My Bioactive Enclosure Build (Panther chameleon)

GoodKarma19 said:
Yeah... that's a shame! I sort of figured that it wouldn't work, but I had some on hand so I thought I'd ask anyway! I'll go and find some aquarium safe sealant.

Edit: I did a bit of searching, and essentially this is what I came across:

  • GE silicone I and DAP 100% silicone are safe, GE silicone II is NOT due to antibacterial components added to it.
  • VOC (volatile organic compounds) contents between 32-36 is safe; above or below (anything below is not 100% silicone) is NOT
I'll check my labels when I get home, but I'm almost sure mine is ge silicone II.
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Silicone II is fine IF it is the window and door version. The kitchen and bathroom version is what contains the extra mold inhibitors/ anti-fungal that you want to avoid. Both silicone I and silicone II window and door are 100% silicone with no extra inhibitors added. They cure differently, at different rates of off gasing, because they are designed for different types of materials. The way I've always remembered it, silicone 1 is for glass and silicone 2 is for plastics. That being said, I have resealed a tank or two with silicone 2 window and door with no issues in the past. You just need to allow extra time for off gasing of silicone II window and door. I'll see if I can find the link/ ss I have from a reef thread that I've posted on this site before on this very subject.

Btw, it was said many years ago in one of the aquarium forums that silicone I is the same product as ALL-Glass (now Aqueon) aquarium silicone. But, that due to their contract GE is not allowed to advertise silicone I as aquarium safe.
 
jamest0o0 said:
Not to hijack... but @dshuld how are your isopods doing? Been a while since I've talked to you about them.
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They are doing well thanks. My ornatus have exploded in population so they went to 50qt tub. Last week finally had hoff and silvestrii babies born :).
 
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@dshuld nice, glad they've worked out for you. I can't remember do you keep p 'sevilla'?

And btw, if you happen to want to sell any Hoffs I'd for sure buy some.

Sorry OP! Done hijacking
 
jamest0o0 said:
@dshuld nice, glad they've worked out for you. I can't remember do you keep p 'sevilla'?

And btw, if you happen to want to sell any Hoffs I'd for sure buy some.

Sorry OP! Done hijacking
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No, I ended up going with the Ornatus instead at the time. Still want some p. Sevilla though after things settle down with cham babies lol. After the hoffs have another clutch or two to boost the colony numbers I'll get with you on them. Wouldn't mind trading tbh if we can at the time. I have:

A. Vulgare- gray and a handful of yellow morph-wc
P. Hoffmanseggi - my adults are f1
P. Silvestrii
P. Scaber - orange and dalmatian morphs (kept in seperate tubs), dalmatians are throwing orange dalmatian and regular dalmatian
P. Pruinosus - orange
Dwarf purple
P. Dilatatus
P. Ornatus "south/ yellow dot" - really starting to believe these guys are the "rabbits" of the bigger species lol.
A. Maculatum - finally seeing babies in this culture now too. Was just more excited about the hoffs and silvestrii babies lmao.

And yes op, sorry for the hijack :).
 
dshuld said:
No, I ended up going with the Ornatus instead at the time. Still want some p. Sevilla though after things settle down with cham babies lol. After the hoffs have another clutch or two to boost the colony numbers I'll get with you on them. Wouldn't mind trading tbh if we can at the time. I have:

A. Vulgare- gray and a handful of yellow morph-wc
P. Hoffmanseggi - my adults are f1
P. Silvestrii
P. Scaber - orange and dalmatian morphs (kept in seperate tubs), dalmatians are throwing orange dalmatian and regular dalmatian
P. Pruinosus - orange
Dwarf purple
P. Dilatatus
P. Ornatus "south/ yellow dot" - really starting to believe these guys are the "rabbits" of the bigger species lol.
A. Maculatum - finally seeing babies in this culture now too. Was just more excited about the hoffs and silvestrii babies lmao.

And yes op, sorry for the hijack :).
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Very nice! Sounds great. If you want, PM me. I tried to earlier, but I think you have yours set to private wouldn't let me.
 
Haha all good fellas! My next questions will probably be isopod related, so it's actually not a bad segue! :p

And speaking of: I've seen it mentioned before that I can start a culture from wild pillbugs. Are there any particular advantages to using tropical species, or is it mostly for looks? I'll admit that there are some pretty awesome looking species out there, but holy cow they get expensive!
 
GoodKarma19 said:
Haha all good fellas! My next questions will probably be isopod related, so it's actually not a bad segue! :p

And speaking of: I've seen it mentioned before that I can start a culture from wild pillbugs. Are there any particular advantages to using tropical species, or is it mostly for looks? I'll admit that there are some pretty awesome looking species out there, but holy cow they get expensive!
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Some species are more prolific. Some do better in different set ups. Giant canyons are my personal go-to for bio sets up. There's tons of great options though.
 
Right now, power blue or white dwarves are the most readily available species near me, as well as a limited quantity of dairy cows. The shop says they can probably get ahold of some canyons, so i left my info with them. It'll be awhile before I need my CuC anyway, though I'd like to potentially start a master culture just in case! I'll have to poke around some more and do some research.

