I'm crossing over to the Dart side!

[DAVIDFBT]

All of you with your fancy dart frog setups got to me, I want to take care of dart frogs. 2 days ago, I drained my 10 gallon shrimp tank for a 20 gallon tall tank for them to go into. I had some space next to my 20 gallon FBT setup where a 4 foot long light had an over hang. I put two and two together and decide to start a dart frog vivarium.

I got the basics of how to make a nice dart frog themed tank as you can see by my FBT tank. I'm thinking creeping fig on the background, a bromeliad somewhere in there, a couple of Anubias growing emersed and a ground cover of riccia. I drilled a hole in a piece of malaysian driftwood and siliconed a tube to it that has a little pump on the end of it so the piece of wood will be a sort of water feature with gravel around it so the water can drain down through the eggcrate with window screen false bottom.

I already did a little bit of reading on blackjungle and decided to get wither 2 Dendrobates Azureus or 2 D. Auratus, but i'm leaning more for the Auratus. The only problem I see is I don't really know how to start a live food culture. Does anyone have any good links on how to start a flightless fruit fly culture? And some more dart frog care links would be appreciated.

I'll post pictures of the tank soon.

[The Zigman]

:popcorn:

[petluvr]

I am going through the same process as you:) The worst part right now is waiting for the weather to break before I really start ordering. Anywho nx2ured told me about this site
http://www.dendroboard.com/
It's got some pretty good stuff there-even for non-members.

[cam191919]

i was told that a wet peice of cardboard in you backyard for a night or two would attract tons of termites, but iv never tried it

[Vicious_Fish]

I plan on going to the "Dart Side" one of these days. I'd do a google search and look for flightless fruit fly cultures. Many laboratory supply companies carry them. Petco and Petsmart have started carrying small cultures, at least the ones around me. What you should consider doing is to "seed" the tank with springtails first. They're a tiny insect that will help to break down organic waste in the setup and also supply a meal for the darts.

[DAVIDFBT]

Thanks for the fast replies everyone. Petluvr, I checked out your thread again and your background technique is near identical to mine, just without the blocks of styrafoam in the great stuff. Nx2ured's vivariums are actually the ones who I base my build on. There aren't any termites around my backyard, but there is a giant black ant colony under a sheet of carpet in my backyard. Do you think I could feed the little larva to the dart frogs? I have some springtails on my water lettuce plants Vicious, I'll try to grab a few to put in the tank.

[Nora]

I haven't taken the plunge myself, been wanting to and researching everything for several years - I just cannot make the commitment. I can list some good links. www.dendroboard.com (http://www.dendroboard.com) - hands down the best forum site for frogs - full on community forum with good mods and good quality ingo & great full service classifieds and seller reviews www.joshsfrogs.com (http://www.joshsfrogs.com) - been watching him develop his site over time he has increased the # of items he sells - seems to have a good rep, also great care sheets with pictorial guides for fruit fly cultures and such (he also sells other feeders as well as springtails and lists their care info and so on http://joshsfrogs.wordpress.com/category/feeder-insects/ Black jungle has a good rep too and some great how to articles - fun plants I haven't seen elsewhere. Can't wait to see build pics of your set up:thm:

[DAVIDFBT]

Thanks, I just joined Dendroboard and started a thread there too under the same name and under the same username.

And here is how my Dart tank looks like now after I put great stuff on the back with silicone and coco bedding over it and with the piece of wood I plan to have as a water feature.

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/7024/dartfrogs009.jpg (http://img171.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dartfrogs009.jpg)

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9859/dartfrogs007.jpg (http://img145.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dartfrogs007.jpg)

[petluvr]

One thing I learned is be SURE all the silicone EVERYWHERE is cured totally. Looks spectacular:)

[Nora]

Looks great! Here's a link to a how to video series on fruit flies http://www.expertvillage.com/video-series/982_culture-fruit-flies.htm
Richard Revis from Black Jungle did those

[Vicious_Fish]

David what species of ferns are those that you have in the tank on the left? I like them a lot. I really want to add ferns to my Crested Gecko tank. I'd like to add Bird Nest Ferns and something similar to that type.

[DAVIDFBT]

Those are Lemon button ferns I found at Lowe's with a pot of those for 2.97. There where some labeled with "Lemon button ferns" that looked the same and the same size but where 4.98, so I just got the same kind but in a pot labeled "Fern." They only recently have starte to grow runners where baby ferns are sprouting on the wall and in some parts of the floor. I'm thinking of putting some in the dart frog tank, maybe on the left side.

You can see one poking out of the creeping fig.

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/8991/dartfrogs010.jpg (http://img502.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dartfrogs010.jpg)

[Vicious_Fish]

Thanks. I looked that fern up and it's called Nephrolepis cordifolia. I guess "Lemon Button" is the common name used by a particular grower. It says it doesn't do well with strong light but I hope it does ok in my gecko setup.

[DAVIDFBT]

I don't know about the high light, I have them growing at about 2.3 WPG. (If we were doing the same WPG guideline as aquariums.) Although, the ferns to the left side of the tank have burnt tips, I think it's the proximity to the lights.

[mellowvision]

I like the fern a lot too.

[DAVIDFBT]

I redid the tank a little bit and abandoned the waterfall idea and the false bottom, I'd rather keep my first dart tank simple and maybe add a water feature later. Instead, I just put dow a layer of eggcrate and some large gravel to act as drainage, and over that I put 2 layers of window screen.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/5459/dartfrog005.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dartfrog005.jpg)

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/4637/dartfrog004.jpg (http://img12.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dartfrog004.jpg)

[calivivarium1]

I think that was a good call on leaving out the water feature. The tank looks great without it, and the frogs won't need it anyway.

You FBT tank looks great as well. I am hoping to scrape a few bucks together to buy a different lighting setup for my paludarium, the CFL's simply concentrate too much of the light. What lights are you running on the paludarium?

[petluvr]

Lookin good:) I can't wait til the weather warms and I can order plants;)

[DrNo]

David, just found this thread. Looking really nice dude! Looking forward to more updates.

[nx2ured]

Hey David, I just found this thread as well and am very impressed! Great job on your first tank! It looks awesome! Any idea what kind of frogs you're going to put in there?

[DAVIDFBT]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I need all the feedback I can get so things don't go wrong for me. For lighting, my 20 gallon long and the ten use the same 48" light fixture with two T8 lights at 6700K I bought at walmart for 22 dollars for the whole arrangement. If you look at the first set of pictures I posted, you can see the light fixture runs all the way across.

Nx2ured, I'm probably getting 2 D. Auratus for my first tank, I heard they're very good for beginners. I'll probably end up using riccia as a ground cover near the shore and HC for the inner part of the ground and maybe a few liverworts here and there.

[nx2ured]

Just for reference, some Auratus can be a bit on the shy side. Just something to think about when getting into a new hobby....don't want you to be staring at the tank all day long in hopes of catching a glimpse of them.

[mellowvision]

so funny seeing this on dendroboard

[Virtuoso2K12]

WOW,i been hooked with them,but never got to buy them :(
,but hey am back with frogs and trying to save up on red eyes or something exotic.
Looking very amazing david :)