Suggestions for my 55 Gallon

[Moesmom]

I am looking for some help on what to do with my 55 when I rehome my turtles soon? I can't fill it with water all the way because of weight issues. Now it is filled at least a third of the way and that is fine. I have been thinking of some kind of vivarium or something like that. I have seen pictures of mudskippers and I really like them but have no idea where I would find any. Most frongs I have read about are nocturnal and I don't see how that could be any fun to watch. So I am open to any suggestions for my fellow ACers.

[Moesmom]

None has any suggestions for me of what to keep in this tank? Did I put this in the wrong section?

[BettaFishMommy]

newts? salamanders? frogs? crayfish? crabs? (come on, everyone wants crabs! lol).

why the weight issue???

[Moesmom]

The floor is ceramic tile and my husband basically doesn't want me to fill the tank completely. It has house my sliders for 3 years but it is only a third full of water.

[BettaFishMommy]

i'd just move the tank, problem solved. lol.

you could always order some mudskippers and get them shipped to you or have your favourite lfs order them in for you. i'm thinking i'm going to have to do just that if i ever get around to getting my vintage 20 long up and running and i go the 'skipper route, as they are never in stores around here, and nobody i know that has fish keeps them around here.

[mellowvision]

I personally think crabs, specifically those in the Geosesarma family, like Vampire Crabs, are the way to go for your terrestrial beings. In a 55, they wouldn't need all that space, so you could then have a significant land area and a lot of water for fish or shrimps as well.

[Moesmom]

I don't know anything about crabs but I will have to go do some research and find out. You can keep crabs and some fish? I have alot of research to do because I dont even know how you do half water and half land.

Thanks for the ideas everyone.

[calivivarium1]

I think mellow's idea is pretty sick. You could also do a cool Poison Dart Frog tank...

[mellowvision]

I always refer first time paludarium builders to brian's tropicals. His article gave me a real feel for what needs to be accomplished for an easily maintainable tank that is easily adaptable for almost any amphibian

http://www.brianstropicals.com/building.html

[Moesmom]

Thanks Mellow, you are always so helpful. I will go start researching.

[stephcps]

I was gonna suggest Brian's Tropicals too!! Awesome frogs and great info!!

[Moesmom]

Brians was very informative for a tanks without a water area, I guess it is mainly for dart frogs. But I need to find some information an a tanks with half water and half land. Anyone have any idea where I can go? What would it be called? Paladium?

[calivivarium1]

umm, i think Black Jungle has some info on paludariums. what kind of info do you want? THere are quite a few good builds on this forum too

[Moesmom]

I would like something with half water and half land. Right now I am interested in maybe mudskippers but if I can't find them I can go with crabs for frogs. So I guess my research need to show my how to filter the half of the paludarium with water in it?