55g Himalayan Foothills Paludarium

[jaylach]

One of my hill stream loaches up and died this morning.

Other than that all is well! I'll try to get a new vid this week.

Sorry for the loss.

How are your frogs doing? Are you going to keep them in the 5 gallon until mature or is it more just to get them healthy? Since you got them a couple of days over three weeks ago I assume that you have gotten them back to healthy.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Sorry for the loss.

How are your frogs doing? Are you going to keep them in the 5 gallon until mature or is it more just to get them healthy? Since you got them a couple of days over three weeks ago I assume that you have gotten them back to healthy.

Yeah, they're pretty healthy. It's interesting--the ones still at the pet store are bigger. Makes me wonder if I'm not feeding mine enough. But yeah, once they've doubled in size or so I'll put them in the 55. At least, that's the current plan. Check out the Badis-firefrog palace thread for some recent footage. They're adorable.

 

[jaylach]

Yeah, they're pretty healthy. It's interesting--the ones still at the pet store are bigger. Makes me wonder if I'm not feeding mine enough. But yeah, once they've doubled in size or so I'll put them in the 55. At least, that's the current plan. Check out the Badis-firefrog palace thread for some recent footage. They're adorable.

Have you asked the store what they feed the frogs? I mean, with fish, it is usually best to feed a variety of food stuff. Mayhaps your just giving flies is denying some needed nutrients.
I did a quick search as to feeding fire belly toads and came up with the following. Note that flies are not included...

• Fire belly toads eat crickets, waxworms and red wigglers. Feed young toads once a day and adults 3 or 4 times a week.
• Dust insects with calcium supplement 2 or 3 times a week.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Have you asked the store what they feed the frogs? I mean, with fish, it is usually best to feed a variety of food stuff. Mayhaps your just giving flies is denying some needed nutrients.
I did a quick search as to feeding fire belly toads and came up with the following. Note that flies are not included...

• Fire belly toads eat crickets, waxworms and red wigglers. Feed young toads once a day and adults 3 or 4 times a week.
• Dust insects with calcium supplement 2 or 3 times a week.

I asked the pet store manager what she's feeding them. The breeder I bought my original ones from feeds fruit flies until they're large enough to eat crickets and wax worms.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Added a springtail culture to address some minor mold issues, and added a pipe from the waterfall to get moisture to some mosses on the far end that are drying out. I don't like the way it looks so will probably come up with something better at some point, but for now it seems to work.

That's really the problem with trying something new. If I had this tank to do over again, there are some things I would do differently. But there's no way of knowing that until it's all set up, glued in place, and stocked, and by then it's really, really hard to make changes.

Things I would like to do differently (and might just tear down and fix eventually):

1. The ledges on the back should be all more-or-less on the same level, so plants have more room to grow.

2. The land area needs water running through a trough, or maybe a hidden pipe, along the back to keep everything watered. (I thought I would have the self-discipline to spray the mosses every day. You can guess how that's going)

3. Speaking of plants: More mosses and fewer broad-leafed plants, maybe just a single Himalayan maidenhair fern, since I hope to actually see the frogs that will be living in here some day.

4. I'd still like a tea plant in here...but I think I'd need a taller tank or an open top, which is a no go with frogs. Which reminds me, @Magnum Man , what ever happened to your tea plants?

5. And a bigger waterfall pump.

6. I need to figure out some way to keep baby snails out of the manifold: Water flow is probably about 1/2 of when I set this thing up last fall because baby snails can get through the sponges, then the pipes get all gunked up as the snails grow up. Maybe it's as simple as using finer sponges, but that would also reduce water flow.

