Animals for a paludarium

[yilduz]

First of all, thank you to tropicalcrazy for posting a link to liveaquaria.com in another thread. I've been browsing that site the past couple of hours and it's pretty freakin' awesome.

I started looking through the freshwater fish and freshwater inverts, and I've found a few that I really like, but I want to see what you guys think of them. Before I list anything, I suppose I should say that these are for a paludarium project I've been planning (slowly) for a couple of months. Once I get a tank (I'm thinking around a 55 gallon tank, but the whole thing won't be water, obviously) I'll get the water ready for a while, but by the time that is done I want to have decided what I want to put into the tank. As for the setup, I've been thinking something like this for a side view, but the land portion won't go the entire width, it will only be one corner. If I build a base for the land out of acrylic sheets, I can even continue the water underneath.

Anyway... the list of animals.

Hammers Cobalt Blue Lobster - This little guy is really cool, and before now I had not even considered crayfish because I simply never thought of them. I definitely want one, though.
Red Cherry Shrimp | Ghost (Glass) Shrimp - Freshwater - I want shrimp. I love eating shrimp and I thought it would be cool to keep some (don't worry, though. I don't intend to eat them).
Neon Tetra Jumbo - I'll keep other fish, too, but this is one of my favorite peaceful fish that I've come across on that site.
Freshwater Clam | Olive Nerita Snail - Mainly for variety.

I was also thinking about salamanders, but they don't have any on the website. I also want frogs, and they have some, but not really what I like. I'll also keep things like different worms and crickets for amphibian food. Obviously I'll also have different aquatic plants and land plants that appear near water. Do you think all of these will play nicely together? Do you have any suggestions for anything else?

edit:
I found another fish I'd like.
Blue Cobra Guppy - This one looks really cool, I'd like to have a couple of these.

 

[ValRasbora]

I have a paludarium (see my sig for links to pics) and it houses betta imbellis and possibly future newts.

 

[paperdog9]

Just some advice, freshwater clams are not the best for aquariums/paludariums. They filter feed, so that means you would probably have to provide them with microscopic foods, and many clams have larva that will latch on to fish. If you keep salamanders in there, you will run the risk of them eating your shrimp and fish (this usually goes with most other amphipians). Would you consider possibly newts (pretty much just a smaller version of salamanders in most cases.)? I'm pretty sure the lobster will go after smaller fish as well, so you might want to take these things into comsideration.

 

[nanu156]

So I don't keep clams, but i looked into it a while back.

1. the lave do attach to fish gills, they don't hurt the fish and they drop off quickly.
2. they are good for a tank with a lot of algae (green water, like my tank looks today lol) you need to do a little research on how to keep them alive if you don't have much going on in that department
3. They are super sensitive to water conditions, when they die they are hard to find, and they can really spike up your ammonia fast
4. if/when you keep them it was suggested to me to keep them in an applesauce cup (pudding pack cup would work too) poke some holes in it fill it with substrate (sand fine gravel) and put a clam in, then burry it so you can barely see the edge, that way if/when you get a dead one it's easy to find.

well thats what i learned about clams.

clams are not for the new aquarium, I would suggest adding them after you are very established as they are picky. The lights for your plants should help algae growth, that plus the fish food should keep your clams going.

 

[yilduz]

Thank you for the responses, everyone.

I suppose I'll leave clams out of it. I just wanted one or two for a bit of variety - but if they have that much of an impact and are that sensitive, I'd rather get variety with something else.

I suppose newts will make more sense than salamanders. One of my favorite animals to go into my future tank is the shrimp and I'd like to keep them alive (even though the ones I'm interested in a very cheap).

I was thinking about bettas, but I'm just concerned. I've heard a lot of people talking about them killing the other fish. That concern is what is keeping me from considering the African Butterfly fish.

However, if the amphibians and the crayfish are likely to eat smaller fish, perhaps I'd be better off with larger, more aggressive fish - but then my concern would be the shrimp.

In any case, the three I really want to keep are the crayfish, the shrimp, and the newts. Anything I consider after that will need to be able to play nicely with them because they're the ones that interest me the most.