multi-species paludarium?

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aquapants

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Mar 3, 2008
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This is a complicated topic...

I am wondering if anyone has ever seen, heard about, or had personal experience with a vivarium that housed several different species of animals.
If so...what kind of flora and fauna? How did they keep the environment sanitary? How did they feed the species without issue? etc.

Even if you have not seen anything like this, I would appreciate any suggestions that you think might be helpful.

Here's the deal: I am trying to figure a way to build an environment that houses my animals together in a sort of sustainable ecosystem. (We are talking birds, fish, and frogs, and possibly a lizard or two) The birds are small, seed eaters, who will not pose a threat to the fish or the other inhabitants. The aquatic animals are freshwater, non-agressive. My main concern is sanitation, and feeding.

Thanks for your help!
Anita
 
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blazingazn

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Oct 2, 2005
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i have a paludarium with fish, newts, and frogs, but thats only because they all require a small amount of space and a moist environment. as for ur birds, u'll need a lot of room for them to fly around and stuff. as for lizards, u'll need a dry area with room for basking lights. if u can find like a 10 foot long tank that will encompass a wet and dry area, then i think u might be able to add lizards, keeping in mind u'll have to be very up to date on the cleaning, spot feeding, etc. with a large enough enclosure and lots of caution and care, i dont see why not.
 

syddakyd

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Jan 7, 2006
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i dont see it working unless its a zoo size enclosure because amphibians need to be moist if not wet and birds need very good ventilation they have primitive weak respitory systems.

toss out the bird idea.

you can do the whole fish/amphibian/reptile thing if you carefully select tankmates and have a large size tank that accomidates all.
 

b19fish

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Aug 20, 2007
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I would love to see that setup.
I have an idea off the top of my head of the Inhabitants but i am not sure it would work but here u go for the fish i would do white cloud minnows and for the amphibians I would a green tree frog and then for the reptile I would do the green anole or a box turtle and then for the birds I would do the zebra finch.

 

syddakyd

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Jan 7, 2006
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turtles will eat anything thats infront of them.



i would say do this.... 3 spot gouramis (all colour morphs), african clawed frogs, house gecko/anole.
 

aquapants

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ZOO sized! Yes! Well, maybe not quite that big, but we are thinking a minimum of about 3'X4'X5'. The only thing I was worried about with the birds is their droppings. I am worried mostly about them contaminating the water and soil, but also about how to clean up such a diverse array of detritis. Do you think that keeping corys (or something like them) in the water would work? Ive also been considering a pump/waterfall/filter device to keep the water flowing and healthy. And possibly worms in the soil to help with decomposition and fertilization...
 

blazingazn

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u'r gonna need a huge amount of space, probably like ur living room size for that kind of setup, definitely not 3'x4'x5'.

i dont see it working unless its a zoo size enclosure because amphibians need to be moist if not wet and birds need very good ventilation they have primitive weak respitory systems.
u sure birds have a primitive weak respiratory system? from my evolution classes, birds have a remarkably efficient ventilation system for extracting a high percentage of oxygen in their lungs. but u dont have to take a course to know that. :grinno: just think, birds that fly need tremendous amounts of oxygen to fuel their bodies to be in constant motion, and to get all that oxygen that they need, they would have advanced respiratory systems. :)
 

aquapants

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Hm, living room sized eh? Why do you think so big? Im thinking ideally the entire encolsure would be about 5X3X6.5, but I am not sure why it would need to be bigger, especially if most of the animals are wet environment species.

Oh, and birds (especially most varieties of finch) have remarkable respiratory systems, and can adapt to most living situations.

Its funny that zoos were mentioned because this idea came primarily from one particular bird encolsure at the San Diego zoo, which appeared to have the capacity to fullfill the needs of all these animals. I am, of coarse, not the San Diego zoo, but I can try.
 

Dwarf Puffers

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Dec 11, 2006
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IMO, you should drop the bird idea completely. I've read a few stories about people's birds managing to drown in aquariums when they're let out of a cage, and I don't want to know how fast they would go down with a large body of water.

Also, their droppings would dirty the water fast than you could clean it, and the parameters would be through the roof. The acidity in the feces of the birds, along with how they fouled the water would kill any fish, and probably amphibians you have planned for that paludarium. The only way you should ever consider birds is if you have an extremely large aquarium and land area, a super filter, and large, hardy fish. Unless you have some form of very small, aquatic bird (which you would still need a super filter for).

This is what I would do:

Amphibians: Dwarf frogs OR fire bellied toads OR fire bellied newts

Fish: White clouds, livebearers, or other hardy fish (cories are an option if you are strict about maintenance). Take note that if you're getting the toads or newts, you need larger fish.

Reptiles: If you seriously want lizards, then you should get anoles or house geckos, those lizards being extremely hardy and able to move on most surfaces. If you want a turtle, I suggest musk/mud turtles, such as the stinkpot musk turtle. Another member has one, and would probably be willing to give great detail about them. My understanding is that they don't grow very big and are fine with small-medium fish that they can't eat. You will have to have a good filter and strict maintenance if you want to keep them, as all turtles are messy.
 

Ajordan

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Nov 21, 2006
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I think the size you are talking about would work for many different critters (I'm not sure exactly what you have in mind but that size land/water enclosure would have some options aside from WCMM and FBTs).

As for the birds... I think it would pose a huge but not impossible challenge. If I were to do something like this I would divide a bird area to keep them away from the water. That would likely restrict space yet again though...
 
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