New Tank Project!

[KCK]

I'm taking a 10g tank, and im going to make a semi-aquatic "ecosystem" practice tank.
I want to be able to do this in a 100g tank in the future, with a close if not full ecosystem, so here goes shot #1.

I have a glass bowl that I blew, and I filled it with gravel and then larger glass beads for a BB house, with an airstone in the middle for flow in the "filter".

I'm going to have about 6" of water, so I think about 5g of water.
For the top half of the tank I'm thinking sand, or maybe soil. But I'm skeptical about soil and aquariums, any trouble with these two?

It's going to have a beach, and a mixture of aquatic/terrestrial plants.

I'm thinking about getting an Anole for the top, or maybe some other small reptile/amphibian or maybe even some kind of bug.

The water section, which will look like a small pond to the land-life,
will actually be the entire bottom 6" of a 10g tank, and reach under the land mass.

I'm going to have guppies for the pond, and maybe killifish eventually.
And I might grow out a baby bichir in there for a couple weeks at least.

This is definately not the end of my ideas, nor the beginning at all,
This is going to be quite an ordeal, and I'm hoping it will work out alright.


Anything I'm missing out on already?

 

[KCK]

I'm taking a 10g tank, and im going to make a semi-aquatic "ecosystem" practice tank.
I want to be able to do this in a 100g tank in the future, with a close if not full ecosystem, so here goes shot #1.

I have a glass bowl that I blew, and I filled it with gravel and then larger glass beads for a BB house, with an airstone in the middle for flow in the "filter".

I'm going to have about 6" of water, so I think about 5g of water.
For the top half of the tank I'm thinking sand, or maybe soil. But I'm skeptical about soil and aquariums, any trouble with these two?

It's going to have a beach, and a mixture of aquatic/terrestrial plants.

I'm thinking about getting an Anole for the top, or maybe some other small reptile/amphibian or maybe even some kind of bug.

The water section, which will look like a small pond to the land-life,
will actually be the entire bottom 6" of a 10g tank, and reach under the land mass.

I'm going to have guppies for the pond, and maybe killifish eventually.
And I might grow out a baby bichir in there for a couple weeks at least.

This is definately not the end of my ideas, nor the beginning at all,
This is going to be quite an ordeal, and I'm hoping it will work out alright.


Anything I'm missing out on already?

The tank has an undergravel filter with one PowerHead 30.
I threw all the baby guppies in there for now.
I'm going to over to a friends house today to do some jigsaw'ing.
Going to make the "landmass" out of either the bottom of a hamster cage, or a large piece of wood. Haven't decided yet, but I vote hamster cage.

The tank is at a slope, with the (brand new black) gravel pushed up towards the shallow end, giving it a river bed look.
I'm very excited and my water is crystal clear, can't wait to get this all going.

I was thinking about good carpet plants, but I think the black gravel will be a better idea for substrate.
However, some medium-thick bushy short plants would be perfect.

Something that gets maybe 5 inches tall, any suggestions?
Or maybe some plants that grow a few inches above water, to help me mix the land/water proportions of the tank better.

For the land, I'm thinking about getting a small colony of Venus Fly Traps, and maybe if there's a way to keep a bonsai Aloe plant?

Aloe Pratensis - Sorry I tried to find a smaller picture.
I realy like the look of this, is anyone here experienced in terrestrial plants?

Venus Fly Trap



Stock is going to be two senegals until they catch up in size with my larger sen.

I am so very excited for this tank, wish me luck please!

 

[kingkarter]

sounds cool cant w8 to see pix of it running

 

[fishfreak2009]

you should look into paludariums.

Aloe will not grow well in this kind of enclosure the humidity will be too great. Venus fly traps will need a cold period in the winter, and a half filled ten gallon doesn't have enough room for an anole. Sorry if it sounds like I'm bashing, but I built one of these before and it is doable, but I would stick to just guppies if I were you. For plants look into pothos. If you really wanted a land animal maybe one or 2 Fire Bellied Toads (these will not live with senegal bichirs though). You might even get away with a red claw crab (I had one with my FBT but I wouldn't suggest trying it in a 10 gallon, mine were together in a 55 gallon. My current 10 gallon paludarium has a red clawed crab, a bunch of pothos rooted in the water (no soil), a real coral skeleton (the crab uses it to climb out of the water), and my red zebra mbuna cichlid (he gets along suprisingly well with the crab).

 

[KCK]

you should look into paludariums.

Aloe will not grow well in this kind of enclosure the humidity will be too great. Venus fly traps will need a cold period in the winter, and a half filled ten gallon doesn't have enough room for an anole. Sorry if it sounds like I'm bashing, but I built one of these before and it is doable, but I would stick to just guppies if I were you. For plants look into pothos. If you really wanted a land animal maybe one or 2 Fire Bellied Toads (these will not live with senegal bichirs though). You might even get away with a red claw crab (I had one with my FBT but I wouldn't suggest trying it in a 10 gallon, mine were together in a 55 gallon. My current 10 gallon paludarium has a red clawed crab, a bunch of pothos rooted in the water (no soil), a real coral skeleton (the crab uses it to climb out of the water), and my red zebra mbuna cichlid (he gets along suprisingly well with the crab).

Naw man I could use all the help I can get, so thanks.
Didn't realize how large anoles can get, and looks like my plants plan failed.
I'll look into the plants more, I think the pothos look great.

Im just going to set up the tank and forget about land animals until the aquatic portion is complete, since it's my main goal.

I was also thinking about insects, something cricket sized would be perfect,
but I do NOT want crickets in a tank in my room at night.
A praying mantis would be bad to the bone but I don't know about paying shipping or any of that nonsense just to get a bug that dies in a few months.

Maybe some beetles?
I'm gonna go do some school, i'll be back whenever.

 

[KCK]

I got driftwood,
but I have a few important questions.

I soaked it for several days in extremely high salt bath,
and now I've been soaking it in freshwater for the last few days.

Did I sanitize it correctly?
How should I have sanitized it?
Is the "tea" effect from the wood ever going to go away?
Is it harmful to fish?
What do I do with the wood?

 

[Tropicalfishking]

The "Tea" affect from the drift wood is tanins. Eventually they will go away but it could take a while. It is not harmful to fish!

 

[KCK]

The "Tea" affect from the drift wood is tanins. Eventually they will go away but it could take a while. It is not harmful to fish!

I got the DW in the 10g.
There's three teenage guppies and a mother, if they die I'm obviously not ready for bichirs.
But until then, they look happier than in a long time.

Still thinking twice about livestock,
but I don't exactly feel like the classic "fish" shape.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
^Expresses my sudden happiness for;
GHOST SHRIMP!
Yea!

I'm gonna put a swarm of shrimp in there.

So for the next week I'd like to declare an arguement.
What would everybody else put in such a tank?