"Brom City" 12x12x18 ExoTerra

This is my 1st vivarium which started out as Neo/Tilly vivarium to house a single Dendrobates auratus. Caught the mini orchid bug & had to include a sampling of Pleurothallids.

Current orchid inventory includes,
Masdevallia bucculenta
Masdevallia discoidea
Masdevallia erinacea
Masdevallia pygmaea
Tristella strumosa
Trichosalpinx chamaelephantes
Barbosella dusenii
Platystele repens
Pleurothallis brighamii
Dryadella cristata

The Masdevallia were superglued into place & the crown & roots loosely covered with sphagnum moss. The remaining minis were strapped to the side glass using "pillbugs" & sphagnum moss.

Lighting is provided with a 12" Finnex Planted + LED fixture, with a lighting cycle of 5hr on/6hr off/5hr on 8hr off. I hand mist the tank every other day.

"Dixon" seems to like it!

 

Always wanted to try keeping PDFs since my college days. Their relationship with bromeliads was intriguing. Now 40 years later I can finally realize this. The neat thing is because Dendrobates auratus was introduced back in the early
30s and has become established here in nearby Manoa Valley, I can go out and catch my critters. My Neos are supplied by a well known local bromeliad breeder.

Orchids are a natural progression for my vivarium and now may expand into something bigger. I've only had the pleurothallid cuttings for a little over a week now so we'll see how my green thumb develops.

The "BeastMaster" tag is what I usually go by because of my background. I'm a Zoology major with emphasis in marine studies from SDSU (Go Aztecs!). I've worked for Seaworld SD, Cal Fish & Game, Curator for Pac Beach Hotel's "Oceanarium", Curator for Sea Life Park Hawaii & finally Reptile Keeper @ Honolulu Zoo. So, BeastMaster I think is fitting.

Being here in Hawaii has a lot of benefits for orchid horticulture. Higher humidity, no temperature extremes and lots of good water make for a excellent conditions for raising orchids. The next step I think will be to include pleurothallids onto my vertical planter wall!

 

I finally did move the 2 pillbugs to a lower position. Noticed some yellowing of the leaves on those mounts so hopefully that will prevent further discoloring.
Awaiting the arrival of more Pleurothallids which will be mounted on more pillbugs.
Incoming:
Stelis hirtzii
Zootrophion griffin
Condylago rodrigio
Restirepia echinacea
Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes
Porroglossum dalstroemii

May also remove the Cryptanthus and replace w/ Pluerothallids. Already have the 2 species picked out too.

 

Yeah, when you think about it it is pretty incredible. It's good to see the environment where the're collected to get an idea of the parameters that the PDFs prefer.

 

Update pic

Have removed the Cryptanthus & replaced with M mendozae & A scabrilinguis mounted on pieces of cork. Mounted a A schizopogon on the last small pillbug on the left side bringing the total of small pillbugs to a dozen. The lighting was too intense so the section of the ExoTerra lid under the Finnex LED fixture was covered w/60% shade cloth. Also changed the hand misting frequency to daily. Because of these changes in routine, I removed the remaining Tillies. The Z griffin was moved from one of the pillbugs to the cork background & added a Z ximenae. Finally the B bucculenta didn't make it so it was replaced by a B nidifica. Also, replaced the Neo "Popoki" & pup w/ a "Fingerpaint " Neo. With this transition from a brom tank to an orchidarium, I'm changing the display name from "Brom City" to "Villa Brochidia"!