What animals can I keep in a paludarium?
I currently have a square (not the usual rectangle) shaped 35 gallon tank that’s pretty tall and I’m hoping to start a paludarium (half vivarium half aquarium). If it fits in my apartment I am getting what I believe to be a 150 gallon tank from a friend. In either case what types of animals could I keep in there? I’m looking to have half or less be water with live plants and natural substrate and create a land area that extends halfway from the back forward so any animal would have land and swimming space. From there up I want natural substrate and natural material on the back “wall” to make it seem the most realistic. Vines, ledges, and driftwood will all be included as well as a custom waterfall powered by a filter. I’m wondering what I can keep in there besides fish. It will be covered so I can regulate humidity and lighting no problem. I know some people have kept chameleons in theirs before and I was wondering if it was possible with the space I have, or a crested gecko. I’m a complete fish wiz, but a newbie when it comes to reptiles. I’m open to any suggestions and advice. I don’t like frogs unless it is a poison dart/arrow frog because I love their colors, but I have heard their toxins will kill the fish. I have also heard only the wild ones have toxins so I need help with that. I am going to research any animal thoroughly before getting started I just need help exploring my options. Thank you!
I love red eye tree frogs, but a few of my friends have advised against them because the die easy? I don’t know how true that is. Thanks for the advice so far Sami!
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I know you said besides fish, but have you considered mudskippers? They’re pretty neat and really thrive in that kind of set-up. The water would have to be brackish but then you could keep fiddler crabs, too. Throw in a knight goby or two and you have an interesting brackish set-up. Another brackish fish that’s really neat in that kind of set-up is the archerfish (they get large so you’d need to use the bigger tank). They spit out water to hit insects so that the insects fall into the water for them to eat.
The dart frog toxins won’t kill the fish because they won’t have toxins
. Captive-bred dart frogs aren’t poisonous. However, you’d need the water to be shallow with a lot of easy ways to get out of the water since darts are poor swimmers. You have no interest in red-eye treefrogs, I assume? I personally find them beautiful and they’d be very happy hanging out towards the top in the plants and branches. Because they won’t venture down too much, you could mix them with aquatic/land animals that have similar requirements (fish or a fully aquatic frog such as the African dwarf frog would be good since they definitely won’t be interacting with the treefrogs).
Since you’re new to reptiles, I wouldn’t recommend a chameleon at all. They are tricky animals that have very exact needs. They’re even harder than dart frogs (and darts aren’t really easy). A crested gecko might work but I’d be worried about it drowning or something–keep the water really shallow in that case. I have no idea what you’d keep it with, though.
Hermit crabs are another option and will utilize both the land and water areas (although they can drown and therefore need easy ways to get out of the water).
Anoles could also work and can be mixed with fish. Just make sure you provide plenty of branches and plants for them to climb on.
One last idea (for the 150 gallon tank only) would be a turtle. You couldn’t really mix it with much (as they eat fish, haha), but that could make for a cool set-up. In fact, you could go fancy and have a box turtle on land and an aquatic turtle in the water. But you’d need to do tons of research to make sure they have the same needs and won’t really be interacting much.
What animals can I keep in a paludarium? | Aquarium Blog
well with what you described i would say a chinese water dragon, thay are hard to take care of for newbies, bu if you read a lot of caresheets onthe internet then it should be easy, keep the water dragon out of the 35 gallon but the 150 gallon is perfect, for a cwd it is a good idea to hve a half/half of water and land with lots of things to climb on and the water should be at least 6 inches deep and a m ax of 8 inches deep, and the water should remain clean, so you should get a fish filter for the water and clean the water every month or so, but google chinese water dragon care sheets. and fyi- thay are big lizards so no tanks smaller than 80 gallons