Devo

Yes...thank you! I'm just a newbie here...but I was missing my regular dose of this fishy forum.

I’ve recently finished my first vivarium build project. :happy1: For those that just want to see the build without all the waffle, here it is…start to finish in 4 quick steps. A standard Exo-Terra 60cm x 60cm x 45cm. Driftwood in place, & all the foam work all done. Background completed & back in the viv. Water added, & systems check to make sure the waterfall holds water & it falls where it should. The set up now pretty much complete…planting in, fish & frogs are in & all seem happy. If you’re like me, & want to see all the detail in a build...I’ll be posting more pic’s of the whole process, start to finish :spop: Cheers, Andrew.

Good to see a number of broms being used, your Tillandsia somnians are doing well, a much underrated bromeliad! What are you keeping in there (apart from the plants)?

:thup: Thanks! The terrarium sits in a corner, with walls on 2 sides, so it was designed to be seen from the front, & from the side, here's another pic'. I'll put together some of the build pic's & set up a new topic. Cheers, Andrew.

Here's a couple of pic's of my recently completed frog enclosure. It's a standard Exo Terra 60cm x 60cm x 45cm. It has been up and running for about 4 weeks, and after some initial issues with cloudy water it has now cleared up really well, the moss is growing, the fish & the frogs are feeding (not on each other ) so far so good... I was inspired by the terrarium builds on this forum, & I also found some good ideas from the Dart Frog forum. I couldn't help getting a bit carried away with the build, adding a waterfall :roll: but it was good fun. I've tried to keep the planting quite simple with just 2 types of bromeliads, a green leaved tillandsia, & I had to use Neo. lilliputiana. Also used 3 types of moss, java, club & live sphagnum. Thinking about adding a fern or 2, but will wait & see. A school of Gold White Cloud MM occupy the water area, while Whistling Tree Frogs occupy land area...and they make good use of every bit of it! Front view:- Side view:- I took heaps of photos during the build process, so could show these at some stage if anyone is interested. Cheers, Andrew.

Thanks for the comments. If I get inspired again to do some more to this, I would like to add the fascinating markings that make Giants unique...but then I may just leave it as is... As Blue & Stella have pointed out, this seems to be a classic position for Giants. Mine would typically sit in the shadows under a large piece of driftwood, and as I approached he would swim out, just enough to be seen, then flare his fins in preparation to pounce on any live food that was offered. Anyone know how long Giants are expected live for? I'd also be interested to know how long people have had them live in aquaria. Cheers, Andrew.

Took him close to 10 mins to get the whole fly down! He caught the fly by its rear end, & by the time I had got my camera he'd managed to get most of the body in his mouth...then things slowed down while he worked the rest of the fly down his gob. Luckily the siblings are all larger than this blowfly...so hopefully they're safe for now. These frogs morphed late March, & were only eating fruit flies early April, so within a month they've gone to blowflies, & some even take on the crane flies that we get in the house this time of year. What is the main type of live food people are giving their Whistlers?

Dropped in a trap full of flies for my Whistlers. Some of the flies looked too big, so I tought I'd just let them out once the smaller flies had been eaten. This frog had other ideas :facepalm: he obviously wasn't told he should only try to eat something smaller than his head! Cheers, Andrew.

Hi native fish fans. I'm a new member on the forum, but I used to keep many tropical, and marine fish. I was also part of the initial Native Fish group, & for a number of years I kept many types of native fish. A firm favourite was my Giant Kokopu. He was caught in an eel trap in the Waikato, I kept him in a 6ft aquaria, & thanks to Biosuppliers, he was fed on live locuts & wax moth lavae...plus anything else I could find, like cicada when in season. I recently came across an unfinished sketch I did, must have been done some 15 yrs ago! Thought twice about posting it, but I know native fish fans would appreciate even my poor attempt to capture the majestic qualities of our Giant Kokopu. I'm enjoying the posts on the forum, & it's great to see so many people now keeping our native fish. Cheers, Andrew.

Thanks for the info l_b. Are there any other Anabantidae, or other fish that would be a better mix? Here's a pic of a couple of WCMM males sparing. Cheers, Andrew.

I have a school of 14 White Clouds in an unheated tank. I'd like to add a male Paradise fish, or maybe a trio, 1 male with 2 females. Would the Paradise fish grow too large & become too terratorial to share the same tank, or do they get on ok with fish like White Clouds? Interested in any comments, suggestions. Cheers, Andrew.

