70 gallon paludarium suggestions

[LNK_89]

Hi,

We recently setup our new 70 gallon paludarium. It has about 12-14 inches of water with the land part raised above.
For the land part what are good ideas for soil ? right now we have the land raised above the water with egg crate and coconut fiber or something like that on top of it.
Does anyone have any ideas on what kind of land animals would work well in the tank.
Plant wise, what are some good suggestions for both land and water?
What would be some good fish to put in there ? something maybe besides a few small tetras, maybe something a little more interesting.
Also lighting, right now we are using our old fish tank light which isnt very bright. Will we need to get new brighter lights for the land plants to grow ?

[Grimm]

For a land animal it really depends on how much area, aswell as how much hight you have. And also how easily the animal would be able to climb out of the water if it did fall into it.

For the water, I like guppies a lot. They come in a ton of different types and they live quite well with other fish. (plus they are super cheap) I have 4 guppies and 4 tetras in about 4" of water so they will have a lot of room with a full foot. You could also get a bunch of nice different types of snails and shrimp as most of them co-exist well with other fish.

[Epiphile]

Stock lighting probably won't cut it, you're right. How high is the tank? What types of plants were you thinking of growing? Will your animals require UV? There are a lot of variables when it comes to lighting. The same goes for plants, too- how will you be watering the land area of the tank? I might suggest amending the coco fibre with something to improve aeration and drainage, but it's good stuff to start with.

A photo would be great, too.

Welcome to the forum.

[LNK_89]

ok, the tank dimensions are 36L x 18W x 25H. The land part is about 14 W and 25L. There is a rock wall background in the tank so the land goes right to the glass. The water is 12" deep.

If an animals fell into the water I dont think it would be too difficult to get out of. The land is pretty much level with the water.

Guppies and tetras will probably go in there. But I would also want maybe a larger type of fish aswell. The problem is this is my dad's tank and he has a history of well, not buying alot of fish. He only had 2 tetras and a cory cat in the old 30 gallon tank. Which was pretty boring.

Seeing as stock lights wont cut it, what would you recomend lighting wise ? This is my dad's tank so I have no idea what kind of plants he wants. So far all he has said plant wise is maybe some moss and a venus fly trap. Also on part of the land he made kind of a swamp part. Its lower than the rest of the land so its always pretty wet. Any ideas on what to put in there ? I don't know what kind of animals if any would go in the tank so I can't say if they would need uv or not.

As for photos I will have to get my dad to take some.

[Grimm]

Since you only have about 12" of hight above water that wont accomodate any sort of tree frog. But you do have quite a large amount of area so darts frogs may be a possibility. It all depends on what the finished tanks climate and plant life will consist of, what YOU want as a pet, and what amount of time and work you are willing to give to the inhabitants ...Usually when building a large tank like this you have a faily good idea of what will be living in the tank...That way you can build to accomodate the animals natural habitat.

Since you arent 100% complete building your viv I would suggest making a decision on what animals you will be keeping, and then finish the tank to the best of your ability for the selected animal.

Also the land plants you will add will need to be able to grow in the selected climat for the animal. You cant be putting low water/humidity plants in a tank with Dart Frogs. As for submerged plants I cant imagine it mattering to much, it really depends on your light intensity.

[beckdg]

i would like to know the parameters of the tank and tap water and what level of care your dad's willing to do. the thing is that's close to 30 gallons of water... plenty for a wide variety of creatures. you could possibly house a small cichlid like a ram or some otos, habrosus or other dwarf cories (if your substrate's soft enough), a b/n pleco (if he's willing to feed fresh veggies and there's wood to rasp on), a couple peacock gudgeons (if he's willing to feed live or frozen foods), several shrimp species (if it'll be planted well with places to hide), long fin mountain minnows (i forget their common name) if it's cooler water, possibly a hillstream loach (with some consideration to it's needs). guppies are a great idea and i bet there's someone here that could just send you some babies... weather permitting. tetras... obvious choice... black neons are nice imo. harlequin rasboras, cherry barbs, synodontis negriventis (if you provide the hides for them... densely planted will help), malaysian trumpet snails if your ph is >7, ramshorn snails, a couple nerites (clithon corona, zebra, tiger... ) if you have enough algae to feed them, bridgessi, assasins, tylo's, thai micro crabs if it's planted with many nooks and crannies, maybe one crossocheilus langei (real siamese algae eater... has a black blotch between the belly and the anus), zebra danios, there's plenty crayfish that would do well... a dwarf gourami or betta (more likely females will do better with other inhabitants than males)... and i'm not real good with fish species...

