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90 Gallon Vivarium


Withers

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/23/2019 at 6:06 AM, Withers said:

Good! Well, sort of. Finding Red Head histrionicas at a reasonable price might be beyond me, but I've found multiple breeders of Oophaga around and I can join a wait list at any time for some of the more common types (looking at Oophaga Pumilio Bastimentos "red frog beach" currently), but the bigger issue is convincing my wife. I'm trying to come up with a system of either culturing fruit flies in the garage or figuring out how to minimize the smell and keep them indoors like normal. She says they smell too bad. 

At the herpetology lab I worked at, we cultured D. melanogaster and D. hydei in quart sized deli tubs. Punch some holes in the lids and glue a coffee filter over the holes. Inside was a commercial powdered food and excelsior as a substrate. It worked quite well, and it wasn’t too odorous. 

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  • 1 month later...

Yeah I've never thought they smelled that bad either but she disagrees. 

 

Not much to update, but another 3 months of growth. On the left side I've got a peace lilly and a Microsorum scolopendrium fern, both of which get pretty big but are still hidden behind the wood so far. That weird black Pilea I found at Lowe's is going nuts though, it's probably quadrupled in size in the last 3 months. 

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This tiny orchid is super happy in its new spot, turned this deep purple almost immediately

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Moved this Microgramma reptans to a better spot and it's started immediately shooting out new feelers, which I'm super thankful for as these are hard to find. 

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Even though I haven't seeded the tank yet, there's all kinds of bugs crawling around already

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Next up is seeding the tank with critters (springtails and isopods) and filling in the rest of the spots with orchids and Marcgravia as money becomes available. Then frogs in the spring. 

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It's so much easier and cheaper than a reef tank. I've got probably less than $1k in this whole setup and it's a 90 gallon enclosure and most of it is in the lighting, which is severe overkill now that there's no water portion I need to grow plants in. I clean it every 3 months and fill up the misting reservoir and that's it. 

 

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  • 2 months later...

12 ish month update
KIQpJxO.jpg

 

My vivarium thinks it's spring time apparently
z0Pf2o3.jpg

 

LeS9gNf.jpg

 

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p0f8MkF.jpg

 

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I swear this must be the 10th time this thing has bloomed since I bought it
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I also bought 2 frogs, they're highland sirensis, but they're being ridiculously shy. To the point where I put them in 3 weeks ago and have literally not seen them out in the open. I finally figured my lights were probably far too bright so I've turned them down, but still not sight of the frogs.

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I've been interest in these frogs for a few years and occasionally check in to dendroboard to see all the beautiful setups.  

 

Is it difficult to appreciate the tank if/when the glass is misted up?  I assume you open the glass to take these fantastic pictures? 

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It is definitely hard to appreciate if you have condensation issues. A lot of people dont seem to care but I always have so Ive just made sure to keep the misters away from the glass and try to time my misting so that theres minimal condensation. Right now I only clean the glass about once a quarter. 

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4 hours ago, Withers said:

12 ish month update
KIQpJxO.jpg

 

My vivarium thinks it's spring time apparently
z0Pf2o3.jpg

 

LeS9gNf.jpg

 

EESkuo0.jpg

 

p0f8MkF.jpg

 

gncNa3s.jpg

 

1JNJROE.jpg

 

WsJQLdH.jpg

 

I swear this must be the 10th time this thing has bloomed since I bought it
b0pUSGu.jpg


I also bought 2 frogs, they're highland sirensis, but they're being ridiculously shy. To the point where I put them in 3 weeks ago and have literally not seen them out in the open. I finally figured my lights were probably far too bright so I've turned them down, but still not sight of the frogs.

Your orchids look great. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks!

 

I finally caught one of the frogs out in the open, and I'm pretty sure it's the female and it's fat and healthy, so all good news because I've been hearing the male call at all hours of the day, so he's certainly alive somewhere in this tank.
f7T1Q8z.jpg

 

Also, these blooms finally opened and are really bizarre
YrzPblf.jpg

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  • 4 months later...

Did I really never update this thread? I guess I didn't. I ended up catching the sirensis, they're in a rubbermaid waiting their new smaller tank and got 6 Ranitomeya imitator "chazuta" instead which are all very very bold and always out. God it's nice seeing frogs again

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