Hello, newbie from the land of OZ!!!

[larrylee]

Hello,
this is my first post and just wanted to introduce myself....I live in hutchinson kansas, and have been lurking here for a few weeks. cramming my brain with frog info... i have a 45 pentagon corner aquarium i have set up terrestrial for my group of green and bronze Auratus(Spelling??) that i pick up in two weeks... cant wait!!!
my tank has been setup for a1-1/2 mo. it has false bottom, some manzanita drift wood, pothos, a small fern and sphagnum moss, coco coir, charcoal substrate. and a few rocks....im still waiting for some leaf litter and have some fruit fly cultures going.
I kept a grays tree frog for 2-3 yrs and that is what started the bug.....
thanks
Larry
PS nice site
PSS anyone have pic of green and bronze auratus I could pirate for my avatar??? :mrgreen:
thanks

[Rusty_Shackleford]

Hey Larry welcome to dart keeping!!! Your viv sounds great lets see some pics!! How many auratus are you getting? Are you tired of looking at an empty viv yet? lol

[larrylee]

oh yeah im sick of it!! wife thinks I lost my mind.... im getting 4 -5 ( I told breeder 4,) frogs from local breeder, my viv foot print is 22"X22" and 24" tall. should be large enough dont you think?? its very open not a lot of floor hogging features.
I just wanted to get it setup and going so i can get some frogs.. ive been studying them now for several years.
I have a 55 gallon tank in the works for serious setup. Just wanted first one to be simple and easy to work with...
there are a few things left to do, mostly cosmetic, want to hide the false bottom and put black or tropical backing on outside of tank to hide the wall behind it.
Larry

[Rusty_Shackleford]

Yeah I think you'll be fine with that many in that size viv. I would keep an eye out as they get older for some female on female aggression. However coming from a breeder and probably being raised together the females may be less apt to fight with one another. You may end up having to create some more visual barriers, ie plants, to let one female get away from another. But that's down the road. It's sounds like you're well on your way to success. Good job!
I'm kinda surprised to hear that on this your first viv you don't have a water feature. I personally am not a fan of them, just my own personal opinion, but seems like everyone does a water feature on their first viv and realize it's not worth it, and they never do one again. You went for simplicity, which I don't think is a bad thing. K.I.S.S. right?
So what are your ideas for the 55?

[larrylee]

I keep a native amazon aquarium. all native fish and plants (well most of the plants!!) so I like to pick a ecosystem to copy, everyone seems to want the water features and I dont want the hassles of one. I have a fascination with the euro style open viv setup nice clean simple, and low maint. the 55 may be more complicated with a few broms and a terrestrial section and maybe a arboreal section. my original plan was to have a Amazon jungle viv with some blue Azuerus , but i got the G & B auratus for Cheap so I changed my plans.
There are some very Nice vivs on this site and Im Impressed, but Till I nail the simpler setups im going with the K.I.S.S. system.....
I have read your post on the DB and you have some nice vivs yourself.
Santa brought me a new camera for christmas as soon as im finished remodeling my basement and get my viv situated where its going to be,in the corner surrounded by my wifes jungle of house plants I will post pics..
Larry

[Rusty_Shackleford]

Very cool Larry!! I've dug biotope displays. I've dont some aquariums like that myself. What fish are you currently keeping? I'm a recovering Cichlid-aholic. Now it seems I've replaced that with Dart Frogs lol. I'm no plant expert by any means but I'm sure there are some folks that will help you find native plants for your biotopes. The azureus you probably could find just about any time you want them.
There certainly are some great vivs here in the galleries. Great for inspiration or seeing what methods and materials other froggers are using. A lot of my vivs are pretty simple, with just plain, common plants. But it works for me, some are for froglets or breeding pairs and functionality and ease of maintenance wins out over visual appeal. Some have more time put into them, thank you for the compliment on those sir. I'm gonna have to look into getting a good camera someday, I don't think Santa is gonna bring me one. I'd love to take some pics of my frogs that weren't blurry for a change lol.

[larrylee]

I have Bloodfin, Neon, rummynose tetras, Angelfish, amazon sword plants, bacopa, and anubis... not all native but nice plants. its time to give it a total clean and replant as some of the plants have been ravished by snails , I hate snails so that is why its time to replace the gravel and bleach and replant tank.
it was a freebie 46gal bowfront with stand as well as my 45 gal corner Viv..
Larry

[larrylee]

here are pics of my mostly finished viv... im going to local pet store and buy a temp background (tropical plants for aquariums!)
Hope ya like it.

Larry
Ps. came home with a lot of goodies from my new frogger friend.....6 green and bronze auratus, some plants and lot of new found Knowledge....LM

[RanaVenenosa]

Hi Larry
Welcome to Dart Den. Sounds like your making great progress. I have a pic of a Costa Rican Auratus green and black your welcome to use if you want. It is located on page 8 of POTM thread (where folks post submissions for photo of month or just sharing). I like your plant choices! Hard to tell from the pic, but didn't appear you took advantage of your vertical space (other than mopani wood)?? If not, having ledges made w cork, GS Foam or other means is a "nice to have" that you should consider adding in later projects. As you build your next viv, by having tiers of small ledges, you enable the frogs to have "territories" off the ground. This also functions like "barriers" that Jon mentioned to help give each frog its "space". My Auratus are in a vert believe it or not, and really take advantage of climbing, spending most of the day in the upper portion of the viv. Just an idea that might help you out.

Anyway, glad to have you aboard Dart Den, so please post often and don't hesitate to ask questions.

Happy froggin
Scott

[larrylee]

hey scott if you dont mind I will use that picture...... nice shot of beautiful frog....
thanks...
Larry