Hi, I got my dad a 70 gallon tank for christmas. He wanted a bigger tank so he can make a vivarium/paludarium. He is not quite sure what he wants to do with it. The only things he knows for certain are he wants to have some fish in it, he wants it tropical, and he likes plants. Does anybody have any suggestions on what we could put in the tank ? maybe some sort of smaller lizard or snake or amphibian. I dont think he really cares if whatever goes in the tank can be handled or not. I was thinking something more for show or something that wont hide all the time seeing as the tank will be in the front room of the house.
so he wants fish and a land animal? that can be tricky. you can do fire bellied toads or newts and put some feeder guppies in there, they are pretty in their own way, are hardly little fish, and will make nice snacks for the other animals living in the tank
You could try poison dart frogs they are easy to care for and thrive in a tropical environment plus they are extremely vibarant in color. Most can be found in reptile specialty shops and maybe at reptile expos/shows although im not sure.
You could probably do a nice planted tank with Green anoles and turn approx 1/3-1/2 of the bottom of the tank into a fish tank for some hardy tropical fish. The anoles are arboreal and rarely come down to the ground so as long as you have plenty of plants for them they should be ok with only a small amount of "land" on the bottom of the tank. I have no idea what effect the feces that will likely drop into the "fish tank" would have on the fish themselves. There are many, many books available on building planted vivariums, quite a lot of work can go into setting one up so i think your best bet would be to start with some good research ^_^ Good luck!
hmmm first of all please read the stickies at the top of the forum as they hold a multitude of information. Then get a couple of good books such as "The New Marine Aquarium" by Michael Paletta and "The Concientious Marine Aquariust" by Robert Fenner. both of these books will be huge reference sources for you. Don't rely on your lfs to test your water for you. Invest in a good test kit and test it yourself. Get used to testing the water yourself as you will be doing these tests weekly for a long time. Get about 1-2 lbs of live rock per gallon this will be your filter. If getting uncured be prepared to cure it, this can be done in conjunction with your cycling of your new tank. If any of this doesn't make sense to you, then you need to do more research....good luck and welcome to the forum......fish selection is the last piece of the puzze. ================= Cosmetic Surgery | Boob Job
