125 gallon vivarium complete with little fish pond and many live plants

[PunkieDooby1312]

I have put together a very large vivarium. it is 125 gal, has lots of live plants and a little fish tank/pond thing. has a betta and some shrimp in the pond with live aquatic plants. and waterfall filter. I have attached some photos but I will be working on it a bit more soon. already it has a couple american giant millipedes, isopods, earth worms, a couple crickets and a salamander occupying it. I am thinking of adding an adult tarantula to the setup but I am unsure what kind to go with. the tank is actually pretty tall as well as wide. my favorite T is the Togo SB but I was considering a larger pokie or maybe a suntiger? anyone have any opinions or concerns regarding my vivarium as a home for a T.

 

[Frogdaddy]

While a 125gal vivarium set up is cool to see, the mix of creatures you propose is a recipe for disaster and a death sentence for some inhabitants. Rethink this please.

 

[me and my Ts]

Not a good home for a T.

 

[viper69]

a salamander occupying it. I am thinking of adding an adult tarantula

Great tank, but if the above is an example of your thinking, I’d hate to see examples of when your NOT thinking.

What critical thinking skills did you use that make you think a T with a salamander is smart?

Multi species setups usually don’t do well

 

[PunkieDooby1312]

I understand the salamander may be eaten by the tarantula and I don't really care if he does get eaten. he snuck in on one of the plants when i was decorating. other than the fact that there is a salamander in there is there any other reasons this wouldn't be a good fit for a tarantula? I have had similar set ups for tarantulas before and never had a problem. i see you guys disagreeing but no reasons other than the salamander... who i want out of the enclosure anyway

 

[entomologic]

Regardless of the myriad of other issues, 125 gallon is too big for most tarantulas. *Maybe* a full-grown pokie, but you don't even have a good hide for it and the tank would need to be vertical. Even a rudimentary search on the forums would have told you that. Also, the setup is dependent on the species -- it's not arbitrary.

But who are we kidding, you don't care. You want to throw a bunch of animals together, in a tank not setup for their needs, and don't mind if some get eaten.

 

[PunkieDooby1312]

How can a terrarium be too big? Tarantulas live in the wild .... Without a cage altogether. The tank is taller than many other arboreal terrariums on the market, it just so happens to be long as well. There are a ton of hiding places in there but I would probably add a few things as well. My thoughts were on arboreal species because they would be less likely to eat the millipedes. I don't understand how allowing the salamander to get eaten is any different than feeding a cockroach to them. The cockroach is bigger than the salamander. I'm interested in actual suggestions on what to do to make this work. Or information as to why it won't work. Telling me it's a bad idea or it won't work isn't the same as explaining why it won't work . I used to breed tarantulas and used these forums all the time to share my different enclosures. I learned about setting up community tanks from these forums. I wasn't expecting to be scrutinized for putting together a bioactive tank.

 

[Benson1990]

Is the salamander native to where you are? If so why not just release him back into the wild?

 

[PunkieDooby1312]

Is the salamander native to where you are? If so why not just release him back into the wild?

Because I can't catch him. He is very small and disappears when I try to catch it. He is a slimy little guy and I don't really want to rip up the vivarium to find him. I was thinking about removing the moss because I think he may live inside it.

 

[Frogdaddy]

anyone have any opinions or concerns regarding my vivarium as a home for a T.

Yes, we do have opinions and concerns. You asked for them, we have them to you and really what you were seeking was affirmation, just opinions and thoughts that agrees with you. I don't have enough time for trolls like you that don't really care about their charges. If you were a Doctor, you would be Doctor Frankenstein. You probably advocate for hybrids and other monstrosities. BLOCKED THE TROLL.

 

[PunkieDooby1312]

I got opinions but they weren't backed with any reasons. Other than the poor salamander. No one has mentioned anything regarding things that matter such as humidity control, temperature control, decor issues. Things that impact the health of the tarantula. I'm not a troll... This is literally my first post since rejoining this forum and not one person has given me any useful information.

 

[JonnyTorch]

anyone have any opinions or concerns regarding my vivarium as a home for a T.

not one person has given me any useful information.

That is completely false. People have suggested you do NOT combine all of those species in the same tank. That is very useful knowledge because it can end in a disaster. Controlling a tarantula tank with plants is already hard enough for most people, let alone combine a Betta fish, salamander, millipedes, earthworms and crickets? Let alone a Tarantula can easily escape you and get just as lost as your salamander did and hide forever and you may not be able to find it or monitor it's health for a long time, because a 125g is HUGE for a tarantula. Even the world's biggest spider thrives in 15-20 gallon tanks. Plus, this tank is horizontal, a terrestrial tank IF anything and not an arboreal tank. The tarantulas you mentioned (pokies, sun tiger and Togo Starburst) are all arboreals, not terrestrials, and need taller enclosures than they need them wide. Even if you chose a terrestrial, the substrate would need to be higher to prevent falling damage because Tarantulas can be big goofy dumb dumbs sometimes and fall. Not to mention that your favorite tarantula the H. maculata won't do well in it due to the high moisture content those plants will need.

That is useful information to not do that. You'd have to find a tarantula that can withstand a good amount of moisture for plants, and even then the tarantula will devour the crickets, the earthworms, and the salamander. Tarantulas have been known to eat fish too, by catching them in the water. So you would have this beautiful tank, yet one day, maybe a month or two down the road the only animal left will be the tarantula, if it went ahead and decided to eat the millipedes too. It's too competitive and tarantulas eat anything they can.

