Our Dendrobates tinctorious 'Azureus' vivarium

[joneill809]

Here's version 2.0 of our vivarium, home to 0.0.2 azureus. We started out with a 40B vert that sprung a leak, so we quickly replaced that with this Zoomed. I kind of expected to "upgrade" the vivarium, so the background was simple black shelf paper and the ledges are all Pet-tech magnetic pots and ledges. This made for an easy move of the plants and frogs from the 40B to the Zoomed. Should these two little guys outgrow this viv we can move the ledges and them along with it to another enclosure.

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The back wall is fully planted with about four tiers. The left wall is 2/3 planted with 3 more staggered tiers and blacked out with shelf paper. The right wall is about 1/3 planted with 2 tiers. The overlapping ledges encourage the frogs to climb. They spend their evenings and nights roosting in the middle "caves" of the background. They usually climb to the top of the viv in the mornings hunting for extra flies prior to spending the day on the floor hunting down the fresh supply of feeders.

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Plants include

• Cryptanthus acaulis
  
• Gloxinella lindeniana
  
• Neoregelia "Fireball"
  
• Neoregelia ''Tiger Cub''
  
• Neoregelia "Zoe"
  
• Neoregelia sp (2 unknowns)
  
• Pellonia "Watermelon"
  
• Peperomia Trinervula
  
• Pilea involucrata "Friendship"
  
• Pilea "Creeping Charlie"
  
• Pteris ensiformis "Evergemiensis"
  
• Selaginella kraussiana
  
• Selaginella moellendorfii "Jori"
  
• Selaginella erythropus
  
• Selaginella - Plana
  

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[joneill809]

Here are more pictures of the inhabitants. This is Big Spot - named for the larger spot on her nose. We suspect it is a female based on her back arch, but we're newbies and guessing so your opinions are most welcome! She is very bold and often walks to the front of the viv to stare at the humans on the other side of the glass.

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And here is Little Spot - he has a smaller spot on his nose. We think it's a male based on the size of the toe pads, but again, just our guess!


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[Philsuma]

Very nice viv - love the mods, especially the fan.

azureus is quite the iconic blue frog. I miss my pair.

[Vinnner]

Awesome viv and great looking darts to go with it

[joneill809]

Very nice viv - love the mods, especially the fan.

Thanks Phil! I found myself placing the internal circulation fan in different parts of the viv to try and find the optimal spot for good airflow to reduce condensation. Then I noticed my kids' pile of magnets on the other side of the room...now I can position the fan wherever I want (even mounted on the side wall). This viv 2.0 with the circulation fan and the top vent fans has eliminated our prior condensation issues except for seasonal fan speed adjustments.

It's also very secure - I routinely find frog droppings on the fan guard so I know it can handle their weight I sure am glad I spent the extra time putting the fiberglass screen behind the fan guard...

[joneill809]

Awesome viv and great looking darts to go with it

Thanks Vinnner! We love these guys. They have been a great entry into the hobby for us.

[RanaVenenosa]

Those Pet Tech ledges are very clever and make for what appears to be a very efficient use of space. Are they light weight?

[Philsuma]

AND what a great Avatar pic !!

[joneill809]

Those Pet Tech ledges are very clever and make for what appears to be a very efficient use of space. Are they light weight?

They are very light weight. I exchanged email with the vendor when some of the smaller shelves were not holding well and he suggested the extra strength magnets. Part of that exchange included the planted weight of the smaller ledges - 13.4 oz with the plants and substrate, 12.3 oz empty. I did not get a weight on the larger shelves since they held very well (small and medium earth planter ledges) - my guess would be 2 to 3 times as heavy. I think the instability had to do more with the surface area on the back of the unit - these smaller shelves were not very thick and they hung out 4" or so from the glass so they didn't hold as well - and possibly a little extra epoxy covering the internal magnets. In any case, the extra strength magnets coupled with interlocking the smaller ledges solved my problem.

I did drill a drain hole in the bottom of each planter ledge and feeder ledge to help drain them - that was the only mod. Feeding ledges were intended to house small cups; instead I inserted some sphagnum and soil as a substrate and used them as planters for a variety of vines.

It was kind of fun rearranging them to come up with different looks. They are an expensive solution, but this is intended to be our only viv (he he - I can hear the comments now), so I wanted to come up with a way to move the plants around and move them to new vivs as we upgraded enclosures as the frogs grew.

The biggest issue was training my kids not to yank a magnet off the side

[joneill809]

AND what a great Avatar pic !!

Thanks! I always get a kick out of these two critters when they come to the front of the viv and look at us. They've got a bit of attitude!

[rcteem]

Beautiful viv and stunning photos!!!

[joneill809]

Beautiful viv and stunning photos!!!

Thanks Chris! I have been warned that I can take as many pictures of the frogs as I want as long as we have more kid pictures than frog (and fish) pictures ...

[joneill809]

A few more pics after the lighting upgrade. I think the frogs are happier

Little Spot (suspected male) is less bold than big spot but every once in a while...
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Big Spot (suspected female) never seems to hide.
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And some plant shots.
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[Philsuma]

Excellent new 'build / viv" post from start. Thanks for posting.

You're using a round external flash right ? I can see it in the frog's eye.heh

[joneill809]

Excellent new 'build / viv" post from start. Thanks for posting.

You're using a round external flash right ? I can see it in the frog's eye.heh

Thanks Phil!

Yeah - I have a Canon 20D and a 40D and these shots are a mix of the bodies. Most of the photos were taken with a Canon EF 100 mm 2.8 macro (though a few of the recent ones were with an 80 mm 1.8 ). I had my eye on a Canon ring flash for quite a while but then I stumbled on this "always on" cheapo NEEWER Ring flash at Amazon for $30 and figured that's cheap so I'll give it a go. It's not fancy, but it gives a pretty good effect. It's LED based so it runs on 2 AA batteries and it's been pretty good.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0031AQ...1HHEILSBYQ

I think the always on flash works better for the frogs - it doesn't startle them since I can turn it on across the room and walk over to the viv so the light gets gradually brighter.

[joneill809]

Exciting day as our azureus starting laying! I snapped some photos of the viv and the frogs that were just nice to look at. Thought I'd share. I skipped the flash today to disturb them as little as possible. These shots were with a cannon 100 mm 2.8 macro on a tripod with a remote trigger. Enjoy!
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[Philsuma]

It's a LOT of fun isn't it ?

Just wait...more frogs...more fun...on the way.

It's addicting.

[joneill809]

It's a LOT of fun isn't it ?

Just wait...more frogs...more fun...on the way.

It's addicting.

Lol it is addicting. I'm wondering if folks are getting tired or more blue frog pics! I can't get enough of them. It's an immensely enjoyable hobby that has been a lot of fun sharing with our kids. They are into the frogs more than our fish. I can't wait for our first batch of fertile eggs! Don't know how i navigated 20+ years in the aquarium hobby without an inkling of how cool frogs were!

DD has been immensely helpful in this process so thank you and all the members for their help during this adventure!

[BluePumilio]

Very nice, I LOVE blue frogs. If you ever want to sell some tadpoles, let me know. I keep a few female D. azureus currently and a bunch of O. pumilio (mostly blue pums).

[joneill809]

Will do! I think we could work something out - D. azureus tads for husbandry advice from a local frogger! Thanks for the response and I'll keep the blue frog photos coming!