv made his myself but didnt like the way mine turned out...its a bird bath now lmao]  heres a link for the one i made itd be easy to alter and can give you an idea of what you can do XD


----------



## cold blood (Feb 11, 2014)

As cool as it may look, I have considered this for a possible H. gigas, which has a "fishing"tendency", but truth be told, I am not sure its a good idea, especially for an aggressive t.  While I would not worry about water quality effecting the t, I do worry about the generous amount of maintence it would require.  Having fish in a small, almost certainly shallow pond, is going to mean it will dirty up very quickly and due to the small amt of room, it will require significantly more frequent attention, which will in turn, have you either temporarily rehousing your blondi, or put you in a position to work around the animal for good amounts of time.  I just see it as causing too much work for you and  too much disruption for your expensive blondi (or whatever species).

Bottom line, I just don't see the cost to benefit ratio in your favor,as cool as it would probably look.


----------



## pyro fiend (Feb 11, 2014)

cold blood said:


> As cool as it may look, I have considered this for a possible H. gigas, which has a "fishing"tendency", but truth be told, I am not sure its a good idea, especially for an aggressive t.  While I would not worry about water quality effecting the t, I do worry about the generous amount of maintence it would require.  Having fish in a small, almost certainly shallow pond, is going to mean it will dirty up very quickly and due to the small amt of room, it will require significantly more frequent attention, which will in turn, have you either temporarily rehousing your blondi, or put you in a position to work around the animal for good amounts of time.  I just see it as causing too much work for you and  too much disruption for your expensive blondi (or whatever species).
> 
> Bottom line, I just don't see the cost to benefit ratio in your favor,as cool as it would probably look.


agreed ponds an okay idea humidity wise. but forgot we was talking about a blondi lol. i dont think itd be smart XD tho H. gigas would be fun to watch in something like that... fun.. but a pain in the butt some cleaning day lmaooo


----------



## oooo35980 (Feb 11, 2014)

I keep most of my Ts in smaller enclosures, but if you have a large terrestrial T and say a 40 gallon tank, you could just bury a shallow dish or a fishbowl or something in the substrate. Get a nice little filter and there you go. It would even help with humidity and provide a constant source of fresh water, which would be nice if it was a Theraphosa or something. I doubt the T will go swimming and the fish probably aren't coming out.

Sounds like a great idea.


----------



## cold blood (Feb 11, 2014)

I'd like to elaborate a little as to the problems a fish pond would potentially cause.  

First, I'm not sure you would want a waterfall, but that's a common type of filter. Its also the type of filter that can be managed and cleaned, OUTSIDE the enclosure, which would be ideal.   Problem with this, aside from a waterfall, is that in order to get this to run properly, your shallow pond would need to be either elevated enough for the pump to work, or the pond would need to be deep enough for the intake to work properly.  I just don't see this as a feasible option, as every time water levels drop a bit, your pump would be in position to fail due to lack of pressure.  It would also leave a place in the enclosure with a little potential escape zone that the filter would require.

Which leads to an under gravel filter, which in my experiences are not only not quite as good (the "waterfall in the aforementioned filter keeps water moving and supplies oxygen to the fish involved), also when you need to do maintnence or cleaning, it would mean an entire breakdown of the enclosure, as you would need to get under the "pond".  While it may not be something you need to do a lot in most aquarium type situations, I can see it occurring very regularly with a t in the enclosure.

Picture this, you have a beautiful set up, pond, fish, a nice big T. blondi, lots of room and it looks awesome.  Then you wake the next morning and your blondi has decided to fill the pond with substrate, or even simply dropped in one fang load.   Now you need to do immediate work on the "pond", just to save your fish, not to mention unclogging your underground filter to maintain it for the future.  This could potentially be nearly a daily occurrence.  Heck, a t filling it with enough substrate would likely kill the fish before you even see it in the morning.  I have not figured out a way to train a t to not redecorate, they do it whenever they feel the urge and it will cause your pristine "pond" to immidiatly become a disaster zone.

Also consider the types of fish you would use.  You would most likely want something hardy, like goldfish, guppies or rosey reds.   Most hardy fish like these are essentially the fish version of pigs.  Which will also mean more cleaning than a normal aquarium situation (they smell), and with a small shallow "pond", water quality will suffer in no time, significantly quicker than even a tiny aquarium set up properly.  You would need to do major water changes almost daily, way more frequently than would actually be good for the fish.....it really wouldn't likely be a great place for most fish no matter how good it looked.  To make it so would require a lot of time and effort, as well as deeper water and more of it.  It would also be too small to even put a pleco in to clean.   

As sweet as it may look, I just don't see it as a really good option, either for the tarantula or the fish. 

Just some things to consider from someone who's been into aquariums and t's for a while now.  I would love to be able to combine the two if it were not such an undertaking and potentially disruptive to the t on too much of a regular basis, plus I want my fish to live as long as my tarantulas, too.


----------



## Bugmom (Feb 11, 2014)

What he ^ said.


----------



## Livia (Feb 11, 2014)

I may not have mentionied this but I am willing to do alot of mantienece but the species may be a problem so I might consider doing it with another but it is really something I would like and working inside the enclosure is not a bad option for me. Also the guy I saw that did it had a suprisingly deep pond. still looking for the pic.


----------



## shebeen (Feb 12, 2014)

One way that you might possibly make such a setup work is to treat the bottom 4 to 5 inches of your tank as an aquarium and elevate the substrate above the water using egg crate (light diffuser panel).  One of the front corners of the tank can be left open to form a pond, and behind it, a small upright filter such as a Tetra 10i can be used to circulate water and provide filtration.  The Tetra 10i uses top loading media so replacing it should be relatively easy.  Check out some of the builds on dendroboard.com for construction methods.  Of course, you still have the issue of your tarantula filling the pond with substrate if it so desires.


----------



## pyro fiend (Feb 12, 2014)

after reading this thread originally i wonder how well a normal pond on a "cliff" would work for an arboreal... like a "ragged" pillar or even a tree stump hide [that would be fun and hard! ] with a water bowl on the top... that goes half way up, no need to worry about dirt. i suppose you could do same with a stump [smaller]or "cliff" for a terestrial to lessen the risk of dirt in the water.. but it would again be alot of work. no fish tho. in fear of the quality


----------

