Dart Den
Serving the Dart Frog Community Since 2004...
Dart Den

Serving the Dart Frog Community Since 2004...

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Hello from Juan
#1
Hey everyone.

little intro.
Im from Colombia, currently living in North Carolina, im currently in college a junior to be exact. i have been breeding cichlids, catfish and livebearers for quite some time, currently im running 23 tanks. 1 which is a fully CO2 planted tank and 1 which is a "winter" home for my sulcata tortoise.

I woke up my interest for poison dart frogs as i have always been scared of any frogs. the poison dart frogs have caught my attention due to their colors and from what i read some species are easy to care for. a friend of mine name Brian Perkins, have actually also influenced me into keeping this frogs. he owns a import/export business from peru but only for FISH. he gave me a few contacts and with the help of one of them im going to get 3 D. leucomelas.

Before i get my frogs i wanted to do the most research i could. im starting my frutflies Saturday as luckily for me another fish hobbyist in my area has frogs as well and he is willing to spare me some flies. the 3 frogs are going to go in a 15gal high. w/ glass lid.
(my idea was to have some what of a body of water in that small tank so i can put in there some livebearers but from what i have been researching is not going to work on this size tank (too small). so i want to do a bark background. some nice plants and as far as substrate goes a couple of inches of some sort of gravel mixture. with leaf litter.

i saw on a thread here by D3monics (enclosures-setup-and-construction-f23/d3monic-s-super-build-thread-t4282.html) he is referring to some "Great Stuffing" i would love to recreate that tank but i have no clue what that product is.

Well I hope to learn a lot from the best here on the forum and im looking forward everyone's input in the matter.

best Regards

Juan
0.0.2 ‘Turquoise and Bronze’ D. Auratus (Michael Shrom line)
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#2
Hi Juan
Welcome to Dart Den! 23 tanks... wow How do you have time to study?? : ) Well, sounds like your on the right track with your frog research. The good news is frogs are much easier to care for than you might think. Some common reasons why people have issues are poor viv design, too many frogs or mixing species in same housing, or having a FF culture crash and being left w no food for extended period. I would avoid a water feature in a viv as small as 15 gal. If possible, I would consider a larger viv like a 20h or better a 29g - little extra cost in the long-term. A larger viv can absorb more pollution and will offer more stability with temps and humidity, while also being suitable for 3 or 4 frogs of same species. Btw - another great frog that is active and good in groups, often overlooked by beginners is the Dendrobates Truncatus, your "alma mater" :wink:

Regards
Scott
Scott - North Dallas
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#3
Hi Juan and welcome.

Take your time and look around. There are many build threads and pics of "Great Stuff" or GS here.

The best quick advice I can give is "Go Simple" for your first build.

Do your thread research here and feel free to post often, especially if you don't see a similar thread covering your question or issue.
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"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".
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#4
Thank you Rana and Phil.

Well Rana I didnt mentioned i also play soccer for my school. Wink I find time for everything luckily i comute so its easy to keep the pets happy.

I went to Home depot yesterday to get a glass top for the tank and i ended up getting a plant guzmania tempo. I got it only because i saw that most of the vivas have one of this species of plants.
(im having a hard time finding other species of plants to put in the viv)

Thanks again!

Juan
0.0.2 ‘Turquoise and Bronze’ D. Auratus (Michael Shrom line)
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#5
hey Juan, try tropiflora: http://www.tropiflora.com. they have a large selection of plants including guzmania, neoreglia, variessa, etc... Also, be careful using plants from big box retailers they may be treated with pesticides that could be harmful to your frogs.

Although bromeliads are not neccessary for your habitat. They are nice plants and the frogs do seem to enjoy the axils as hiding places, egg laying sites, and they hold water too, which I would imagine the frogs appreciate as well. There is plenty of good info on the forums, don't be afraid to ask questions and the search function is defintely something to take advantage of too...
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#6
Hi Juan!

