My first paludarium's been up and running for a few weeks, and while plants need to grow in and I still want to grow moss on the background, I'm a little stuck on what to put in here. There's a stream that runs along the back, and the land sits above the water so there's a "cave" beneath it with some hidden cholla wood half rounds for future critters to play in, possibly.
It's a 40 gallon breeder, with around 12ish gallons of water and the flow of the stream is fairly substantial. I'm not looking to cram a bunch of animals in here at all, either. I don't need something that will use the land, but it would be nice. I was contemplating firebelly toads, but I think the flow is too much for them, plus lack of an easy in/out of the water.
by alphajaybee
2 Comments
If you can put a good lid on it- vampire crabs!
You can check out my posts if you want some ideas. If I were to apply my stock to your build, 12 gallons is too small for for the Corydoras school but the Gold-Ring Danios are probably small enough (they’re barely over 1” when full grown), some Neocaridina Shrimp, and Freshwater Isopods are always a good choice as a cleanup crew
Some might agree with this, but… avoid snails. I am so tired of trying to deal with the pest snail outbreak in my aquarium lmao. For your reference, it’s a 22 gallon long, but once you take into account the 3” substrate layer and all the hardscape, it’s more like 16-18 gallons of water, 20 if I simulate a “flood” period (the heat in the build creates a lot of evaporation, so I allow it to do its thing, usually around a 4 gallon loss, before filling it back up with a fresh supply of water)