How can I turn a 37g into a paludarium?

Piranha86

Piranha86

AC Members
Dec 26, 2009
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Harford County Maryland
Real Name
Will
I am completely new to the world of paludariums. But I think they look totally awesome, and I want one. For aquatic animals, I want a pair of BN plecos, which I'll explain a little later. For terrestrial animals, I want firebellied toads or maybe vampire crabs if I can find them. What I want to do is have around a foot of water in the bottom (leaving around 20 gallons), and have a cave, that will stick a little out of the water and provide a platform for the terrestrial animals. I have a 300gph powerhead that I'm just itching to use, and that will pump water up to the top where it will run down waterfall style. I really have no idea how to do any of this, any tips? Also, links would be appreciated.
 
First things first, the most important thing to consider with paludariums is your actual water volume. In the 37 palu I'm planning, a water level drop of 6" lowers the volume to 24.9 gallons. (I used aqadvisor to find this) This isn't counting adding land either.

If you want FBT's, then your going to want plenty of land and places for them to crawl out of the water from. If you've read my 37g mudskipper thread, then you can do something similar to me.

I'm planning on building a shelf, which is 6" wide (half the width) and runs the length of the tank. This is ideal, because the more shoreline you have the more FBT's you can keep. Your going to want to provide them with hides, and some floating plants (I drape fake plastic plants with broad leaves from a above the shoreline, and have it so they extend down into the water)

If you want to make a waterfall, then I reccomend making it high up, and incorprate hides into it. Try making it fall through different elevations, it'll look nice and won't cause a huge whirlpool in your tank.

My personal inspiration for designing and building palus is from watching this guys videos, his are mostly for bearded dragons but the techniques can be applied to paludariums and building things out of foam, and designing your own landscape for any kind of tank. http://www.youtube.com/user/LizardLandscapes (i just started his new rainforest video, I don't know if its good or not) My favorite videos of his are:http://www.youtube.com/user/LizardLandscapes#p/u/8/TCTfdcbwAco
and
http://www.youtube.com/user/LizardLandscapes#p/u/18/6Uu-q0YR3gA

If you have any questions ask, its best if you show us what you want to do with paint or whatever so we can get a better idea of what your talking about.
 
ps. I would stay away from vampire crabs, I've been trying to get rid of my crabs for months now. Seriosuly though, their expensive and I think that they can be hit or miss when you try to keep them.

A good option would be tree frogs, but your going to still want a good amount of land, and it'll cost considerably more to set up the tank for them as opposed to FBT's, or a FBN.

EDIT

I don't think that the price difference between getting FBT's or treefrogs would be a lot, but definitely 20+ bucks.
 
Last edited:
user_name said:
First things first, the most important thing to consider with paludariums is your actual water volume. In the 37 palu I'm planning, a water level drop of 6" lowers the volume to 24.9 gallons. (I used aqadvisor to find this) This isn't counting adding land either.
I'm thinking that any land will be pretty much floating. Filling it up 12in will give it a volume of around 20g. I want the cave to be on the side so I can see into it (but I'll usually cover it.)
If you want FBT's, then your going to want plenty of land and places for them to crawl out of the water from. If you've read my 37g mudskipper thread, then you can do something similar to me.
I read that thread, but I'm still not sure what I'm going to do.
I'm planning on building a shelf, which is 6" wide (half the width) and runs the length of the tank. This is ideal, because the more shoreline you have the more FBT's you can keep. Your going to want to provide them with hides, and some floating plants (I drape fake plastic plants with broad leaves from a above the shoreline, and have it so they extend down into the water)
Ok, thanks. IDT I'll use plastic, probably a lot of pothos vine and bog plants.
If you want to make a waterfall, then I reccomend making it high up, and incorprate hides into it. Try making it fall through different elevations, it'll look nice and won't cause a huge whirlpool in your tank.
What's a hide?
My personal inspiration for designing and building palus is from watching this guys videos, his are mostly for bearded dragons but the techniques can be applied to paludariums and building things out of foam, and designing your own landscape for any kind of tank. http://www.youtube.com/user/LizardLandscapes (i just started his new rainforest video, I don't know if its good or not) My favorite videos of his are:http://www.youtube.com/user/LizardLandscapes#p/u/8/TCTfdcbwAco
and
http://www.youtube.com/user/LizardLandscapes#p/u/18/6Uu-q0YR3gA
Looks a little complicated, but thanks for the suggestion. His voice is very soothing :grinyes:
If you have any questions ask, its best if you show us what you want to do with paint or whatever so we can get a better idea of what your talking about.
I'll do some pretty soon.
Click to expand...

user_name said:
ps. I would stay away from vampire crabs, I've been trying to get rid of my crabs for months now. Seriosuly though, their expensive and I think that they can be hit or miss when you try to keep them.
Ok, thanks.
A good option would be tree frogs, but your going to still want a good amount of land, and it'll cost considerably more to set up the tank for them as opposed to FBT's, or a FBN.
Ok, thanks. I'll look into them.
EDIT

I don't think that the price difference between getting FBT's or treefrogs would be a lot, but definitely 20+ bucks.
Click to expand...
.
 
IMO you won't be able to keep FBT's with just bogwood, your going to want some kind of land formation. If your going just for looks, then I would do something like this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EdoRTHs9GE&feature=related

You could make a cool cascading waterfall, and it will make an awesome 3D background for your tank. Not really suitable for terrestrial life, but it will look awesome.
 
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