Hello everyone

[MJ.]

Hi Everyone,

I’m Paul from London, England I found this site via the planted tank forum and a members link and I’m really glad I did as this place seems to be an amazing resource for aquascaping! I’ve seen some breath taking tanks on here you all seem very talented.

Here’s a little about me:

I keep and breed a wide range of poison dart frogs and have done so for about 11 years now working with a large variety over this time, I keep these in naturalistic vivaria planted with ferns orchids bromeliads and moss etc and find this very enjoyable, I moderate on a frog forum based in the US. I’ve had a interest in planted aquaria for a little while now but I’m still yet to set up a tank of my own as I like to research things a lot before I start.

I hope to learn a lot from you guys and girls.

Thanks,

Paul

[Anti-Pjerrot]

Hi Poul and welcome to ASW.

Can you post some pictures of your frogs and vivariums. I find both very facinating.

[MJ.]

Hi Kristoffer,

Thanks for the welcome And here are a few of my frogs and vivaria these pictures where taken by a friend of mine using a Nikon D200 with a tamrom macro lens.

Dendrobates pumilio "sheppard island


D. pumilio "nancy"


D. vanzolinii


D. pumilio "bastimentos island" yellow form


D. histrionicus (reclassified as sylvaticus) Lita


Some of my vertical vivaria for pumilio


a closer look


the vivaria are not as manicured and precise as aquascapes but they serve the purpose to the frogs which in this case is more important than being visually lease to the eye.

Paul

[Anti-Pjerrot]

Whau - that D. vanzolinii has some amazing patterns on the legs.

Could you briefly talk about the technique behind the vivarias? I like to know what the purpose is - technically.

[Roy Deki]

Wow amazing Frogs and setups....Welcome to ASW and thanks for sharing!!

[trenac]

Hello Paul... Welcome to ASW

I've always found these frogs very interesting & their colors are just awesome. The D. vanzolinii is my favorite from the pics you posted.

Are they actually posionous if touched or just eaten?

[John N.]

Hi Paul, Welcome!

Very interesting stuff you've posted. Quite impressive. I looking forward to finding out more.

-John N.

[MJ.]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys

Kristoffer,

The vivarium are basically 20 gallon aquariums turned on end with OP4 Acrylic fronts and T5 lighting.. the back grounds are made from expanded foam (great stuff or another brand of polyurethane expanding foam for filling cracks) they are then covered in a water proof PVA dry peat and coco fiber mix which supports many epyphites such as dischidia, bromeliads and many orchids as well as a few other common plants and moss.

the substrate is a mix I make myself from the following Orchid bark, peat moss and sand which holds moisture but drains very well. On top of this goes a layer of leaf mold which feeds the micro fauna I seed the vivarium with which helps feed the frogs and break down waste the frogs create so it's basically a some what self supporting mini eco system

Trenac:

These frogs are harmless in a captive setup (I wouldn't advise eating them tho LOL) as they produce the toxins in their skin as a result of the food chain. for example:

plant containing alcoloides gets eating by an ant or mite which in turn gets eaten by the frog which then uses the alcoloides with in the ants digestive system to produce the toxins.

In captivity these frogs eat mainly fruit fly which are cultured on a cereal and yeast based diet.

Thanks you again for the warm welcome and the compliments on the frogs I keep and breed I hope this answered some of the questions.

[akmal]

Welcome to ASW ..nice setups you have there..looking forward to see many more from you

[LauraLeeLLBP]

Amazing and beautiful frogs and vivs! Thanks so much for sharing them

[iam_koi]

wow! nice frogs... welcome to ASW!!! =)

[Pat7676]

Welcome to ASW!!!