Wow, thanks for the compliments! I try my best to observe how things grow and relate to each other in the wild, and then attempt to replicate that at home. My attempt for this was a rocky seep or seasonal stream in the forest. The wood I used is from cottonwood trees. The rivers and streams in my area are lined by the droves with these things, and when water levels go down, their roots are often exposed along the banks, providing some pretty cool shapes and forms to work with. The plants are Korean rock fern (fantastic for vivs), creeping fig (Ficus pumila), and Heart-leaf Philodendron.
The ambient humidity stays fairly high within the tank, although I have no way of gauging it right now except the condensation that's always on the inside of the glass. There is actually a low level of water in the tank that I believe helps, but I also spray once a day or every other day, which seems to encourage rooting from the Philodendron and creeping fig. However, just a couple days ago I lowered the water level quite a bit. Here is a picture of the center of the tank where access to the pool is:
However, the way I set up the tank was just to try and raise the soil substrate as high from the water as I could via gravel/sand/pebbles, but there is still a decent amount of leeching into the pool, and right now it's fairly nasty as all the organics decompose. I know most people try to avoid this type of setup or situation, but I did it with another viv I have and it seems to be working well. Once things got established, plants dipped their roots in the water, and bacteria got growing...I think things have turned out well. The tank has a few
Bombina orientalis, and one or two are almost always soaking themselves in it. I assume if it were to filthy, they would steer clear of it. Here is a quick shot of that viv (it's a 20 gal):
I assume the water in the 55 gal viv will turn out pretty much the same, if not better, since I managed to get much more of the substrate above the water level. It will most likely be pretty high in organics and whatnot--is this bad for caudata? In researching shanjing, I'm finding so much varied information: some say they stay away from the water, others say they don't mind it, etc. So, if they needed it, it would be there. But maybe it would be a better idea to just go with something that's pretty completely terrestrial? Your thoughts are appreciated!
And just for a better idea as to the layout of the viv, here is a topdown shot:
(Message edited by skylsdale on October 28, 2005)
