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Who here keeps their roaches in naturalistic tanks? Most of my roaches are in naturalistic tanks at the moment except for my dubias. They're just in a rubbermaid bin with egg cartons. I'm thinking about moving them to a different tank though because they're so fun to watch. I just have to figure out something that looks natural but has lots of hide spots like egg crates. Any suggestions?

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I do. But I don't breed them as feeders, they are just pets, so I don't recommend my set-ups if you want high out put of young-uns. I have several tanks and I'm currently redoing, but basically, I use a combination of organic fertilizer free top soil, sphagnum moss, coco fiber, hardwood, oak leaves, a little of this and a little of that thrown in for the substrate. Then I landscape with lots of corkbark and driftwood. I used to use fake aquarium plants and it looked nice, but I don't really like fake too much so I pulled it out. In my main tank I have a mix of fancy hissers, ORIN'S ROACHES!, beetle mimics and pallid roaches. I used to have orientals and harlequins in there, but they died off. I think because I'm not keeping it humid enough for them. I dunno. I had a hard year and wasn't paying enough attention to them. The pallid roaches have suddenly exploded so I want to seperate them and start using them as feeders. They are really a pretty little roach.

Anyway, I layer the cork bark. This creates lots of hiding spots. If you do it right, you can observe the social orders of the hissers. I have one giant morph hisser, that my kids named homerclease, I call him pisser the hisser. I can take him out and put him back anywhere in the tank, but he always beelines right back to his spot. He knows his spot. If I put any other male near his spot, well, it's hysterical to watch. hahahahahahahahaha Everyone should have hissers......

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Yeagh, corkbark is the way to go for setups if you want to give them a much more natural look. Also, species that include some rotten wood in their diet eventually consume the corkbark while egg carton has no value as food. Glass aquariums certainly beat out plastic tubs for viewing. A planted aquarium may work for a time but any burrowing species would eventually uproot the plants.

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Thanks. I have fake plants in my tanks. I would love to have a beautiful planted tank I'm not so good at growing plants. Fake ones look ok though. If I find a cheap 20 gallon tank I might transfer my dubias into it with the egg crates just so I can see them better.

Here's a pic of one of my split tanks:

stuff1.jpg

Here's my blaberus fusca tank.

stuff3.jpg

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BTW: Roachsmith.... could I ask where you found the divided tank at? I've been looking for one like that for some Macrothele sp. spiders I'm working with. MOST of the divided tanks like that usually have a single sliding lid...yours has the individual sliding screen tops for EACH section- NICE.

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The company that makes them is called Creative Habitats. The last one I got had an address on it but no phone number. They sell them at a place called East Bay Vivarium for around $80. Luckily I found someone selling a few used ones so I got mine for much cheaper. They are really nice. Each section has it's own sliding lid and pin. I'm missing one lid and some pins so I'm going to try to write to the company and see if I can get replacements. Here's their address:

Creative Habitats

P.O. Box 8187

La Crescenta, CA 91224

East Bay vivarium might be able to tell you how to get in touch with them. I'm going to ask next time I visit. I haven't seen them sold anywhere else.

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Cool- Thanks for the information. My dad was in the Navy and stationed in Alameda. We would go to the East Bay Vivarium alot when I was younger... It's a cool place with a huge selection... guess I'll just keep an eye out here in Texas at all the Reptile shows...

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  • 1 month later...

I have 2 10gal tanks of Hissers. I use Cypress Bedding as a substate. One tank has about a dozen Hissers (my originals) a food dish, a dish with crystals, and 2 aquarium decorations (vertically oriented dragons). I have not added additonal roaches in several years, they appear to have ceased breeding. They never did breed much , maybe 3 times, which is good because they are strictly pets.

The second tank has the same substrate and dishes. However it has a half log hide, and contains approximately 2 dozen roaches. Are my roaches overcrowded/stressed? I recently spotted a female in the second tank with a deformed looking ootheca, I believe it was dropped (aborted).Neither of the tanks have supplemental light or heat and I feed a diet of mostly lettuces, fish flakes, veggies and dog food.

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I don't think lettuce is particularly good for them unless you are using "field greens" and "baby" lettuce mixes. Iceberg and Romain... I think they are too empty nutritionally and mostly water. Otherwise assorted vegetables, fruits, fish food, cat food on occasion.

I keep 120-150 hissers (mixed sizes) in a 10g tank with a screen top, cypress mulch about an inch and a half thick on the bottom, and vertical pieces of egg carton to climb on. In the plastic tubs I use which are slightly larger, up to 300 live just fine. So in my opinion you have a long way to go to get overcrowded. I even think they breed better when there are 50 or so in a 10 gallon than when there are a dozen or two.

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