10G Vampire Crab Paludarium

[Chrisinator]

i think your best bet is just to stick with mostly aquatic newts like firebelly newts. there are some larger lizards that could swim, but wouldn't work in a 10gallon tank. Also, if your lizards eat crickets you will end up with a lot of drowned cricekts...and then larger newts will probably eat your shrimp.

i did a lot of research to do something very similar and it seemed like it was going to be very difficult to get everything to coexist. primarily lizards and newts dont mix well with anything they cant mate with and even then there may be issues. I instead ending up with one 20gal for an axolotl and another for 2 leopard geckos.

After doing more research on the anoles, I came across newts (was researching earlier). I was at this LPS and they had some newts called "Eastern Newts". Their mouths were smaller and by looking it up, they grow to only about 2.5-3". They seemed to be smaller than Fire Bellied Newts. Could someone provide me with more information about them, please?

I think I'll end up getting just the newts since they seem to be much more easier and letting them go across land and water is one of the things I planned for.

Get fire belly toads and maybe a micro rasbora (chilli, or others??) Although I don't know wheteher the fire bellys would eat the fishys....

I was gonna get fire belly toads but I've been unsure with the toxicity that ever talks about. That's one of the major things about mixing the fire bellies (toad and newt).

I'm pretty sure VFT's need a dormancy period over the winter months so you'll have to remove them and stick them in the fridge if you want them to live long.

http://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-trap-dormancy/fridge-dormancy-tutorial.html

Thanks for the link! I read that they needed a period of dormancy and I was thinking of just sticking them outside during the winter months and then replanting them in the spring in the tank.

One of the reasons to starting this was to house my fly traps and my black babaulti shrimps.

 

[GEV83]

I dont know how this combination works since ive only seen it at the LFS but they had a setup of firebellied toads and firebellied newts. They seemed to ignore each other.

 

[XanAvaloni]

Any newt or lizard type creature I can think of is going to present more of a hazard of climbing straight out of the tank upon being put in it, as he is of drowning.

If you can find a source--I was about to tell you to go to the nearest county fair or carnival but I think they outlawed such giveaways awhile back--a baby turtle or two would be ideal. Or you could do the upper part as plant only and not worry about putting any creature in on purpose at all. It would be hard to find anything that would both stay put and not outgrow the available space in a very short time. I would mention common toads but you--or your housemates/neighbors-- might not be able to stand the racket at night.

I'm fascinated; don't think I've ever seen a paludarium divided half and half vertically this way. Usually there's a sort of shelf structure for the above-water parts, then the lower portion of the tank is filled completely (side to side I mean) with water. So there's a portion of open water and another portion that is sort of dark and mysterious since the light can't get through the shelf portion to reach it.

I'd use any plants for the terrestrial part you can get your hands on. Then in water some tied-down anubias, small crypts etc, hairgrass if you want to go to the trouble of planting it. Check out MsJinx's page for good shrimp and some small fish if you decide to include them.

 

[Chrisinator]

I dont know how this combination works since ive only seen it at the LFS but they had a setup of firebellied toads and firebellied newts. They seemed to ignore each other.

I'll keep on reading about them and see if they are compatible but I've seen a few times not to keep them with each other.

Any newt or lizard type creature I can think of is going to present more of a hazard of climbing straight out of the tank upon being put in it, as he is of drowning.

If you can find a source--I was about to tell you to go to the nearest county fair or carnival but I think they outlawed such giveaways awhile back--a baby turtle or two would be ideal. Or you could do the upper part as plant only and not worry about putting any creature in on purpose at all. It would be hard to find anything that would both stay put and not outgrow the available space in a very short time. I would mention common toads but you--or your housemates/neighbors-- might not be able to stand the racket at night.

I'm fascinated; don't think I've ever seen a paludarium divided half and half vertically this way. Usually there's a sort of shelf structure for the above-water parts, then the lower portion of the tank is filled completely (side to side I mean) with water. So there's a portion of open water and another portion that is sort of dark and mysterious since the light can't get through the shelf portion to reach it.

I'd use any plants for the terrestrial part you can get your hands on. Then in water some tied-down anubias, small crypts etc, hairgrass if you want to go to the trouble of planting it. Check out MsJinx's page for good shrimp and some small fish if you decide to include them.

I was planning to have a screened lid on top since my light fixture has holes in it.

I don't think a baby turtle would be comfortable sitting in a 10G tank. But, thanks for the ideas.

I'm not a fan of toads. They are actually the only thing that scare me in the world. Small frogs aren't as bad that why I was thinking about FBTs and FBNs.

I'm not really sure why people call it a paludarium because it's not really "half land half water". It's more like "half water and a place to sit on". LOL. But thank you so much for the fascination! Even my dad is intrigued by it.

Venus Fly Traps were the ideas and small plants that I see. I might just leave some open areas for the animals to roam around in. I have a bunch of other plants in my 38g that would work extremely well in this set-up.

 

[RITheory]

Why not something (obviously larger) where you have it slightly sloping down or something, rather than divided? You could make it indigenous to the regions! Like, a few indonesian frogs and like, a small school of zebra danios or something? Go authentic....anyone tried that before, outside of a zoo?

 

[Chrisinator]

Why not something (obviously larger) where you have it slightly sloping down or something, rather than divided? You could make it indigenous to the regions! Like, a few indonesian frogs and like, a small school of zebra danios or something? Go authentic....anyone tried that before, outside of a zoo?

I would but the substrate is going to be peat due to the Venus Fly Traps and I don't really want them mixing together. I probably should have planned it a little more careful but for now, everthing seemed to work out in my head. I might just keep it shrimpy/vft tank. I'll probably try a bigger set-up one day with mudskippers and archerfish.

 

[RITheory]

I would but the substrate is going to be peat due to the Venus Fly Traps and I don't really want them mixing together. I probably should have planned it a little more careful but for now, everthing seemed to work out in my head. I might just keep it shrimpy/vft tank. I'll probably try a bigger set-up one day with mudskippers and archerfish.

Been planning the same thing for years....saw it in a book once when I was a kid....dreamed of building a real long tank (like a 55 but stretched to a 70 length with a really short height, like 10") then then building one resembling a estuary....XD

 

[Chrisinator]

Been planning the same thing for years....saw it in a book once when I was a kid....dreamed of building a real long tank (like a 55 but stretched to a 70 length with a really short height, like 10") then then building one resembling a estuary....XD

At the end of this hobby road, I plan to have 4 big tanks: planted, african cichlids, marine and a brackish water set-up. I just wish I had money.

 

[RITheory]

Amen....or if I had a large enough one, add birds in too....

I've always had a somewhat unhealthy obsession with Amazon/south american fish and I would love to do a river set up with a small spray bar, do some corys, maybe a zebra plec or something, some tetras, ect with some tree frogs XD Amazingness....

For desert, hell build something big with African fat tail ceckos or something with an african lake set up in a bowfront.....

I'm having a mental orgasm from all of these....

 

[Chrisinator]

Amen....or if I had a large enough one, add birds in too....

I've always had a somewhat unhealthy obsession with Amazon/south american fish and I would love to do a river set up with a small spray bar, do some corys, maybe a zebra plec or something, some tetras, ect with some tree frogs XD Amazingness....

For desert, hell build something big with African fat tail ceckos or something with an african lake set up in a bowfront.....

I'm having a mental orgasm from all of these....

LOLOLOLOLOLOL!