Can you keep multiple species of isopod together successfully in bioactive set up?
 
jamest0o0 said:
Very nice! Sounds great. If you want, PM me. I tried to earlier, but I think you have yours set to private wouldn't let me.
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Odd, I'll look at my settings, I probably messed something up somewhere lol.

GoodKarma19 said:
Right now, power blue or white dwarves are the most readily available species near me, as well as a limited quantity of dairy cows. The shop says they can probably get ahold of some canyons, so i left my info with them. It'll be awhile before I need my CuC anyway, though I'd like to potentially start a master culture just in case! I'll have to poke around some more and do some research.

Can you keep multiple species of isopod together successfully in bioactive set up?
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I agree, giant canyons are my preferred for in the enclosure. Give them some time to settle in and they multiply fairly well afterwards. If you're on fb I can tell you a couple of people I've ordered some of my cultures from. My gc came from a member here and locally though. Either the powder blue and dwarf white should be ok too. Though, I would say do some reading on them before you decide to go with either of them.

As far as keeping multiple species together, one may out compete the other for food killing off one of the species. You can try to compensate with additional food beyond what the cham will provide naturally though of course. Some where in the threads I posted pics of pinky rats being devoured by different species if you want to look for it. I can try to find it in my list of watched threads too.
 
dshuld said:
Odd, I'll look at my settings, I probably messed something up somewhere lol.



I agree, giant canyons are my preferred for in the enclosure. Give them some time to settle in and they multiply fairly well afterwards. If you're on fb I can tell you a couple of people I've ordered some of my cultures from. My gc came from a member here and locally though. Either the powder blue and dwarf white should be ok too. Though, I would say do some reading on them before you decide to go with either of them.

As far as keeping multiple species together, one may out compete the other for food killing off one of the species. You can try to compensate with additional food beyond what the cham will provide naturally though of course. Some where in the threads I posted pics of pinky rats being devoured by different species if you want to look for it. I can try to find it in my list of watched threads too.
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Thanks! Yes, I remember the thread you're referring to - I'll take a look through your posts and dig it up.

I live in Canada so my options are a little more limited, but I'm more than happy to hear any leads! I like the idea of Canyons, and would definitely buy them if I can find a source. How many would you recommend I start with for a healthy colony, and should I make a master culture or essentially just toss them in and hope for the best?
 
GoodKarma19 said:
Thanks! Yes, I remember the thread you're referring to - I'll take a look through your posts and dig it up.

I live in Canada so my options are a little more limited, but I'm more than happy to hear any leads! I like the idea of Canyons, and would definitely buy them if I can find a source. How many would you recommend I start with for a healthy colony, and should I make a master culture or essentially just toss them in and hope for the best?
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Gotcha, I think the ones I went through only ship in the U.S. :(. My original gc colony was just tossed into the enclosure and there are more then I could even guess at for count now lol. I have since started a master with locally sourced gc though. Start with as many as you can swing at the time and add as you go if need be. I try for at least 20+ though personally. The only one I've started with less is my silvestrii and that is because they were a "let me make it right" kind of thing for delayed shipping on my hoffs, that culture started with 5.
 
dshuld said:
Gotcha, I think the ones I went through only ship in the U.S. :(. My original gc colony was just tossed into the enclosure and there are more then I could even guess at for count now lol. I have since started a master with locally sourced gc though. Start with as many as you can swing at the time and add as you go if need be. I try for at least 20+ though personally. The only one I've started with less is my silvestrii and that is because they were a "let me make it right" kind of thing for delayed shipping on my hoffs, that culture started with 5.
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Excellent, thank you! I'll add ~20 GC to my shopping list. (y)
 
While I wait to hear back from some possible isopod leads, I went ahead and gathered some wild guys from a safe, pestiside free location to culture just in case. I'll keep them and see if I can breed them, and I can always release them if I manage to find an affordable source of tropical isopods.

The largest ones are about 16mm, and it looks like I have a split of 2-3 different species. My entomology is pretty shaky, though, so I honestly couldn't say for sure! My phone is useless for macro shots, too, but I'll try to get some shots while I shift them to their temporary bin.

~Amands
 
GoodKarma19 said:
While I wait to hear back from some possible isopod leads, I went ahead and gathered some wild guys from a safe, pestiside free location to culture just in case. I'll keep them and see if I can breed them, and I can always release them if I manage to find an affordable source of tropical isopods.

The largest ones are about 16mm, and it looks like I have a split of 2-3 different species. My entomology is pretty shaky, though, so I honestly couldn't say for sure! My phone is useless for macro shots, too, but I'll try to get some shots while I shift them to their temporary bin.

~Amands
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You can get a macro lense for your phone on Amazon for about $10. Comes in very handy!
 
I'll have to take a look! I vaguely recall you mentioning phone macro lenses before. It'd definitely be good to have... my phone is excellent for distance shots, but just won't focus on anything nearby!
 
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