New Viv - Need Critique

[gatorman4017]

I'm a whiz with reptiles and animals, but know nothing about plants. Without going into too much detail, I set up a vivarium based on best guesses as to what plants to use (the ones I bought were only labeled with the size of the pot they were in and the "experts" as the nursery couldn't even tell what family they were). So there it is... I know that there is a certain amount of experimentation that has to happen to establish a setup, but do any of you experts see anything immediately that you think won't survive? I'm keeping the tank pretty moist and it has a water feature dripping through it. The basic substrate is foam, with the plants planted in jungle mix in pockets ripped out of the foam. It seems to drain well so far. The lighting is two 14 watt C.F.'s. I want to let the tank get established for a few months and eventually add a couple of Darts to it, once I'm sure it doesn't have any bugs or pesticides in it. Any suggestions?

[gatorman4017]

I know the pics are a bit overexposed because of the lights... here's one with a flash so the plants are a bit more identifiable

[rxrgneiss]

Very nice! I like the placement of your plantings! Quite a natural feel...
I'm new here and no expert, but I think I recognize three ferns on the right side - at least their genera.

Top right: a narrow-stemmed, feathery Asparagus Fern - Asparagus plumosus?

Just below and to the right of that one: light green leaves that seem to float on black stems a maidenhair fern - Andiantum sp.

Ground cover near the bottom right: a low growing Selaginella sp.

There are multiple species within each genera that really look similar. I've seen them mis-labeled at greenhouses before.

Unfortunately, I can't really comment on which might or might not make it - still wondering the same about some of mine! All the ferns seem to be doing well. Perhaps someone else here can help...

Notice anything familiar in the attachments? I have eight species of fern in my viv, I think... I may have some accidental java fern growing in my liverwort too.
=)) rx

[gatorman4017]

Wow, your viv looks great. How long has it been going? You're right about some of the ferns. I looked them up after reading your post. I have the three fern species, a moss (undetermined), something in the pothos/philodendron family, a groundcover that I think is called "baby's tears" which may be a moss(?), the unidentified plant in the front at right, and some sort of vining plant up at the top that I've draped across the sides and front. After a week, everything looks good except the maidenhair fern; it's got some dry crinkled leaves. I can't tell if that means too much water because it stays pretty moist. The big X Factor is the Foam base I have it on. I can't find much info on a setup like this. The only thing similar is a few of the products that T-Rex makes for turtles (called "turtle cave" or something). It's literally like black upholstery foam that has been sculpted. The store I bought it from had several big vivariums with it that they said had been running for years with almost no maintenance...

[rxrgneiss]

Thanks, it's been up for about two weeks, but the ferns really give it that older than time look. ;] Also, I took the liverwort (Riccia Moss) I bought and scattered little pinches around to help the ground covering process along. These pinches have nearly double in size already! Again, I think baby's tears is yet another fern type of plant, but not sure...

You know, I wasn't too sure how my Maiden hair fern would do at first either - some of the new growth was molding before it could "uncurl". I just cut these molding bits off and in no time it was growing like mad. Also, I cut off all the dead or very old growth before planting it and it responded well to this pruning... although, some of the cut stems were prone to molding too - agian I just cut off anything that looked too iffy.

The idea of not needing to mess around with the balance created in the viv is pretty cool. From what I've read, there are ways to enhance the self-contained aspects... Adding isopods (sow bugs) and sprintails is often recommended. Rolly-pollies clean up decaying plant organics and the springtails relish fecal wastes, as well as decaying veg organics... The darts will eat some of the s-tails and maybe some isopods... I'm thinking of doing this with my viv soon

Here's a closeup shot of my maidenhair now... Cheers! rx

[rxrgneiss]

Hey, you know, I can't really be sure, but the vine up top kinda looks like Rosary Vine/String of Hearts - Ceropegia woodii. This might be a stretch though.... but I'll try my luck while I'm on a roll! =) rx