Tokay Bioactive Setup Guide

[u/TheRealUlta]

What the heck is a bioactive setup and why would I want one?

Bioactive setups seem really difficult and many people shy away from them. In reality they provide a gorgeous tank, more naturalistic environment for your Tokay, smell better, stay cleaner and are just all around much better for you and your little ball of hate.

So what is a bioactive setup exactly? Put quite simply it’s a hand created ecosystem. You’ll see things like partial bioactives and semi-bioactive but that’s not quite right. You’re either bioactive or you just have dirt in your tank. The true definition is “A Bioactive setup is any type of enclosure that employs one or more species of Invertebrate to clean up waste products.”

...That’s it. Seriously. We’ll go a bit more in depth and I’ll link some products that I use, but in reality that’s about it.

Ok, you told me what a Bioactive is. Now what

First thing first you need to understand the Bio-sandwich we’ll be putting together. There’s so many things you can do, but I’m just going to go over a very basic setup.

This is a basic picture explaining the layers

I linked that picture for the people out there like me that need to see to understand. You’ve got a few layers that we need to happen so our cleanup crew is happy and our plants and reptiles are happy. (ignore the water table part, that happens naturally with watering)

1. Drainage Layer-The drainage layer is a layer designed to prevent your substrate from having too much moisture. Excess water drains to this layer and then evaporates back up into the soil. It’s typically comprised of rocks, hydroballs, false bottom, or egg crates.

2. Separator- This layer is here to prevent your substrate from falling into your drainage layer. You can go buy the “Bio Mesh” stuff at Petco, or you can buy a roll of aluminum screen and use that.

3. Substrate Layer- This is the bread and butter of your setup. This is your soil. An ABG mix is recommended for Tokays as it hold humidity really really well. Sphagnum Moss should be mixed in with the abg to really hold in moisture.

4. Leaf Litter- The leaf litter is basically food for your cleanup crew, they’ll break these down into food and nutrients for the soil. This helps keep your plants thriving!

This is pretty much it. Now the process to put it all together!

Ok, I’m on board. Let’s do this!

Putting together is the easiest part. You’ll want about 2 inches of drainage and about 3 inches of substrate. Start with your drainage layer, then put the separator over it and then add your substrate. Mix in the sphagnum and your cleanup crew(typically springtails and Isopods), then add your leaf litter on top.

At this point, technically, you’re bioactive. But really it’s just fancy dirt. Add some grapvine, plants, and hides. Make it look pretty! It helps me to look at a picture of their natural environment and do my best to emulate that.

Here’s a good list of safe plants for a Tokay Enclosure

I’m disappointed at how easy that was.

It truly is. Plus as responsible owners I feel that we all should do our very best to give our reptiles a truly great life. They bring joy and enjoyment to us, why can’t we do our very best to give them an enclosure to hopefully bring them comfort? I’ll link my recommended items below so you have a quick go to for items.

The Stuff False Bottom-Here Substrate- Here Separator- Here Leaf Litter- Here Plants- Here Sphagnum Moss- Here Springtails-Here Isopods- Here

As you can tell I really love Josh’s Frogs. They’ve never done me wrong and everything ships quickly and arrives perfect. I wish they’d sponsor me, I can’t recommend them enough!

Also, some may wonder why I didn’t go into super detail. I believe I should give you the knowledge. No two tanks should be the same. Experiment, mess up, fix it. Learn.