owen

Hey I thought Id share with you guys my diy fake rocks In the past Iv always used real rocks, but they weigh a ton and to move the tank youve got to break down the whole thing, and for us renters its a real pain in the a.. For my new tank I wanted to create a land area and two water areas. The usual glass divides look unnatural and making it out of real rock was out of the question. Fake rock all the way! Im going to keep this brief.. mould- foam in mould- its two part closed cell foam used in boat building. foam out of mould- foam being carved- foam carved- 1st coat black sand from west coast and powdered soil, at a ratio of 8/2- second coat of black sand and powdered clay, at a ratio of 2/8- pic was taked before it was washed.. all done, I just did two coats and a touch up coat- close up- looks like stone to me I had to paint epoxy around the waterline to stop it wicking up water- 450mm x 450mm x 450mm cube tank- thanks hollywoods before background- after background- 'artists' impression of how it will look when done- when finished the whole tank will weigh less than 30kg empty of water. FAR FAR less than it would if made from real rock. If anyone wants to try their hand and make their own, Im happy to pass on advice from what I learnt along the way

sounds all good to me

yeah just be careful not to bake them.

you would find them at the pet store. You might be able to buy full spectrum fluorescent bulbs at a lighting shop for alot cheaper if you are lucky.

without the proper uv light they cant metabolize the calcium properly. You can get calcium powder with vitamin d added, but I dont know where you'd find it or how much to use. my advice is buy one of those small aquarium lights and make a shelf about 15cm from the top of the tank that the frogs can climb up to and bask (they will spend most of their time doing this). Also feed them wee slaters if you can get them for calcium. Iv never used calcium powder. Btw Iv only had two frogs, I had one for 18 years, his mate is still alive and Iv had her 19 years. I use to breed them in the winter and sell their tadpoles for top $ at the lfs when I was a kid.

cute frogs! you should get some big bits of drift wood and lean them up so the frogs can climb up and use that vertical space. Also do you know about the calcium and uv light requirements for little frogs to grow strong bones and reach full size?

I have a friend who has a farm with a pond system like that. He caught inanga from his creek with a bait catcher baited with bread and released them into the ponds.

I doubt they would bother with them. my frogs never ate the pond snails in their tank. I guess that they are to small and slow, + they live under the water and frogs are not good at catching things under water. I have daphnia and pond snails with my tank. The water is always clear.

Brown trout would be cool but would they ea mozzy larva?

or lake fish.. trout need very clean, cool and well oxygenated water. Id go native- galaxiids, eels, crays and bullies. Eels make great pets, they become very tame and can be hand feed and petted and can grow huge!

Fine, they slowed down abit but still ate. The rosey barbs didnt do so well though.

Earthworms the bigger the better! and snails the smaller the better! Btw my frog is blind so the choice is limited.

I have seen a few giant kokopu in Le Roys bush. btw is this a banded kokopu or a young giant?? It was about 14-15cm long. There are quite a few of them in the creek at the bottom of my section. this is what the stream looked like a few years ago. its amazing how fast native fish can repopulate a stream if the conditions are right.

yup. I was told that one was male and the other female by the LFS, but I have a feeling that they are both the same sex. I was told this one was female and this one male. Sorry blurry pic.. If anyone can sex them please let me know..

group shot lunch time more lunch.. Jaws! blurry inanga (they never stop moving) Blind frog :bounce:

back to eels.. according to NIWA they do fine in warm water, it just makes them grow faster.. Iv had eels as pets before but I found they kept taking bites out of the other fish.

neither, its hollow. The land side is made from a pice of polystyrene propped up on a couple of flower pots. I put some felt over the polystyrene and stones and driftwood on that. I put in about 3 handfuls of potting mix (one for each plant). Moss quickly grew on the felt which rotted away and the plants grew roots under the polystrene to get to water. In the past Iv used gravel with soil on top but I wouldnt go back to that because the plants grew too fast. Plus this tank is so lightwight I can easily lift it and carry it around without even emptying the water out.

Theres about 10ltrs in there, I simply siphon the water out and replace it every few weeks. There are snails and daphnia in the water which seem to keep it pretty clean. the plants i planted are mondo grass, babies tears, moss, hen and chicken fern(it grows too big) and ladder fern which found its own way in. oh and some duck weed which looks really good with the babies tears. other plants iv had success with are- parlour palms, bromeliads(spineless ones), ferns.. pretty much any house plant that wont be damaged by frogs jumping on them grow well, but nearly all of them grow to big. the trick is to have a very low nutrient level - those plants are growing in pretty much nothing. Theres alot of very good information on building vivariums and paludariums on the web, do a google image search on 'vivarium' for inspiration.

heres a pic of my frog tank- btw I find frogs like to spend alot of time in the water, thats why the tank has 50/50 land/water ratio. and you asked what size worm? I'v never seen one thats to big. When I was younger I used to feed all kinds of things to the frogs- giant spiders, 3/4 sized snails, cat biscuits, even an adult skink that the cat killed. The only thing that they couldnt manage was a huge weta my brother gave them. (they did try though and they were lucky not to get seriously hurt) Btw I was a kid then I and I wouldnt feed them those things now..

Nice frog, if you look after it well be prepared to have it for a loooong time. I got an adult male frog when I was 8, it died when I was 26. I got an adult female when I was 11 and shes still alive today and I'm 30! btw earthworms make the best food, and are very easy to get if you have a lawn.

jeez i hope they dont have whitespot, Id have no chance of catching them to quarantine them now. As for catching more.. Id need a new net as by holes i ment mesh size. And anyway I dont know of any decent streams on the shore.

I would if the whitebait had a chance of reaching fresh water.. but they are stuck in a spot where they cant, and they will just end up being eaten by the sprats, bullies and other fish at high tide.

I found a spot where there are whitebait that are easy to catch, just a few minutes from the harbour bridge on Aucklands north shore. Unfortunately for me my scoop net has holes that are big enough for the little buggers to swim through and I gave up after catching only nine They are now in my goldfish pond with two fantails, a blackmore and a pair of paradise fish. They are giving fatso the fantail some much needed exercise although Im sure she will quit chasing them soon as they are about 1000 times faster than she is. Anyway... Im not going to post the location on here for everone and their dogs to see. If you are interested in knowing the spot you will have to pm me.

try feeding them shelled peas, and when they start growing legs give them animal protein like shrimp pellets. I used to breed frogs when I was a kid and hand thousands of tadpoles. I fed them cat biscuits, people could say that they spoil the water but they worked for me...

I put my rosy barbs in my pond because their tank got too hot over summer. Will they be ok outside in winter on Waiheke Island over winter? or should I put them back inside soon before it starts getting cold outside?