edgeofthefreak Posted March 25, 2016 Report Share Posted March 25, 2016 (edited) Been lurking here for a bit, so I thought I'd jump in and give a bit (a lot) of background and how I got here. I run a little project at my house called Terrarium Lab, which has now expanded to include aquatics! A few years ago (2008 I believe) I acquired a burrowing scorpion, and promptly gave her a 20 gal tall aquarium filled halfway with topsoil. She burrowed, and I rarely ever see her. Knowing I have a content pet, I moved up to other arachnids. This started a lovely passion for all invertebrate creatures, even the less desirable ones (lookin at you, house centipedes). A year ago, my wife (not fond of arachnids) bought my an Exo-terra 18x18x24h for my birthday. I could put anything I wanted into this tank, arachnids not included (still have that scorpion). Researched into the many animals that could live in that size of a tank, and discovered that the bottom area (18x18x4.5h) is just over 5 gal. This meant I could house Red Cherry Shrimp in such a tank! To backtrack a bit, in my research for animals, I found dendroboard.com, and really liked the idea of dart frogs for pets. They require some serious considerations, but building a tank for them would be fun anyway, even if just for a project without ever getting frogs. Was told to steer clear of water features, as they muck up the soil. Decided against soil, but then the water feature kept getting bigger.... that's when I realized I could do an aquarium in the bottom, like a lagoon, with a terrarium in the upper 4/5 of the tank. I'll post full write in the next few days or so, but I'll post some pics and such to show some highlights: There are 10 RCS in here, random mix of M/F, none else except tiny substrate bugs. Of the 10, only 1 shows rili colouring, the rest are fairly normally red in various levels. Some have a cute pink stripe, but not all. Right side with orchid, tradescantia, showing waterfall and dripwall: Left side with another orchid, showing dripwall. It continues behind the orchid, a little bit. Here's a gif of the drip into the lagoon. There are now black river stones to help with the crazy light gravel I used. This is one a call "Rili". And this pic (showing black river rocks) was taken about 20 minutes ago. There's a little male RCS in the lower right corner. Java moss is awesomely out of control. I'll post a YouTube link soon, the vid I posted was a download link. As promised: Thanks for reading my wall of text! Edited March 25, 2016 by edgeofthefreak Edit: added YouTube link instead of uploaded video fishface, PlantDude and Soothing Shrimp 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted March 25, 2016 Report Share Posted March 25, 2016 Welcome! A few of us have terrariums, but I totally love your bilevel. edgeofthefreak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DETAquarium Posted March 25, 2016 Report Share Posted March 25, 2016 Welcome edgeofthefreak! We are glad to have you, Terrarium looks awesome! edgeofthefreak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgeofthefreak Posted March 26, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2016 Thanks very much, all of you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wygglz Posted March 26, 2016 Report Share Posted March 26, 2016 Welcome to the group! I'm sure you'll fit right in here. edgeofthefreak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOTG402 Posted March 26, 2016 Report Share Posted March 26, 2016 Very nice, welcome. edgeofthefreak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
II Knucklez II Posted March 26, 2016 Report Share Posted March 26, 2016 Awesome idea, tank looks great Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S7 using Tapatalk edgeofthefreak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josu2 Posted March 27, 2016 Report Share Posted March 27, 2016 House centipedes are the things of nightmares!!! edgeofthefreak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayphly Posted March 27, 2016 Report Share Posted March 27, 2016 Nice set up! edgeofthefreak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishprinceofca Posted March 27, 2016 Report Share Posted March 27, 2016 Nice! Welcome! edgeofthefreak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgeofthefreak Posted March 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2016 6 hours ago, josu2 said: House centipedes are the things of nightmares!!! They aren't exactly the nicest looking creatures, are they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josu2 Posted March 28, 2016 Report Share Posted March 28, 2016 18 hours ago, edgeofthefreak said: They aren't exactly the nicest looking creatures, are they? My first brush with them was at ~4AM after doing some work through the night. Saw something out of the corner of my eye, didn't think to double take. Later I saw movement, so I actually turned to look and there it was, trotting along my wall. I am extremely afraid of all manner of arthropods, the only reason I can deal with the shrimps is my comfort in how impotent they are out of water (and the tightness of my lids!). Another one visited my house in a similar area a few days later. I'll leave to your imagination what my irrationally frightened self did....... edgeofthefreak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jem_xxiii Posted March 28, 2016 Report Share Posted March 28, 2016 Welcome to TSS! edgeofthefreak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgeofthefreak Posted March 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 10 hours ago, josu2 said: My first brush with them was at ~4AM after doing some work through the night. Saw something out of the corner of my eye, didn't think to double take. Later I saw movement, so I actually turned to look and there it was, trotting along my wall. I am extremely afraid of all manner of arthropods, the only reason I can deal with the shrimps is my comfort in how impotent they are out of water (and the tightness of my lids!). Another one visited my house in a similar area a few days later. I'll leave to your imagination what my irrationally frightened self did....... About a decade ago, I was very selective in the animals I would say I like. While there are still a good number that remain on the list, my tolerance is for things that scurry is getting much better. Read a delightful story last winter about a girl that rescued a wasp queen right before the first frost. Kept it safe all winter, then released it in early March. Not a huge fan of the common yellow jacket, but they are important pollinators, even if they are the jerks of that world. Glad shrimp are on your whitelist, josu2! They certainly are a worthwhile animal to have around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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