# First Crtters! First Big Project: Paludarium!



## Kruggar (Apr 28, 2012)

Because of a move, a friend of mine wasn't able to take her Fire bellied Toads so she offered them to me. 4 fire bellied toads, an aquarium, stand, lights, bark chips, waterfall and water dish. Here is how the tank looks now. 























here is Toby as she called him. I renamed him 'His royal Heiress, King Tobias, The Lionhearted'.  








and Chief Strategic Officer, Baron [Bloodfist] Steele. 








*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  

Now hear me out, this layout looks alright, but I want to aim for a much more realistic look. I want to turn it into a paludarium (can anyone type this phonetically for me? paul-oo-dare-e-um?) with a custom made waterfall trickling into several pools, before entering a deeper area with guppies and live aquatic plants. My plan is do make a false bottom aquarium, using the Great Stuff and grout method (which I haven't done before so there is gonna be some learning curve). 


Here is my egg crate idea:








Here's the waterfall as it is now.. all foam. But it has been tested and flows perfectly   





























This waterfall is going to go here, the green will be great stuff, I want there to be little hiding caves in the two corners. the red dots are where plants are going to be planted.








These plants: several spider plants, a wandering Jew, and I don't know if that 3rd clipping will root, so: meh. Moss is currently cultivating in some jars I have too. I've also got some Java moss, and I'll eventually get java plants for the H2o half (I originally wanted dwarf baby's tears, but they are hard to keep, need lots of light and high c02, poop!).








So here is my plan, and I shall implement it as my budget (slowly allows) my next step is either finding a nice external pump/filter, or grouting. Any and all feedback is more then welcome and keep an eye in for updates. 

OH and before anyone posts about these, 

-I know that bark chips can cause impaction in amphibians and reptiles, but these guys have lived for 8 years on this stuff, so i have zero concern. 

-Also all my plants are clipped from larger ones and planted in pet safe tropical soil mix, so no need to worry about fertilizers and alike. I always do my research to the fullest. 

-The leaves are native Oak, collected washed and baked. 

-I use conditioned tap water. hmmm anything else... we shall see. 

Hope you enjoy creating along with me.


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## philge (Apr 28, 2012)

Kruggar said:


> These plants: several spider plants, a wandering Jew, and I don't know if that 3rd clipping will root, so: meh. Moss is currently cultivating in some jars I have too. I've also got some Java moss, and I'll eventually get java plants for the H2o half (I originally wanted dwarf baby's tears, but they are hard to keep, need lots of light and high c02, poop!).


The third clipping is scheflerra (probably S. arboricola). I've tried propagating it by cutting, but it wont seem to root in water like that. I'm fairly sure that it is easy to air-layer it though.


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## Kruggar (Apr 28, 2012)

Alright. I'll have to try that thanks! I'm hoping it will root but so far I haven't seen anything, it's definitely not dying anytime soon. Do you know if it's alright to be in a tank with herps?


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## philge (Apr 29, 2012)

Kruggar said:


> Alright. I'll have to try that thanks! I'm hoping it will root but so far I haven't seen anything, it's definitely not dying anytime soon. Do you know if it's alright to be in a tank with herps?


I've tried to get it to root like that many times. Every time, it stays green for months and then dies very slowly. I've never kept it with herps before either, just as a houseplant.

This here: http://www.reptileaddiction.org/forums/entry.php?65-The-care-and-up-keep-of-Dwarf-Schefflera

says they are safe for herps, but it's just a forum post, not a definitive source. I would poke around a little more just to make sure it's safe.


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## SamuraiSid (Apr 29, 2012)

Thats looking really go so far. I look forward to the updates.


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## Kruggar (Apr 29, 2012)

Aha! Thanks philge! That link really helped me out, I took the clipping from the larger tree version. I don't think I'll be able to air root a branch, seeing as I stole it from a plant in a building's lobby . I'll have to look into it though. Cheers.


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