large paludarium idea

[rotccapt]

hi all i am new to dart frogs actually dont even have them yet just doing research. so a little background i have been keeping african cichlids for a couple years and wanted to do a dwarf central american tank so i was doing research on them and ran across people using them in a paludarium and fell in love with the idea. so after doing more research it was suggested by a few people to put dart frogs in to occupy the background and the land area. so here i am.

so my plan is for a tank that is kind of a wedge shaped pentagon. the long side is 48 inches, the short side is 32 inches and the short sides of the front are 10 inches long. i am planning 20 inches of water for a total of 100 gallons. i will have a land area that extends over the water in the back corner i will also have two flying root trees in the front corners that will have roots that come out of the water and a couple branches that span the length of the tank and also come onto the land area to provide the frogs a way to get onto them. the top of the tank will be 20 inches high and i would like to hard scape this area so that the frogs will be happy. all the hardscaping will be built with Styrofoam and latex based drylock cement and covered in live plants

so if i were to keep say 5 to 6 frogs in this setup how much land area would i need at water level for them to be happy. from what i have read the bank of the land area at water level should drop off quickly so that the frogs cant hold others underwater. i am also planning on having some stickups in the water to provide areas where a frog can get out of the water if it falls in.

so it will be a while before i start this project still need to do more research on caring for these little guys so if you have some feed back for me let me know. here is a rendering of what i am planning.

[Philsuma]

Hi rottcapt and welcome to Dart Den.

It looks like you have done quite a bit of research and thought and your experience with fish will assist you somewhat in branching out into the realm of dart frog keeping....but here are a few cautions with deep water / water features.

enclosures-setup-and-construction-f23/water-features-necessary-for-dart-frogs-t5409.html

enclosures-setup-and-construction-f23/i-want-a-waterfall-stream-t5758.html

There are a few more applicable threads to look for here and maybe others will hopefully chime in.

You shouldn't think of Dart Frogs as an 'accessory' to an enclosure. They deserve a full-on decent habitat. In situ (in the wild), most all species are not found in direct proximity to a large pool, pond, deep water ect. There have been at least 3 hobby reported dart frog drownings in water features, several in black film cans (mainly used for breeding/ egg deposition) and many instances of newly morphed froglets drowning due to a variety of circumstances.

The bottom line is...dart frogs can absolutely drown in a water feature. The percentage chance is arguable but I'd personally put it at 'uncommon' or possibly @ 15-20% chance...but that's enough for me to make it a consideration with every enclosure that I build.

Dart frogs are more or less a terrestrial animal. They climb and walk on higher objects, tend to roost up high at night, especially when young, but nothing like a tree frog. Dart frogs should have a minimum of "10 gallons" of usable, flat land space per adult frog - so your enclosure is too small for a group of dart frogs in addition to the water area.

I don't know enough about tree frogs, to try to steer you towards a species there, but honestly....please do a lot more research here on Dart Frogs...ask a lot more questions, and we can help guide you to a better result.

oh..great graphic btw...love the possibilities of that enclosure for plants as well as potential animals.