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Poison dart frog vivariums

Update.

A few frogs have gone, a few have arrived, a tank has been rescpaed due to cyano / algae issues (which are still there).

So the group of male Isla Colon 2 x froglet escudo and 2 of the 4 female Rio Branco were exchanged for a sexed pair of Bastimentois Red frog beach and, FINALLY, a proven male to Branco.

So my three tanks all have potential breeding pairs / groups in them.

Not all straightforward though, I have drainage issues with my substrate and one tank needed gutting and re-scaping, this time I kept it simple, retaining the treefern and using a few simple cork pieces, secured with expanding foam, and any joints covered with silicone and ground Xaxim - the nuisance algae has returned though, much to my annoyance.

Also my substrate / drainage is an issue with the moisture wicking up through the hydroleca and turning my substrate to mush - my solution os to gut the tanks floor one by one, remove the hydroleca drainage and ABG substrate, to replace with koi filter matting and Akadama respectively.

- Freshly rescaped setup for the 1.1 pair of RFB bastimentos (note the mould on the left hand panel which has since aggressively spread again)

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- The pair of RFB, still settling in
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- Male Rio Branco (since confirmed as calling like crazy)

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- My female Escudo transporting a tadpole

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Steve Buce said:
Where did you get the tree fern background from
Ta
Click to expand...

It's from a company called Rainforest Vivs - they no longer sell supplies or vivariums - just plants.

Have another 3 tanks planned in the pipeline, think i'm going for euro style vivariums with a sloping false floor to save the substrate drainage issues this time around.

Also decided to stick with the AI Prime freshwaters - this time they'll be the 16HD models.
 
Some updates to come, bad and good.

*Copied and pasted from dendroboard.com*

Firstly, I swapped frogs with a fellow keeper, with the deal being my 3 x escudo froglets, 4 x isla colon sub adult males and 2 of rio branco females in exchange for 1 x rio branco male (very rare over here) and sexed pair or ref frog beach.

Come swap day, I couldn't find one of the escudo, found a week later near death - I can only assume when I was rooting around the grow out tub I mistakenly hurt him when moving around hardscape etc frown.gif

So bar that bad news, the swap went well, with the male rio branco calling within moments of going in the tank, and the male RFB also calling.

Happy days - well not so much.....

The Rio Branco tank was desperate to be rescaped, the hardscape i'd done 2 years ago was ill conceived, ill thought out and the ABG saturated and mushy due to the hyroleca wicking moisture to it constantly. Thought i'd rescape before the male got too settled in, so they're currently in a large sterilite enclosure.

The tank was moved downstairs (no easy task), into the garage, with the background reworked and seemingly going without incident (if time consuming and messy). I spoke too soon, the tank (an exo terra) was left on it's side with the LH door open..... I walked into the dark garage the next morning and *CRUNCH* i i'd stepped on and shattered the door. Cue lots of expletives and wondering where I go next.

After some searching, i've ordered a new LH door off Amazon which *fingers crossed* will arrive next week.

False floor is now the classic egg crate and PVC while the substrate will be 'double hard line' Akadama (I did get a quote off glass box tropicals for turface shipped here - the turface was $40, the shipping was $255......lol).

6 big bromeliads on their way next week too, so fingers crossed the tank is back in place with the Rio Branco 1.2 group back in by the weekend.

I also have plans for the lower shelf, it will consist of either 3 x 60*45*50 cm or 4 x 45*45*50 cm euro style vivariums with false sloping floors, all lit by AI prime HDs to keep it consistent.

Most likely all for Pumilio or maybe even a couple of Ranitomeya (I have a soft spot for vanzolinii and reticulata).

Also have plans for a large display tank, dimensions of 80*50*100 cm for a pair of larger Oophaga (possibly histronica 'redheads')

To be continued I guess
 
RFB tank has good and bad so far as I can see :

- Bromeliads are colouring up nicely (AI Prime HD running 60%)
- Some epiphytes doing well, others not so
- Orchids doing badly across the board
- Substrate too damp, caused by the water wicking effect of the hydroleca
- Male been witnessed calling, hoping the other specimen is female as promised, will leave to settle in, condition them with heavy isopod feeding and melanogaster feeding with new, well rated supplement regime and hope to see breeding activity this year

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Progress today.

- New Exo door fitted
- Bromeliad order arrived, one of which was a Neoregelia Concerta 'XL' size - it's about as wide as the tank so that's relegated to a houseplant!
- False floor fitted, with Akadama substrate
- Hardcape is just a few simple cork branches, wedged into place with the idea of the bromeliads being the focal point.
- Bromeliads old and new have been secured with cocktail sticks, while cuttings from the original plant also used - mainly a small Marcgravia sp, various Microgramma and Pyrrosia cuttings too. A couple of orchids that survived at the back of the old scape too.

The plan will be to re-introduce the 1.2 group of Rio Branco this weekend, not ideal with it being so bare but hopefully it'll mature over several months.

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Really love these tanks. Can I ask where you order the bromeliads from? Quite interested in giving a simple setup a go.
 
They certainly do, in fact that's where I got my RFB pair from - Marcs very nice to deal with.

So today I ordered a diffuser for one of my AI primes, which in essence blends the light, improves spread and softens / diffuses the stark nature of the LEDs - which will benefit the frogs as, coming from a rainforest with varying canopy densities - they prefer a softer / lower light output.

Stock photos for now until it arrives :

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Another quick update

Pre-owned AI Prime HD 'won' via e-bay and a Mistking Advanced Misting System, brand new, at a 'too good to be true price', so we'll see how that pans out (70 nozzles + ability though!)
 
The 'rio branco' and 'red frog beach' have been calling non stop since they were added - to condition them, i've been feeding heavily with springtails daily, along with melanogaster fruit flies every other day.

With the RFB which are an assumed 'sexed' pair (and bought as such), while i've seen some signs of reciprocation from the female, she doesn't appear gravid, hopefully that will change.....

The rio branco, I witnessed definite courting earlier, and an hour later (after a heavy misting), I noticed these :

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5 eggs on two seperate bromeliads - and this is with the most colourful female I held back specifically - fingers crossed they're fertile.....
 
Upgraded misting system arrived - I don't think i'll be lacking for output with this system somehow 🙂

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Setup a growout container using Akadama as the base substrate, lit by an AI Prime with various sp. including Marcgravia, Begonia and Philodendron

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Oppurtunistic photo 🙂

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Collecting two more vivariums tomorrow - these are 'Euro Style' vivariums with a new 'hinged' door - fingers crossed the hinge holds up long term.
 
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