Having a tank packed with these animals together sounds awesome. It sounds amazing and can look beautiful, but in reality that is the reason why when people even remotely attempt things like this, they do it with two different animals tops, typically with a water animal and an animal for the land, and they don't cross micro habitats within the larger habitat. When crossover happens is when it can be bad.

If you were asking for aesthetic purposes of whether or not we think you should move some plants over a few inches, or if it's too many plants, then you're asking the wrong questions because the bigger issue is maintaining the health of your animals.

I'm not saying this in a mean way. I'm saying this in a way that is stating that we have given you useful information but whether or not you heed the advice or continue ignoring it saying "that's not what I was asking" is not our fault. We're just telling you what is best for your (and our) animals.

 

[Vulash]

That is completely false. People have suggested you do NOT combine all of those species in the same tank. That is very useful knowledge because it can end in a disaster. Controlling a tarantula tank with plants is already hard enough for most people, let alone combine a Betta fish, salamander, millipedes, earthworms and crickets? Let alone a Tarantula can easily escape you and get just as lost as your salamander did and hide forever and you may not be able to find it or monitor it's health for a long time, because a 125g is HUGE for a tarantula. Even the world's biggest spider thrives in 15-20 gallon tanks. Plus, this tank is horizontal, a terrestrial tank IF anything and not an arboreal tank. The tarantulas you mentioned (pokies, sun tiger and Togo Starburst) are all arboreals, not terrestrials, and need taller enclosures than they need them wide. Even if you chose a terrestrial, the substrate would need to be higher to prevent falling damage because Tarantulas can be big goofy dumb dumbs sometimes and fall. Not to mention that your favorite tarantula the H. maculata won't do well in it due to the high moisture content those plants will need.

That is useful information to not do that. You'd have to find a tarantula that can withstand a good amount of moisture for plants, and even then the tarantula will devour the crickets, the earthworms, and the salamander. Tarantulas have been known to eat fish too, by catching them in the water. So you would have this beautiful tank, yet one day, maybe a month or two down the road the only animal left will be the tarantula, if it went ahead and decided to eat the millipedes too. It's too competitive and tarantulas eat anything they can.

Having a tank packed with these animals together sounds awesome. It sounds amazing and can look beautiful, but in reality that is the reason why when people even remotely attempt things like this, they do it with two different animals tops, typically with a water animal and an animal for the land, and they don't cross micro habitats within the larger habitat. When crossover happens is when it can be bad.

If you were asking for aesthetic purposes of whether or not we think you should move some plants over a few inches, or if it's too many plants, then you're asking the wrong questions because the bigger issue is maintaining the health of your animals.

I'm not saying this in a mean way. I'm saying this in a way that is stating that we have given you useful information but whether or not you heed the advice or continue ignoring it saying "that's not what I was asking" is not our fault. We're just telling you what is best for your (and our) animals.

I'll also add that many of the things in that tank could kill the T when it's molting and vulnerable and it would be very difficult to keep track of feeders.

 

[Dorifto]

You forgot to add an elephant.

I love planted, bioactive enclosures, but that's a monstrosity.

The only way to keep so many inhabitants alive and healthy would be in a HUGE well done paludarium, and with huge I mean several feet long and tall, with an active ventilation to separate humid part from the very humid one, an active water system, with real filtration system, not such filter... How are you going to do the maintenance? Opening the door so the T or other inhabitants could scape? Ah... You don't mind if anything scapes or dies.... Plants? Do you choose them based on? They look good right? Do they interfere with the requeriments of the rest of inhabitants? Nahh it looks cool...

If you are going to do something do it right, or any of the animals (live beings) that are under your care will suffer the consecuences. If you look at them as something disposable, you are a shame for the hobby.

 

[The Snark]

Well............ it's a good set up in a way. What you have there is a science experiment along the lines of Darwin's Survival of the Fittest as revisited by Herbert Spencer.

 

[ErinM31]

Isopods are known to eat millipedes and tarantulas while they are molting and crickets would be likely to as well. How do they exist in the wild? With sufficient space and materials, I believe tarantulas can make a burrow or other hide that keeps most such creatures out most of the time, at least those they would likely have to contend with in their habitat. Part of the problem os the relatively limited confines of a terrarium — even one so big as this — and then isopod populations can really boom if conditions for them are right.

I understand the desire to have a beautiful enclosure filled with plants and creatures and a waterfall feature but I would urge you not to until you have more experience and only then with carefully considered tank cohabitants. I did a lot of reading and planning and thought I had created a good set up for some dart frogs with appropriate plants and small isopods that could also serve as prey. It did well for a while but I suspect that some of the water was able to stagnate in areas and was not sufficiently filtered, or I don’t know what my beautiful little frogs died of.

 

[Smotzer]

As someone who builds a lot of vivariums and terrariums I would honestly start over and build it specific to just the plants or to just the plants and one animal life form but that not being a tarantula, it is just not the right type of set up for that. Building vivaria is a lot of fun but it takes very directed planning on the part of the care of the plants and the care of the animal at the same time, there's a lot more at play building terrariums/vivariums correctly than just putting some plants in and animals and hoping for the best. I would either stick to just plants or decide what animal you want to keep in there and then stick to just one or it will be just too hard to keep all the creatures with different requirements alive.