South American Paludarium

[zarathustra]

Okay so here is the deal I managed to score about a 300 gallon all acrylic tank for 50 bucks. No there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, the guy just had no idea what he had... gotta love craigslist. The dimensions are 8'W 2-1/2'D and 2' Tall. When I was younger I had a caiman crocodilus for about 5 years, when I had to move for school I ended up driving him to a snake farm in Texas and hoping he would have a better life there then if I would have sold him to some idiot. Now that I am a little more settled down and have even more room then before I really want another caiman, but this time just a paleosuchus palpebrosus. I'm looking for you fine peoples advice on setting up a nice paludarium for him. I'm looking for help on filtration, background, plants, and a small fish species that I can keep stocked in there for if he just happens to not be full of mazuri but won't kill my bank account if he takes a liking to them haha. I've never really had a nice tank that had filtration in it. My last caiman I just had to do water changes every couple weeks because he was a mess, which was very annoying. There are two holes in the bottom of the tank, I'm assuming for some kind of filtration, but one is 2" and the other is an 1-1/2". It also has 4 holes drilled in the back 2 with PVC L's and other 2 are just straight PVC.
I'm not an aquarium expert so I have no idea of how to connect all these into a waterfall integrated into the background. Should I just patch the holes in the bottom and use one of the tubes on the back for pumping the water back into a filter and up to the waterfall? Most of the questions I have are general palu kind of questions and I'm sure if any of you take the time to read all of this you will know what to say.



Sorry for the terrible picture by the way my girlfriend has the good camera ha. Uni is to show scale. If any of you want to see pictures of the arrangement of the holes just let me know. Thanks in advance and I hope to keep you all up to date with this.

[tolt]

Hi.
I know nothing about caiman. but as far as the filtration, you are very lucky that the tank is already drill so I would take advantage of the holes, you one of the bottom holes as the outlet hole that goes into a external filter and one of the holes in the back for the return (This could be a water fall)

Will you separate the water from the land by a piece of glass? if so you could use the other hole (assuming that it is on the opposite end of the tank) as a drainage hole so your land area doesnt get to wet.

Good luck and dont forget to post the pics


BTW the tank was a real bagain, I bet at some point in the future that guy will be kicking himself for letting it go so cheap

[beckdg]

you're going to need bulkheads and fittings accordingly for those holes. a wet/dry filter is probably going to be your best bet on this tank. for noise reduction you can use a couple things like a durso standpipe (sp.). you might want to look into a fish forum with a saltwater section or a reef forum to straighten out your filtration. they'll know all the parts and be able to describe application and setting up your filtration pretty well.

welcome to the site.

[Judy S]

What is a durso standpipe??? And the suggestion to use glass will not work to secure to the acyrlic...the only sealant to use would be to bond plastic to plastic....there is no sealant to bond glass to plastic...over the course of time the sealant will degrade..trust me...look online...I even called the manufacturers of aquarium sealants..they will all eventually fail. Won't a caiman destroy and plants by tromping around on them? And how will you keep the water from fouling ??

[zarathustra]

Originally Posted by beckdg

you're going to need bulkheads and fittings accordingly for those holes. a wet/dry filter is probably going to be your best bet on this tank. for noise reduction you can use a couple things like a durso standpipe

I really appreciate all the help guys, thanks.

One of the holes in the bottom is for a durso standpipe that came with it. I wasn't planning on having that much water in this tank. I've never really seen how one works can you explain it to me? I just guessed that the water would overflow into it and then get pumped out to keep sediment and all that business out? What would the other hole in the bottom be for?

Small caimans are really not all that destructive, but in a few years I'll need a much sturdier environment for him. I've found that if you feed them the mazuri pellets and teach them to target they are much more relaxed in general. I think the problem with most people that own crocs is exactly that, they want to own something that is destructive.

What I was planning on doing was making a hovering land area that he could bask on that either looked like a natural bridge or was a piece of wood that was shaped right, then when he wanted his privacy he could hide underneath it. I really only want about 6" to 8" inches of water. The palpebrosus are a little more terrestrial than most caiman so I'm trying to give him the best of both worlds.

The guy I bought it from got it for 25 bucks at an auction for farm implement... I don't know how that works but I'm psyched he bought it. The funniest thing was he wanted $60 for it, and when I handed him the $60 with no qualms at all he actually gave me back $10 because it had a small chip. I mean really small like 1 to 2mm haha.

Once again thank you.

[beckdg]

this should explain it better than i can... Any way to limit gurgling on the overflow drainage? - Aquaria Central

[rudukai13]

You do realize that won't last for very long for a caiman, right? Have you considered trying a similarly aquatic lizard that could stay in that for more of its life? Try Chinese Crocodile lizards, top out at less than two feet but are just as aquatic as if not more so than any caiman.

[tolt]

Originally Posted by Judy S

And the suggestion to use glass will not work to secure to the acyrlic...the only sealant to use would be to bond plastic to plastic....there is no sealant to bond glass to plastic...over the course of time the sealant will degrade

Your completely right on that point Judy. My bad I forgot that the tank was acrylic when I made that suggestion

[zarathustra]

Originally Posted by rudukai13

You do realize that won't last for very long for a caiman, right? Have you considered trying a similarly aquatic lizard that could stay in that for more of its life? Try Chinese Crocodile lizards, top out at less than two feet but are just as aquatic as if not more so than any caiman.

I've been an owner of a lot of herps over the years, but my attraction is to crocodilians. I have a very legitimate amount of space including a 30'x50' heated outdoor shed. I'm not planning on keeping him in this for his entire life. My plan is to use this for a Mata-Mata after he gets to around 2'. As I've owned a larger species already and did not have trouble with him I don't see a smaller species (granted more aggressive) being a bad idea for me. I'm not saying owning a crocodilian is a good idea, considering the thing could take my arm off if it really felt like it at about 3'. This is my interest and I have the means to support this animal. I completely understand where you are coming from, a pet shop 30 miles away had a dozen hatchling alligators a few weeks ago, and just this week there are none left. Those are the people that scare me. I feel secure in my ability to maintain a healthy habitat for this animal and my competence is above average. I'm not going to go around posting videos of my caiman killing things and try to tell people how cool it is. So after this somewhat of a rant on crocodilian ownership I guess I'll get back to your question. Yes I have considered species, I've owned a 6' water monitor, 2 water dragons, frilled lizards, tegus, green basilisks, a plethora of other smaller species of lizards and then on top of all that owned a true crocodilan from the time I was 12 to 17 and had to move for college.

[zach2011]

Thats awesome you got that big of a setup for that cheap. Im very interested to see how this all works out for you.