Vivarium upgrade

[Sparky]

Finished my vivarium 3 months ago, but it needed more color!

Before:

After:

I'm looking to get a pair of Ranitomeya imitator for the vivarium , but gosh those things are expensive!
Tell me what you think

 

[Tony C]

It's a good start, but you'll want more bromeliads on the walls for thumbnails. Look into Neoregelia species and hybrids.

 

[Sparky]

It's a good start, but you'll want more bromeliads on the walls for thumbnails. Look into Neoregelia species and hybrids.

It's hard to find small ones My tank is already getting a little crowded.

 

[Bug Trader]

Im sorry but that vivarium is not crowded, Infact the more plant life in there the more bold your frogs are likely to be having more options to retreat to when spooked. There are numerous neo species that get no bigger than 5-6'' you should consider tossing some in. Dart frogs can be great displays but not at the stress of the frogs, They can and will stress out from limited foilage or hides in the viv. And while imis are not considered to be expensive in the dart frog world its still a terrible loss.

 

[Tony C]

Standard imis shouldn't run more than $25 or so. Proven pairs may cost more, but you are missing out on good experience by buying pairs over juvies.

 

[Sparky]

If you could find someone who sells for less $25 please let me know. I haven't seen any imitator go under $50. When I said pair I didn't mean 'breeding pair' just 2, sorry for the misunderstanding. I did want to put more broms in there especially Neoregelia, but wasn't sure if it was getting crowded or not. Can I just hot glue them to the walls when I get them? Also how can I get some moss to start growing in there?

 

[sueb4653]

how you get your airplants to flower?

 

[Ranitomeya]

You can easily fit a few more bromeliads in there as long as none of them are underneath another plant. They can be attached using hotglue if they have woody stolon bases or you can attach them to the background using some wire around their bases--they'll grow roots and become more stable over time. You could probably get some moss to grow successfully, but be aware that moss requires more light than most people expect so they'll need to be in both a high light location and a location that does not get too dry. You can try purchasing mosses that do not require any dormancy from plant dealers online, you could try using aquarium mosses, and you can also use moss that comes on plants you get from a greenhouse. I've used mosses from greenhouse plants and aquarium mosses successfully.

You want to be careful with imitators--they can be very aggressive to individuals of the same sex and keeping more than one of each sex in a smaller enclosure will almost always result in one frog perishing as a result of stress from bullying.

 

[Sparky]

I bought them like that. I have no idea how they got them to bloom. I'm thinking of using different types of moss and see which one grows best. The stores and local nursery I've checked carry large broms only. The one in the picture is actually the smallest I've found. I'll keep checking though.