These emergent java ferns are getting huge, though, and that's kind of fun. These aren't really aquatic plants in nature: When planted at the water line and given the choice of growing submerged or emergent, they'll head up in the air every time.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

The LFS has a couple of anole lizards on sale, and I'm considering it. They don't fit the biotope, but there are lizards of similar size that do (several smaller agama lizards are common in the Himalayas) which are very hard to find around here. It sure would be cool to have some critters on that land area while I wait for my frogs to grow up.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Gonna have to sit out the TOTM contest this month. Too many irons in the fire to get a decent picture or video. Also, I'm pondering some pretty major modifications to the tank:

--Run a pipe from the waterfall to the opposite side of the tank to get some water on some of the mosses that are barely making it.
--Remove most of the big, vascular plants from the land area, especially the huge java ferns. I'll leave at least one of the maidenhair ferns.
--Next time I'm up in the mountains, gather some additional mosses to fill in any bare spots left by removing the big stuff.
--I might finally get around to moving the high shelf down closer to water level. I don't know...that will be a major disruption to the tank, but I think I'd be happier with it in the long run.

All of the above are to start getting ready to move the firebelly toads into the big tank. Hopefully they'll be big enough some time this fall. Right now, with all those huge plants in there, I'd never see them, which would make them really hard to feed. So, More mosses, less big stuff, more surface moisture. Stay tuned.

 

[Beastije]

How are your badis? I am desperately trying to onload 2 of my males, as they are hard to keep with anything else, especially each other, and are a tad disapointing to me. But pretty. Including a picture

BTW I lost 6 hillstream loaches in a tank that I thought was perfect for them, ranging from 2 days after adding to 8 months after adding. I am no longer going to attempt them as I feel they are too finicky and dont like something in my tank (or me)

 

[WhistlingBadger]

How are your badis? I am desperately trying to onload 2 of my males, as they are hard to keep with anything else, especially each other, and are a tad disapointing to me. But pretty. Including a picture
View attachment 346430
BTW I lost 6 hillstream loaches in a tank that I thought was perfect for them, ranging from 2 days after adding to 8 months after adding. I am no longer going to attempt them as I feel they are too finicky and dont like something in my tank (or me)

Badis are strange fish. They are among the most colorful and beautiful fish I've ever kept. At the same time, they are very tiny (about an inch long, even after three months) very secretive, and even in a half-full 10g, I rarely see them. I'm not even completely sure they are both alive; I usually only see one. A couple weeks ago, they were engaging in what might have been spawning behavior, and one is a bit brighter than the other, so we'll see. But in the past couple weeks I've only seen one at a time.

They also seem to be very picky eaters. I too am beginning to question whether they are worth it. I am fairly certain that, in anything other than a tiny nano tank, I would absolutely never see them. Be that as it may, once my frogs are big enough to add to the 55g, I'll probably put the badis in there too and hope for the best. I simply don't think it's worth the effort to keep a tank going just for them.

I have lost a couple of hillstream loaches to unknown causes. They all seem to be doing great, then one will suddenly turn up dead. I feed mine veggie rounds every other day or so, alternating with sinking color pellets, as my river tank is heavily planted and doesn't seem to have a lot of algae or biofilm. I could see them actually starving if I didn't supplement. I still think they're worth it, though. Really fun and interesting fish.

 

[Magnum Man]

I add Bacter A E once a week... I think it helps... supplement any algae in the tanks

 

[gwand]

I add Bacter AE to all my tanks.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Is Bacter AE a bacterial supplement? I just found some on Amazon, but I'm not really clear on what it is or what it does.

 

[Essjay]

Bacter AE is really intended for shrimp tanks.

From the manufacturer's website

Bacter AE Micro Powder adds important microorganisms, amino acids and enzymes to your aquarium. It enhancing water quality and improving the development of biofilms, which are essential for shrimp. The biofilms thus created provide them with a valuable staple food rich in beneficial proteins, especially improving the survival rate of young shrimplets. In addition, live probiotic bacteria improve the nutrient uptake of the shrimp and influence their digestive processes in a positive way.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Bacter AE is really intended for shrimp tanks.

From the manufacturer's website

That sounds like it would be beneficial for aufwuchs feeders, too. Might have to invest in some.

 

[Magnum Man]

Ammino acids... it's a powder... I mix it in a shaker of RO ( you could use tank water, or any water you would use for water changes with no chlorine )

even the bigger fish swim into the clouds gulping up as much as they can get, before it disperses to all the surfaces...
and I add it to any tank with a biofilm eater...