• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Selecting animals/fish?

Dorknie

Seedling
Joined
4 Aug 2020
Messages
4
Location
England
Hey there,

I have a big 4ftx2ft tank that I would really love to turn into paludarium, however I really really want to put a lizard and some fish in the tank, I have found what I think is the perfect lizard for this tank (as it has no top and would like to keep it open) which is a pink tongued skink, but i'm unsure of whether these can be kept with fish. I have been searching all day to see if they eat fish or if they can even swim but I cannot find any information about any of this, only that they may eat a fish that is dead or dying but i'm not sure of how true this is? I was mainly wondering if anyone has ever put a PTS in a paludarium before and if so did they have fish, or could they possibly be housed with fish, or would they just eat them? 🤷‍♀️

If anyone could help me I would very much apprechiate this as google is failing me! 😢
 
Hey,

Thank you for the warm welcome and taking the time and interest in my question! 😊

But don't worry, I think the tank should be big enough, that measurement is from head to tail and they're almost half tail! 😱

But on every website I've looked at for them they have suggested 24x18x18 inch which is 2x1.5x1.5ft and the tank I have is double that at 4x2x2ft, so hopefully it should be big enough. 🤔🤞

I pray 🙏

So hopefully if they can be kept with fish i'll have enough room for the lizard and the fish! But this is the care sheet below for the PTS if you're interested and most websites suggest the same size.

https://reptilerapture.net/pink-tongue-skink-caresheet.html

Thank you again! Dorknie 😊
 
If you keep them with fish, however, won’t there be less dry land for them? And when you take I to account the need for a warm side and a cool side of the enclosure, I really don’t think it’s going to work.
 
Hey,

Thank you for the warm welcome and taking the time and interest in my question! 😊

But don't worry, I think the tank should be big enough, that measurement is from head to tail and they're almost half tail! 😱

But on every website I've looked at for them they have suggested 24x18x18 inch which is 2x1.5x1.5ft and the tank I have is double that at 4x2x2ft, so hopefully it should be big enough. 🤔🤞

I pray 🙏

So hopefully if they can be kept with fish i'll have enough room for the lizard and the fish! But this is the care sheet below for the PTS if you're interested and most websites suggest the same size.

https://reptilerapture.net/pink-tongue-skink-caresheet.html

Thank you again! Dorknie 😊
I've kept these before and currently have 4 blue tongued skinks which are closely related.

Issues I can see with your plan:

Pink tongues are semi-arboreal so you'll want something in there for them to climb on.

They WILL somehow escape an open topped enclosure so you need some kind of cover.

I'm not sure what the humidity will be in a paludarium setup but these aren't found in sweaty humid rainforests so I predict you'll have issues of scale rot if the substrate isn't kept dry and potentially respiratory infections if the air humidity is over 60-70% regularly.

Technically I'm sure they can swim but I don't see them benefiting from a large water area.
They're pretty big lizards but your enclosure would be fine size wise, depending on how you apportion the land area. The size of the lizard unfortunately corresponds to the size if what comes out the other end so you need to factor that in your filtration. If the water area is too small you might find everything getting poisoned if mr lizard decides it looks like a toilet.

They're specialised snail feeders which is a pain in itself.

I don't know if you keep reptiles but there aren't a huge amount of lizards that would benefit from a paludarium setup - have a look at these (there will be some on YouTube):

Tribolonotus
Shinisaurus (£££)

If you can build a larger vivarium around the tank:
Australian water dragon
Chinese water dragon
Basilisk

Personally I think some kind of salamander or newt would be best.
 
Ah I see... Do you think it could work if I built some sort of frame/box out of wood and mesh up the top so the humidity stays low and also keep them in the enclosure?

If not what kind of a salamander would you advise? ideally I'd love one to be able to live with fish i dont mind if they cannot mingle with the fish and not need too much humidity maybe a max of 50% humidity and a lizard of some form thats easy to look after as it would be my first lizard, maybe I'm just asking for too much...😅

I will definitely have a look at the Australian water lizard, the other two I've already looked into and they seemed kinda hard to look after. :oops:
 
Ah I see... Do you think it could work if I built some sort of frame/box out of wood and mesh up the top so the humidity stays low and also keep them in the enclosure?

If not what kind of a salamander would you advise? ideally I'd love one to be able to live with fish i dont mind if they cannot mingle with the fish and not need too much humidity maybe a max of 50% humidity and a lizard of some form thats easy to look after as it would be my first lizard, maybe I'm just asking for too much...😅

I will definitely have a look at the Australian water lizard, the other two I've already looked into and they seemed kinda hard to look after. :oops:
I think first you need to decide why you want a lizard in a fish tank. In 99% of cases a fish tank is for a fish and a lizard should have a vivarium, due to ventilation, heat retention, security (keeping them in) and their mental health (most reptiles are secretive and don't do great when they know they can be seen from all angles). It's not impossible to use a fish tank but I think you're asking for trouble with your first lizard.

My advice is:
Decide whether you want a lizard, amphibian or fish. Assume they're separate for now and you can consider putting fish in other enclosures when you're a bit more knowledgeable.
I can't think of many 'beginner' lizards that will thrive in a paludarium setup barring the AWD but it will be more of a 'large vivarium with a water feature' and really wants to be bigger than the 4x2 footprint you mentioned.
There are a few more species of lizard-like beginner amphibians that might fit the bill but I haven't kept them:
Fire belly newt
Fire salamander
Tiger salamander
Axolotl (I think technically riparium would be the term for their setup as they're fully aquatic but you could create a land feature)

If you're after a semi-aquatic reptile and not set on a lizard you have more options:
Garter snakes (there are some really cool paludariums for these)
False Water Cobra
Nerodia water snakes
Various small turtles e.g. musk

I'd advise watching as many of the Snakesnadders Introducing series of videos as you can. The recording quality isn't great but the information is

When you have more of an idea you could do worse than contacting them BUT they're incredibly busy at the moment and the shop isn't open for browsing so don't be surprised if they're a bit short with you.

We've kept a lot of the more common reptile species so I'll try to advise or at least give my opinion of you have any queries as your search progresses.

Good luck:)
 
ideally I'd love one to be able to live with fish i dont mind if they cannot mingle with the fish and not need too much humidity maybe a max of 50% humidity and a lizard of some form thats easy to look after as it would be my first lizard, maybe I'm just asking for too much...
Why are you set on creating a habitat that wouldn’t occur in nature?
 
Back
Top