Good set up, & well explained Why the duckweed?

Nice pic's Jason. Has anyone seen any of the Whistling Tree frogs with green markings in NZ? I've seen some on the web & they look quite cool. Hopefully one day soon, albino Whistlers will also show up... I think these little frogs could get by in smaller terrariums, but we're in the process of setting up an Exo Terra 60 x 60 x 45. It's just about done, just waiting for the water to clear & the moss to establish, then the frogs will be introduced. Didn't take them long to realise these plastic containers is where their food comes from. This one has already taken a fly has it crawled out via a hole in the lid...and was waiting for more. This trio were just waiting for the flies to come to them... Cheers, Andrew.

Don't know??? Give us a hint...

Now that's a leo with attitude!

Great to see more Whistler pic's :spop: ID, your last photo is excellent...looks like you had quite a bit of water in that set up, are Whistler OK with that? NZ Natives, your Whistlers look very healthy. How many did you have, & how long did you keep them for? Cheers, Andrew.

:mbh: Thanks ID and Sophia. Easy feeding them now as there's heaps of food around, and they quickly went from fruit flies to house flies. But may have to sort out a winter food supply... Lets do it!

Thanks Lyndy

I've taken a few pic's of our Whistling Tree frogs as they develop. Thought I'd take the time to try out photo posting and share a few pic's since I don't have to work today! I really like these little guys :thup: Happy Easter. Cheers, Andrew.

The meat is now a couple of days old, & getting nice and smelly. We have a few other traps catching fruit flies, so dont want more of these...what I really want is the small house flies, as the Whistlers are now eating them, and they're a good meal for a Whistler. So the question is...how do I catch the small house files in the Greenhand traps?

I got a couple of the "Greenhand" small fly traps off Trade Me. We've got a few recently morphed Whistling Tree frogs, so want to catch flies to feed them. Well the good news is...the fly traps work :happy1: The bad news is...they are only catching blow flies These blow flies are way too big for the little Whistlers... We seem to still have heaps of the smaller house flies around, but these don't go into the traps. Any tips on how to trap these smaller house flies? I'm using meat as the bait...should I use different bait? Any tips or tricks to get these little flies? Cheers, Andrew.

Anyone here into native plants? If so you'll know the name Graeme Platt. Graeme was a very keen and knowledgeable plants-man, he had a passion for our native plants, and he wanted to see them used in much more in landscaping. He was known for his ability to find unusual clones of native plants, and he introduced these via the Albany nursery that he ran for many years. I did a course with Graeme, and one phrase he often used that has stuck with me is..."Use it or lose it". Graeme wanted people to grow and to enjoy our native plants, not have them only on display in botanical gardens, or in museums. I think this kind of attitude is needed in respect of our native fauna. I would happily pass on Dart Frogs for now, if I could keep our native frogs, and tuatara :happy2:

That just about sums it up Alan...well put. Now I'm thinking....ET and Komodos, in the same enclosure....I could sell tickets to ERMA & MAF :spop:

:rotf: OK, I just got my head around the whole Whites Tree Frog thing....I've been away from FNZAS for too long... Isn't that what MAF are there to do??? I pay my taxes so govt departments like MAF can do their job...and from what I understand of the WHT saga it's easier to state they pose a "risk" than to have a system & clear cut regulations. So...it looks like frogs are in the too hard basket (I see that Darts are illegal in Aussie) :bounce: might be better to just keep eggs or tad's...

This could be the start of a good discussion on frog importation, and some interesting points have been raised already. Livingart & Nymox have both mentioned that developing a set health standards is required. Given that Dart Frogs are very popular word-wide, I would guess health standards have been done in other countries & perhaps these could be adapted for NZ without us having to recreate the wheel. Nymox, you mention that you’re working on health standards for leopard gecko’s…but they’re in NZ already…so how did that work out :dunno: Is a containment facility the same thing as a quarantine facility? If so I might have to start talking to some of the current fish / reptile importers… Hey Alan, hmmm…Dart Frogs or ET, tough choice Health standards for ET, now that would be a task I’d pass on to the mother in law. How do other countries get to keep Darts if they're threatened? Dendroboard forum seems to be one of the most popular for Dart Frog discussions...and it has some 12,000 members! WOW... thats a lot of people talking about frogs. If I do manage to get a good deal on freight for Darts Varanophile, I’ll drop the komodos off at your place…how many do you want? What if Darts Frogs were to become available in NZ, who would keep them? I'm in :thup: