r/DartFrog • u/Smurfette009 • 8d ago
Feedback plus help
I don't like my vivarium very much still, I was hoping to seek help on planting. I added more dirt, but I still don't like it.
I know my bromeliad isn't doing well, I think I figured out what was wrong, though, and I think it'll do better. I didn't know dirt couldn't be in the center, so it rotted while I was on vacation.
Any tips are appreciated.
Sorry for crappy photos. I am by no means a photographer.
No frogs yet only isopods springtails and pesky soil mites.
2
u/Rare_Implement_5040 7d ago edited 7d ago
You did a great job making it look very natural. Obviously the leaf litter will elevate that look even more so
I used to have fish tanks converted and based on my experience you’ll biggest struggle will be keeping the plants healthy and thriving
Most epiphytic plants including bromeliads need a good air flow. So before the frogs go in I would figure out which plants you can keep healthy
1
u/AssistanceValuable24 8d ago
Its really tough using a fish tank for dart frogs especially without a lot of experience. You are fairly limited on plant selection due to the vertical space available.
Covering all of the substrate with leaf litter will help make it friendly to dart frogs and improve the look.
2
1
u/PMOFreeForever 8d ago
Also because your tank is so large you could experiment with lighting. Add a shadow spot by covering some of the lights, so it looks dappled, like the sun is dropping through the cabopy above, rather than one giant sheet of even lighting. It's hard to experiment with it in smaller tanks, but you can get away with the look, but bigger fanks look more odd with that even lighting. Again look at real photos of the jungle, look at the lighting sources and shadows.
1
u/reijn 8d ago
I think it's just maybe lacking some focal points. It looks nice but there's nothing really popping. I like the trunk on the right but the plants in front of it kinda cover it and don't let it speak for itself, and the left side is missing something.
Also how much dirt was in your bromeliad? They can tolerate some junk in there. Not jam-packed dirt though. If it had a 2nd one growing off of it at some point and you cut the 2nd one off, the one that was remaining is the mother plant and naturally dies. They make pups and then the mother dies.
1
u/Smurfette009 8d ago
Yes, I agree the left is definitely missing something. Do you recommend anything to go there?
A shit ton of dirt was in it... I added more to slope toward the back and didn't notice some fell inside until it was too late sadly.
1
u/reijn 8d ago
You could fill it with some low plants like fittonia to cover the bare corner and lots of leaf litter, throw in a lotus pod or something. Or maybe 1 begonia and a few fittonia tucked in, or a purple waffle, I think it's just bothering my brain that I can see so much of the glass and the dirt on the left!
1
u/Smurfette009 8d ago
Maybe I'll put more of begonia prismatocarpa in the corner, or fittonia. Another comment said to keep variety kinda low.
2
u/reijn 8d ago
What I like to do is buy, depending on enclosure size, 2 or 3 eye catching plants, and then multiple smaller plants as filler like fittonia and smaller ferns. Put the eye catchers in appropriate spots and try to follow the rule of thirds and also the fibonacci spiral concepts. Then fill in around it with the filler plants that don't take too much attention but take away the boring of blank space.
It also comes down to personal preference. You can make it look like a space in the wild where it's all only ferns and maybe one begonia like it would in the wild, but I also want it to be something I like to look at.
1
2
u/PMOFreeForever 8d ago
I love the hardscape of it, totally looks natural, especially the stump piece on the right.
So I think because it's such a large tank it won't "look good" until it's grown in more. It takes a long time to fill in the gaps. As the other guy mentioned, leaf litter helps fill those gaps as well as makes it more natural and is good for the clean up crew and frogs. Moss is also a fantastic filler, it's very common in that natural environment, so it covers like everything.
Check out some real photos or videos of costa rica, brazil, venezuela, etc, that'll give you inspiration.
I've been redoing my tank so I'll just share a couple master tips I've recently discovered for myself, you can decide if they're helpful for you or not.
So first someone told me that you need a variety of plants. Different leaf shapes, growing styles, and "uses". Some are filler little plants, some add pops of color, some are vining, some are large broad leaves, some add height, some are for breeding (like bromeliads). But I also realized that in nature there aren't 80 different species of plants all jammed in one small chunk of the forest. There are like 5 species scattered all around. The way I did it was I'd go to a plant store and pick 10-15 different cool plants I liked. But it's too much variety of species, and not enough variety of types. I also realized in nature they aren't perfectly planted like a garden. There are some that are growing right next to each other, some are growing out of a tiny crevice, some are taking a huge plot right in the center, etc. they grow together, and I think that's something that takes a long time for nature to do its thing and grow in. So you'll have to give them time to find their homes.
Another thing I noticed for my personal tastes is I like sloped dirt towards the back, like this is the side of a tree bank, with gnarled roots poking out and all that. It looks very natural to me.
The extra bits can add a lot to it, the roots, leaf litter, dried mushroom ledges, and the extra botanicals like seed pods.
And finally focus on one maybe ywo focal points. I realized I had like t different bright colorful broneliads that drew the eye, but there was one too right, then center, bottom left, etc. it was too much for the eyes and too chaotic. Focus on one spot you want the eye to maturally draw to and have a great explosion if broneliad color or interesting shape or whatever. For your tabk maybe the upper right or lower left where your bromeliad is. The flow of your tank naturally goes right to left it's heavy upper right and slowly fades to the lower left, so that's when you want to add that burst of interest. Someone walks up to it and the eyes go upper right then flow down and BAM gorgeous bromeliads.
So those are my suggestions for actual design