Species that matches this description

C

crittergu

Fourth Instar
Ok. I am working on a 46 gallon paludarium type setup.

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I designed it with treefrogs in mind(anyone know anyone able to supply CB clown treefrogs?) but have thought of incorporating a few inverts as well. So I need a roach species that is.

-small and nonagressive(don't want something that will disturb the frogs and nothing with a taste for meat)

-tolerant of high humidity, and naturally a rainforest species

-prolific

-I doubt their is a nonclimber/flyer that fits here. Whatever it is needs to not look quite like a roach and die quickly if it escapes from the tank(which will be almost inevitable when it is opened). The green banana roach fits what I am looking for.

And for curiosities sake...I wonder how a few glowspots would look in here. I wouldn't keep them with frogs...but they do come from Northern South America...

 
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Frogs + roaches = well fed frogs.

Mixing vertebrates and invertebrates usually results in all of one eating all of the other. (Many inverts also eat frogs...)

Palladium + roaches = well hidden roaches. (Have tried that myself).

In the unlikely event that you succeed in putting all of the food chain in one place and sustaining it, please post the species that you used!

(** "Glowspot" roaches are also found in Central America)

crittergu said:
Ok. I am working on a 46 gallon paludarium type setup.I designed it with treefrogs in mind(anyone know anyone able to supply CB clown treefrogs?) but have thought of incorporating a few inverts as well. So I need a roach species that is.

-small and nonagressive(don't want something that will disturb the frogs and nothing with a taste for meat)

-tolerant of high humidity, and naturally a rainforest species

-prolific

-I doubt their is a nonclimber/flyer that fits here. Whatever it is needs to not look quite like a roach and die quickly if it escapes from the tank(which will be almost inevitable when it is opened). The green banana roach fits what I am looking for.

And for curiosities sake...I wonder how a few glowspots would look in here. I wouldn't keep them with frogs...but they do come from Northern South America...
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MattK: I'm thinking that the adults of the species of roaches may be too large for the frogs to eat(clowns are not that big), but the nymphs will be eaten. I also planned on maintaining cultures outside the tank and adding in from these periodically. The frogs would be fed on traditional feeder roaches/crickets so that would take some predation pressure off of the roaches. Their are also lots of spots in the tank, such as behind the background, that are inaccessible to frogs. I know that isopods and springtails can maintain themselves in frog tanks despite being eaten by the frogs, so why not roaches? Most people worry about the roaches running around at night and stressing the frogs out, but I'm thinking if they are about the same size this should be minimal. If they are smaller, well that is food. :)

A burrowing roach might be able to escape notice of the frogs most of the time.

On the glowspots...shame they didn't show themselves. I suppose you could do a hollow trunk setup so you could see them in their hiding spot.

 
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If you're looking for something to make a big colony in the tank over time and provide some food for the frogs now and then you might want Pycnoscelus surinamensis but they are a bit pesty. If you're looking for something with day active adults any Gyna species or Domino roaches would work. My suggestion would be Eurycotis decipiens.

 
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Ok ! Yes, if you are planning the supplemental roach-on-display, now I get it. I thought it was a keep-whole-culture in there situation.

As for species- I second Orin's suggestions- they are great ones! Specially Eurycotis decipiens....

Glowspots like to burrow, though you would see them at night wandering around. You could try Peppereds, too. Nymphs stay burrowed and adults are way too big for a frog (usually).......

 
Surinams sound like they'd fit the bill pretty well if I can't find bananas...maybe I'll try both. How about pallid roaches?

How bad are the Eurycotis about escaping? I've heard they have a pretty strong defensive odor...but in this paludarium it shouldn't be an issue. I am leaving this with my folks when I go off to college so unless it is very pretty I doubt a display roac would be received well(unfortunately, zebras are just too roachlike to be appreciated by people who do not like roaches). I think Therea would be cool but they cost an arm and a leg.

 
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Bumping this up. Anyone have any experience with pallids? Can this species survive well outside the viv?

Unless they are immune to being eaten by the frogs, whatever they are can't be too expensive. Peppereds would be awesome but I think the adults considering how massive they are would stress the frogs too much lumbering around.(they would be the bigger than all the frogs I am considering and would likely be viewed as a threat).

 
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How about Egyptian desert roaches? They probably wouldn't mind the high humidity and aren't as pricey as dominos. -- Pallids would not stay in the cage and would end up in your cereal boxes.

 
I dropped in a few B. dubia nymphs for an experiment. So far, I have not seen anything of them..but thats no surprise. They are almost certainly hiding behind the extensive corkbark background.

 
Discovered a freshly molted adult male discoid in the tank today! Clearly I didn't pick all dubia nymphs when I was quickly sorting them.

 
darla said:
So you have different kinds of roaches housed together? I'm only asking to learn the ropes.
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Yes. I have dubia and discoids mixed. They are similar enough in requirements(but not so similar they can hybridize) so all works well. And if you take your time you can tell them apart easily. :P

 
Also, in a viv do you think any of the above species mentioned of roaches would do significant damage? I tried t oplant some creeping fig in my dubia/discoid colony that promptly dissapeared. I know isopods occasionally chew on seedlings or stuff like that but I hope the roaches in the viv mainly ignore the live plants.

 
None yet besides actually including a species that matches my description.

I wanted banana roaches, but how similar are lobsters? Would they also work in this situation?

 
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