if i had it to do it... ~30 black neon tetras, male longfin bristlenose pleco and ~12-30 red cherry shrimp... once i fishless cycled it and packed it with plants and wood.

lighting is pretty straight forward except intensity would depend on plants and placement and whether or not and how strong for uvb would depend on the animal. ~6500k-6700k is usually worth the purchase. co2 injection would help for your aquatic plants if you go too bright (>~60-90 watts). if you go that far you'll definitely need ferts for them too though.

land animal would depend on how the tank is set up. that's pretty deep water for some animals. many that could live in there and are good swimmers are likely to feed from time to time on your fish so you'd have to choose very wisely or put a lot of wood, plants, ect for them to get out of the water on.

what type of lid is on the tank and would changing it be an option? that could change things when it comes to your options also.

then there's plants... humidity, lighting, temp, wet or dry soil, mounted, planted, submerged, emergent, ferts, etc. leaves a long list even in a 70 gal tank. best to know what species is going on top animal wise to determine many of these variables.

how far have you got on the thing... is it just basically what you've said so far?

if i know any better a venus fly trap will need very moist, decaying soil and a cold weather dormancy period.

i would love to see pics and here more of your plans also. what types of animals have you guys considered and what do you guys know you don't want?

[LNK_89]

I think he would want something that is low to medium care. Nothing too complicated to care for. I like the ideas for fish, I will have to run them by him and see what he thinks. He does want a tank with lots of plants, he has already bought some japonica grass or something like that to see how it does.

I like the way you said you would do the tank. Except I dont think my dad would go for having 30+ fish. Wouldnt the pleco out grow the tank ?

For the lighting he actually has a natural light bulb or something like that. Its supposed to simulate natural sunlight. Not sure how it will do for the plants.

Right now he has an all glass lid on the tank. But that can change, he originally was thinking of getting one of those wire sort of add on ones, so he can have even more height.

We havent got too far. Right now its setup with water filter and all that stuff. On friday we bought a few plants and fish. We have 25 cloud minnows and one siamese fighting fish. They all seem to be doing well. He is still at the point were if things dont workout he can change alot of stuff.

I will try and get some pics tonight. They will probably be much more help. As for plans. He doesnt seem to have many. He wants to directly plant on to the coconut mat thing, im not sure if that is possible or not. I have some plans but its his tank so not much I can do.
For animals not much has been considered by him. He was originally thinking of frogs, but is not sure what kind. I think the amount of water kind of limits him animal wise. I suggested a few small lizards or maybe some sort of arboreal snake or something. The snake was immediatly shot down, but the lizard was a maybe. He wants to leave the animal to the end after everything is planted and stuff then, if he can find something that will work he will get it.
Thanks for the advise.

[beckdg]

a b/n pleco will only get to 4"-5" tops. i have 2 in a 30 gallon right now and 2 adults in my 50 and i can never find any of them unless they're eating. 25 clouds is comparable to 30 neons... tiny schooling fish. i would definitely put some shrimp and a couple snails in there with what you have now. no filter feeding shrimp unless he wants the extra care and no apple snails for the same reason.

there's a good chance you'll wind up with a humidity loving tropical species for the land area. if so you'll want to keep that glass.

sounds like you're on good track so far...

[LNK_89]

oh ok, as long as its a smaller pleco it should be fine then. I put some snails in last night. I'm not sure what kind they are, my girlfriends tank is over run with them so I took them from there. Here are some pictures! Hopefully it will help with suggestions.

[LNK_89]

Here are some more. We also need some way to cover up the white supports for the land section. Does anyone know of some plants that will do well in low light that would grow enough to cover it ?