Stu & Shaz's Dart Frog Room

[Philsuma]

Good stuff as always Stu. Take care and keep posting. We enjoy seeing your frog room immensely.

[nrf]

Good stuff as always Stu. Take care and keep posting. We enjoy seeing your frog room immensely.

A huge plus one here Stu!

We eat this thread up like candy. lol

I'm gonna move in that room. :lol:

[Stu&Shaz]

Good stuff as always Stu. Take care and keep posting. We enjoy seeing your frog room immensely.

Thanks Buddy,slowly but surely getting there,
regards
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

Good stuff as always Stu. Take care and keep posting. We enjoy seeing your frog room immensely.

A huge plus one here Stu!

We eat this thread up like candy. lol

I'm gonna move in that room. :lol:

Cheers Richie,i'll build ya a viv one of them bigger 2' cubes yet to sort,they are up top,you'll have a nice view...hope ya like wild grub :lol:
Seriously thanks mate I just need to get cracking now ,need as much sorted as possible before winter gets here,and i have to find a home for all those plants.....thats gonna be a real headache
seeya
Stu

[D3monic]

Absolutely beautiful vivs...I really need to try a cork background. Feel free to send some of those plants this way

[Stu&Shaz]

Absolutly beautifull vivs...I really need to try a cork background. Feel free to send some of those plants this way

Thanks Micheal,after clocking yours thats really kind,ha i wish i could swap some plants with you kiddo,your selection is greater than ours i think. Mate if you do ever use this type of cork sheet/tile,just a little word of warning,make sure the tiles are bonded using heat and the resins in the cork...not glues,which some are. I have been told that some of the glues can cause long term poisoning of our little guys
regards
and thanks
Stu

[D3monic]

Thanks for the heads up, I will have to do some research and see what american manufaturers use this process. I might try it first in my Williamsi gecko viv if I ever get around to building it.

[frogfreak]

I just need to get cracking now ,need as much sorted as possible before winter gets here,and i have to find a home for all those plants.....thats gonna be a real headache
seeya
Stu

it looks like you have built 12? How many left to go? Your tanks are stunning guys!

Best

[Stu&Shaz]

I just need to get cracking now ,need as much sorted as possible before winter gets here,and i have to find a home for all those plants.....thats gonna be a real headache
seeya
Stu

it looks like you have built 12? How many left to go? Your tanks are stunning guys!

Best

we have to clobber about the same Glen,i think its 10 finished,another will be nailed tomorrow if i don't drop any glass,and can make all the cuts! another is ready to be backgrounded. pretty sure with these we have 12,room total will be 18 or if i can sneak a small 6 rack in possibly 24alot depends on the growout vivs and space occupied by this and tad rearing.The nubers that can be produced if evrything clicks has shocked me abit mate,granted livestock never fires on all barrells at the same time,but i'm realising i have to think hard on accomodation for kids Don't get me wrong i love all our frogs but i have always had a massive fascination with histo's/sylv. Which will happen when we have enough experiance,and of course these we'll rear largely in viv so won't feature so heavily in the rearing,and of course the numbers will be way smaller. For sure i won't have all the rackspcaes available filled this year,just pushing to get as many sorted and planted as possible.Cutting the recycled glass is a mare at best,in the cold it is evenmore tempremental.I haven't yet got facilities to house all our plants outside, in the winter months yet,so the more that are in viv the better. Tis a juggling act ...lunch over back to it lol
thanks again mate for the words on the tanks we chuck as much thought as we are able at them,each is a mini milestone to us once in the rack. We get a real kick out of this process,and tend to take time ...which don't help matters :roll:
regards mate
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

Thanks for the heads up, I will have to do some research and see what american manufaturers use this process. I might try it first in my Williamsi gecko viv if I ever get around to building it.

I think its worth a try Micheal,at first i wasn't totally happy with it as i felt it didn't hold enough water,but as time goes on i like this cork more and more(which is a good job 'cause i got lucky on ebay and bought a room full). I find now that i can just pin plants onto it,and they will root into it,ficus are easy,but even the ferns...and their gametophytes take ,with a bit of care on the misting side. I believe ours originated in portugal,
regards
Stu

[frogfreak]

Thanks for the heads up, I will have to do some research and see what american manufaturers use this process. I might try it first in my Williamsi gecko viv if I ever get around to building it.

If you find it please post. I sure would like to give it a go! I've been looking with no luck, so far.

[Stu&Shaz]

Oh hell,did the cumpter numpty thing and here we go again, if at first..... :oops:
here's that auratus tank a top view first as its such a strange shape its real difficult to show these 2 auratus vivs in a photo,they have a 2'sq base and are about 18" high,

and the front view

see what i mean....
any way this baby's sorted now and in the rack,just waiting for the silicone bead that stops the flies getting out to cure on the doors and the drainset to cure and i can hook up the drains and get it wet and start getting in some plants etc.

I really like these low deep vivs and so it seems do our panama specials which live next door,i don't see them up top much at all but they seem to love the amount of floor space. Originally i planned on 2' cubes but had to compremise. Firstly erm because the room isnot tall enough :oops: ,but just between us its because Shaz is vertically challenged,thats polite Engish for a bloody short ass,im working on a ladder on wheels for her so she can see the frogs on the top shelf :roll:
Anyway the panamas are starting to settle in now and are getting braver so here are our first pics pretty much since they came out of their QT tub,it was a shame cause i didn't clean the condensation off the glass when we fed so couldn't get the guys bouncing around on the stump,but with the lens against the glass and a bit of time got these...ruddy hate taking pics through the glass,but its better than nothing







take care ya'll
may all your egs hatch
may all your tads morph
and may none of us see SLS
regards
Stu....I'm off to read up on how to left click on the submit button...he said shaking his head...what a dummy :oops: :roll:

[Stu&Shaz]

little happy on his calling perch,the litlle *** always stops when i get the camera, this was our first viv it was designed so that a little leuc would be right up front shouting,they use it but i'll be damned if i can get that pic,still nice to have a plan come together though



some shots of our little auratus froglet




and has anyone seen an auratus clutch like this,there might be a small separate3/4 egg clutch here as well but the big set of eggs contains 14 embyos,many are badly mishappen so i don't expect a big percentage to hatch,but has anyone else seen an auratus clutch of this number

regards
Stu

[boombotty]

I just pulled a regina clutch that was like that, it had a group of 5 and 3 off to the side. I wondered if the male kicked them out like that while he was fertilizing. Alot of yours do have a wierd oblong shape to them, don't know what would cause that, maybe because it was such a large clutch.

Nice looking frogs and vivs, I always enjoy seeing your updates. Have you started using your tad setup yet?

[Stu&Shaz]

I just pulled a regina clutch that was like that, it had a group of 5 and 3 off to the side. I wondered if the male kicked them out like that while he was fertilizing. Alot of yours do have a wierd oblong shape to them, don't know what would cause that, maybe because it was such a large clutch.

Nice looking frogs and vivs, I always enjoy seeing your updates. Have you started using your tad setup yet?

thank you,because they use a film can and the male is so so shy we have to tread a bit careful,and 2 auratus in a film can maybe 3 doesn't make for easy viewing,i definitely know our big lass was in there,if they are all hers that's a huge no for an auratus isn't it?

Yes it actually being press-ganged into use,we are finally starting to get better hatches of the auratus(i bet the sods die on me now) so in the last 2 weeks or so numbers are really starting to jump,a second mystie female is laying,she is much much slimmer,than the other female,but lays larger clutches.So we have 4 females now laying almost weekly. We are losing about 1 mystie egg per clutch, after hatch so far100% livability on mysties and if we get an auratus tad past 3 days we haven't lost any there so far.Tads have been in the gizmo for around 10 days,and so far all looks well,but i guess metamorphosis will be the real clincher. Many folks are having problems with mysties i hear. My hunt at present is for how high uvb light both wattage and %uvb to put over the top,don't want to fry them but also they must have enough(i'm playing an educated hunch here).

Its really scary in a way...all your eggs in one basket!!, growth seems about the same as the tads in glasses if not a bit better,which is slightly surprising as the day water temp is lower,but of course it might be slightly higher at night. A larger body of water will keep a more constant temp. There is no heating in the rearing unit the room is pretty stable,all that insulting i guess coupled with a north facing room.

