H. gigas post #2, an idea.

conipto

ArachnoPrincess
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Hey folks,

Today I read the posts on Hystocrates gigas, and also wound up reading Martin's website's page on H. gigas and retreating into water. I have also been told that some species in the wild sometimes dive into water for small fish to eat. I am considering building a habitat in a five gallon aquarium, with a tank divider to about 1/4th of it, so that I can house small fish for it to feed on on one side of the aquarium. My idea, basically, is to fill up substrate, which will be very wet, about 8 inches high in 3/4s of the tank. The other side, I will be filling with mostly rocks and filler, to make a small fish setup about 3 inches deep. I am going to devise some type of wall that I can remove to allow the H. gigas the opportunity to get the fish out of the water. I figure that I must have such a thing so that it does not become immediately filled with dirt, and so that crickets cannot get in there if it doesn't touch the fish.

Any suggestions? Am I mad and up way too late? How about keeping the fish end of the tank clean? All in all what do you think of the idea?

Bill
 

atavuss

Arachnoprince
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Bill, sounds interesting! go for it, my only concern would be like you said, the gigas pushing all the substrate into the water portion.
Ed
 

GQ.

Arachnodemon
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That sounds like a great project. I'm interested to see how it turns out. There are also books on poison dart frogs that illustrate cage designs similar to what you are going to setup. Go for it!
 

Cronoss

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Originally posted by conipto [/i

Any suggestions? Am I mad and up way too late? How about keeping the fish end of the tank clean? All in all what do you think of the idea?

Bill [/B]



Hey Bill,
I have made tanks like that for reptiles.
to keep the water clean i used a small submersable filter
it works pretty well.all you have to do is clean the filter.
hope this helps
Bryan
 

galeogirl

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Wow, that's a great idea. If you do build this set up, please post some photos of it.
 

schlinkey

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hmm do you mean to make the fishtank thingie like a "pond" in there? i have been thinking of the same thing in one of my larger tanks.. just to make it look more "wild'n tropical" ;) or actually have a fishtank-bouble-maker-thingy in the fishpart of the tank, makin a nice home for the soon-to-be-eaten fishes as well.. :)
 

chid

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Go for it ,sounds interesting you should be able to get some ideas in the local aquarium shop.
 

galeogirl

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Second Nature just discontinued the Viquarium, which is basically a kit that allows you to build a land/waterscape in a small tank. I don't think it would allow for burrowing, but the pumps and other parts might be useful. Since they're discontinued you might be able to pick one up on clearance.
 

conipto

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I went hunting today for pumps/filters to see what I could find. What a crazy world fishkeeping must be. Some 40 different kinds, and all seem to serve a different purpose. At this point, I think I am going to go with a simple airpump with a filter that I found designed for a 5 gallon tank. Even though in reality it will only be about 1 gallon, I found one with a speed control on it, that I think could be adjusted properly. After vacation, this project starts up, officially. I'll keep you posted how it turns out.

Bill
 

Wade

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It might work better if you go with something bigger than a five gallon. It's gonna be tough to do it in the five gallon without it turning into a mud pit.

You could use sillicone to glue a piece of plexi at an angle in the middle of a twenty or thirty gallon aquarium. If the top edge of the plexi is at least 3 inches or so above the surface of the substrate, that should cut down on how much gets in the water.

I have used peat in semi-aquatic reptile tanks, and have found that it turns the water a very dark brown, like coffee, regardless of filtration. It doesn't harm water quality, but it hurts visibility! You really want to keep them seperate if you want to see the fish.

For small bodies of water, I've found foam filters powered by an airpump to be the most effective. You will still need to change the water frequently.

Good luck, sounds interesting!

Wade
 
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