Started buiding aquaterrarium

Wow! Absolutely beautiful! It's almost as fascinating to see the morphing stages of a paludarium as it is that of newts...:p
 
Hi Steven,

What a beautiful tank! It's so amazing to see how it has transformed. You should be very proud :happy:

Is that Ficus pumila I see? You may want to rethink the Creeping Fig as it is poisonous if ingested and the leaves produce a sticky residue that can cause skin irritations or worse to humans.

Unless amphibians have some immunity to this that I am unaware of, perhaps using a different plant such as Hedera helix would be prudent. English Ivy (Hedera helix) comes in many minature and varigated cultivars that would create a similar effect to the Creeping Fig.

If I am wrong about amphibians and Creeping Fig, someone please correct me. I would hate to see Steven work so hard to create such an amazing environment for his newts and have something unfortunate happen that could have been prevented...

Regards,
Aimee
 
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Aimee said:
Hi Steven,

What a beautiful tank! It's so amazing to see how it has transformed. You should be very proud :happy:

Is that Ficus pumila I see? You may want to rethink the Creeping Fig as it is poisonous if ingested and the leaves produce a sticky residue that can cause skin irritations or worse to humans.

Unless amphibians have some immunity to this that I am unaware of, perhaps using a different plant such as Hedera helix would be prudent. English Ivy (Hedera helix) comes in many minature and varigated cultivars that would create a similar effect to the Creeping Fig.

If I am wrong about amphibians and Creeping Fig, someone please correct me. I would hate to see Steven work so hard to create such an amazing environment for his newts and have something unfortunate happen that could have been prevented...

Regards,
Aimee
Click to expand...

Hi Aimee,

Thanks for the warning! It sure is ficus, but I'm not sure it is Ficus pumila. I bought this plant in a poison frog store and they use it in there Paludaria. I will get some extra information about it!

If anyone has knowledge about amfibians and ficus, please let me know.

Cheers,

Steven
 
Wow, that's amazing.

(Note from John: Correct for lazy English - next stop infraction)
 
If you find any additional information, please let us know.

My only experience with F. pumila is from a landscape design perspective. Thus, as I am only aware of its potentially harmful effects on people, I cannot say for certain that it will do any harm to your newts.

From a human standpoint, the toxins in the stems and leaves can cause illness if ingested in copious amounts. Additionally, some people exhibit sensitivity to the residue found on the leaves which can cause skin irritations (i.e. rashes and blisters).

My supposition here is that if the plant is potentially harmful to us, it might be prudent to assume that it is less than healthy for amphibians as well.

If anyone has information to the contrary, I would be happy to hear it.

Cheers.
 
Hey aimee,

I've searched the internet and I came with this answers:

Ficus pumila is a poisonous plant wich can cause irritation to the skin and would be poisonous for birds too. But Ficus pumila is regulary used in vivaria such as paludaria. These paludaria are common housing frogs, toads and even Iguana's without having problems with this plant. So I think it shouldn't be a problem keeping it in my tank.

If anyone has other experience with Ficus pumila, please let us know!
 
Hi,

Here's an update of the tank. The plants are growing well in the water, the plants on land grow much slower. At this moment there are little pieces of moss growing out of the specie. It goes really slow but it all grows :)


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Cheers,

Steven
 
:eek: There are no words, excellent work! After you place them there Newts, it is as though they had a piece of Portugal in the house! :D
 
Absolutely beautiful! I am so jealous of your skill!

If you ever decide to start selling those, be sure to put me on your list :tongue:
 
Aimee said:
Absolutely beautiful! I am so jealous of your skill!

If you ever decide to start selling those, be sure to put me on your list :tongue:
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Thanks for the compliments, within a few weeks I'll update again ;)

@Aimee: Haha, selling isn't really the plan. The hours off work for these kind off tanks are priceless, that's why it's so interesting building it yourself! Notice that this is my first selfbuild tank. I think everyone has the skills to do it, there is plenty of information on the net! Just make a little plan and try to build it. During the building you will get a good vieuw of how you can cut the forms. Put enough PUR for the rocks so you have enough space to play with the forms. If you cut off to much, you can always fill it back with PUR. Take you're time for it, and it will get nice. Very important: don't get ruched :)


Kind regards Steven
 
stavroske said:
Hey aimee,

I've searched the internet and I came with this answers:

Ficus pumila is a poisonous plant wich can cause irritation to the skin and would be poisonous for birds too. But Ficus pumila is regulary used in vivaria such as paludaria. These paludaria are common housing frogs, toads and even Iguana's without having problems with this plant. So I think it shouldn't be a problem keeping it in my tank.

If anyone has other experience with Ficus pumila, please let us know!
Click to expand...

I've kept F. pumila in my tanks and terraria for many years, without any problems. I never knew it was poisonous, but newts won't eat it anyway :tongue:. And by the way: Hedera is poisonous also!
 
Beautiful.
 
Re: Started building aquaterrarium

joostpopei said:
I've kept F. pumila in my tanks and terraria for many years, without any problems. I never knew it was poisonous, but newts won't eat it anyway :tongue:. And by the way: Hedera is poisonous also!
Click to expand...


Thanks for clearing that out Joost ;)
 
joostpopei said:
I've kept F. pumila in my tanks and terraria for many years, without any problems. I never knew it was poisonous, but newts won't eat it anyway :tongue:. And by the way: Hedera is poisonous also!
Click to expand...


Oh dear! I just looked it up and you are right :eek:. The reason I knew about the pumila is because I have a friend that can't touch the stuff without promptly receiving rashes and blisters. I was refering more to the skin irritation issue than that of ingestion in my previous post.

I find that quite worrisome as I am actually setting up a tank currently (for a reptile) with hedera in it!

If both Hedera and Pumila are harmless to amphibians, I wonder what it is that they have and we lack that makes those plants so unpleasant for some humans...
 
They are only harmfull when eaten. I've never heard of a herbivorous newt, so...;)
 
Nice looking tank stavroske,

I was wondering if you could tell me what kind of epoxy was used for this project?

Thanks in advance.

-Frank
 
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