I was in the same boat as you a year ago. 20+ planted aquariums, but looking to expand my horizons. I cut back to planted tanks and am in the process of converting the rest of my tanks over to vivariums for frogs and geckos.

As others have said (and it cannot be stressed enough), go simple on your first build.

Something you might be highly interested in is the fact that you can grow most aquatic plant emmersed in a vivarium. Myself and a friend both maintain 2 vivariums that are 100% plants from our Planted Aquariums. The humidity and a little heavy misting makes them thrive!

Im growing Crypts, HC, hygro, mosses, Staurogyne repens, Glossostigma elatinoides, Anubias nana, and a few others, all out of water.

Good luck!
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#7
Thank you for bringing up the pesticide end of the big chain plants.

and i just purchased 2 more plants bummer.... can i get away with giving them a wash?

so i picked up some Great Stuff today and a wood plate for the background. came to find out that the piece is shy by 4inched to one side or it can be 2inches if i center it. i guess i will start a thread somewhere so i dont flood the introduction heheh.

i also learned and answered a question it was bothering me today. i saw a lot of folks added a drain or hole on the bottom of the tank and or they have a false bottom and this is so the substrate doesn't root and wont kill the plants.
so i will be working on an egg crate base so i can make a false bottom. so the plants wont die.


I will take photos of my start and through out process of the tank.


Juan
0.0.2 ‘Turquoise and Bronze’ D. Auratus (Michael Shrom line)
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#8
Hi Juan, you have found a great place for information here. I'm new to darts myself and have learned a ton. Phil & everyone have been very helpful, as you are finding out Smile

Happy viv building!
Lisa
In central NY

R. Imitator 'Cainarachi Valley' 2.3.0
R. Imitator 'Cainarachi Valley' Froglets 8 and counting.
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#9
Juand15 Wrote:Thank you for bringing up the pesticide end of the big chain plants. and i just purchased 2 more plants bummer.... can i get away with giving them a wash?
Don't give up on them yet! Here's what you can do:
1) Bareroot the plants
2) Soak the plants in cool (not cold) water for about 30-45 minutes
3) soak the plants in a 5-10% bleach solution for 30 mins
4) rinse really well then soak in cool water for 10 mins
5) grow the plants out of the viv for at least a month to let any residual systemic fertilizers dissipate.
If you post pics we can tell you if the plants are viv-safe and viv-appropriate
-Field Smith
Some frogs...
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#10
Recently we had a discussion about Home Depot and other big box plant places. It was essential found that the worry of pesticides being used after the plants have arrived at these big boxes is next to zero. They don't fertilize or de-bug anything because it costs cash and can be harmful to things not buggy. The chance for bad stuff being used and still active was slim.
With that, it's always good to clean the plants via a bleach solution. I use all tough almost unkillables, so I use 10% bleach. Frillier more sensitive plants may only handle 5% .
Darts with parasites are analogous to mixed tanks, there are no known benefits to the frogs with either.


If tone is more important to you than content, you are at the wrong place.

My new email address is: rich.frye@icloud.com and new phone number is 773 577 3476
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#11
Dead-on Rich. ^

Juan...go to this local Greenhouse http://www.newhopegreenhouse.com/index.html Tropical greenhouse plants are usually very close, sometimes equal in price to even Lowes, Walmart ect. Sometimes Greenhouses and nurseries sell small "starter" vivarium plants for 1-2 bucks AND they are species ideally suited for vivs. ASK if they use pesticideds though, in all cases.

And if that Greenhouse doesn't have what you need...I bet they can direct you to someplace that does, other than Lowes...
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"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".
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#12
Thanks Phil, i actually live off of new hope and its sad that i have never heard of that place.

Rich thats very mind calming i was freaking out already lol and to the point of me planning a trip to return the plants lol
0.0.2 ‘Turquoise and Bronze’ D. Auratus (Michael Shrom line)
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