I have a huge amount to learn about all this, several guys over here are using similar setups,mostly based around cups floating in polystyrene in a fish tank. I went for this for 2 main reasons space efficiency and a modular setup. My eventual goal if this works is to have many more cups/boxes than are in use,the spares will stand in water in our green house and hopefully grow algae on the glass then replace as each tad comes out of the water, each box is being equipped with some elodea(to oxygenate and graze on) and a bit of oak leaf. The tads do have a bit of water circulation to contend with,but because of the mesh size0.4mm its actually minimal.My initial fears of the waste accumulating because of the mesh size are unfounded it appears,i have a couple of auratus tads that are actually popping back legs so quite large,and still no problems...so the bit of circulation must just be enough to break it up and for it to dissipate. If i had of had some bigger mesh i would have used it,at present I'm glad i didn't as these tads are still water guys,so i got lucky,i think.The eheim filter is fit for 200 liters so massively overkill for the volume of water. I also plan to do a partial water change weekly. That's as much as i know so far i must get some pics up of it occupied.

thanks for the interest and the words on the vivs.

Regards,
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

spent a bit of time learning about what can actually be done by cropping with our camera,so here's a pic of a very small lass,ok for a stock lens,so i can try and do without a macro for a while now i guess,sweet huh?

bring it on
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

Here you are Scot the tad system in operation,again i missed the prime shot,i fed and the little guys must of been hungrey,this was their surface feed of cyclopeeze,nearly every tad was on the surface spinning gently as they feed,looked like a lot of little brown syncronised swimmers/ballerinas (ok i got avivid imagination) still enchanting though


and some more pics of the specials,getting braver daily now



[img]
http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx37 ... G_2685.jpg[/IMG]


And finally i have had this stud for a while now,this is his first photo since going in the viv,to say shy auratus is an understatement ,but he's fetile calls looks after his 2 ladies well,and gradually is getting visable,we call him the green goblin
our superblue male...yeaah i know its not the best but i've waited months just to get him in the frame,for weeks and weeks we didn't even see him, so folks your privalaged :lol: :lol:


I don't think anyone has actaully seen him yet in the uk,bar Shaz and I and the guy whom sold them to us, ha and he came here all the way from canada UE, so its kida nice for you to see him first...even though he is a bit shall we say fuzzy 8)
oh got a nearly planted viv to show ya soon,got another one nearly to water testing,oh and something a bit clearer
as a final shot

be lucky guys
Stu

[Todd S.]

Stu, I believe I have commented on the other board as well but your tanks and frogs are amazing! Your plant selection is pretty cool as well. Your plantings are simplistic in the prefect way, not too much, not too little. It seems like just the right balance.


Please keep updating!!



Todd

[Stu&Shaz]

Stu, I believe I have commented on the other board as well but your tanks and frogs are amazing! Your plant selection is pretty cool as well. Your plantings are simplistic in the prefect way, not too much, not too little. It seems like just the right balance.


Please keep updating!!



Todd

Cheers Todd,particularly on the plants,I'm almost certain that everyone you see in the vivs are grown here,i buy one and set to work on it. It strange in a way because i don't really use alot of the more colourful viv plants,preferring green.Yeah i adore the beautiful reds in the broms but i really like green vivs,its abit like every pic i see of the rain forest,green and brown predominate and also in our vivs.Its the opposite to me gardening where i go for mad outrageous colour at every opportunity.Our frogs are the colour for me mate.Growing everything from scratch has a side benefit in that one really gets to know what a plant likes so planting becomes almost instinctive.We adore the creeping ficus,we have 6 i think,how many do you guys have over there?We have quercifolia the variegated sunny,panama,ecuador Colombian and straight pummilla.The last will never find its way into one of our vivs but its perfect as a temporary tank plant as its so quick to grow,we always have a stock of these.
We have nearly finished planting up the auratus (pile of stones) tank,there are only ferns and ficus and a bit of moss in this one.It will take along time to grow in as many of the ferns are being planted in the gametophyte stage.Predominantly these are a native fern...Polypodium vulgare,we set some spores last year i just push these into the cork,and they root into it,our hopes are that being grown under viv conditions they will do but without any substrate they won't get too big.
yeah i went to that ..."other place" first Phil brought me here,when my pleas for help went unnoticed i like it here more, reasoned debate,the odd smile and folks try :roll: to educate me...that suits me just fine,so yeah i guess you will hear more of this malarkey.

thanks again, Todd.
regards
Stu

[boombotty]

I dig the tad setup! I have been thinking about doing something like this, but I mainly feed a couple different algae powders and ground fish food and was wondering if it would all fall through the bottom screen. I have also thought about having solid bottoms with drilled sides or something.
Looks good.