Many individuals utilize aquariums as cages for their pet lizards since they are easily accessible. Despite their popularity, aquariums are not the best enclosures for lizards, especially the bigger ones. However, they can work well as a home for smaller lizards, turtles, and snakes.
Can Lizards and Fish Coexist?
Many lizards, including bearded dragons, anoles, and geckos, can coexist peacefully with fish in tanks if set up correctly.
Food Habits of Lizards and Fish
Fish
Most pet fishes eat dry fish food, dried spirulina or nori algae, shrimp, plankton, superworms, bloodworms, krill, prawns, mussels, live brine, feeder fish, mealworms, crickets, lettuce, cucumber, zucchini, and spinach.
Lizards
Many pet lizards, including leopard geckos, house geckos, and anoles, are insectivores – which means they consume insects and other invertebrates. Small insects like flies, crickets, ants, moths, and grasshoppers are all that these lizards seek in the wild. They also consume superworms, mealworms, crickets, and roaches which are great sources of proteins.
So, we can see that some of the food habits are similar for pet fish and lizards, which is excellent news for coexisting fish and lizards.
What Kind of Tank do You Need for A Lizard?
Experts recommend keeping most lizards in a 20-gallon tank, which is 24 inches long by 12 inches wide by 12 inches deep. A 10-gallon tank is inadequate for long-term storage unless you are dealing with tiny lizards like baby swifts. A 15-gallon tank is a better option for keeping smaller lizards.
How Long Do Pet Fish Live?
Even though fish have a terrible reputation for having short lives, they can survive for at least three to five years if given the proper care. Some breeds can survive for a decade or more. An example is one of the most popular breeds of pet goldfish, which can grow to eight inches long and survive for twenty years.
How Long Do Pet Lizards Live?
The life expectancy of the small lizards ranges from three to five years. Medium-sized lizards have five to fifteen years. In contrast, giant lizards have a lifespan of up to twenty years.
So, now that we have a basic idea about pet fish and lizards and if they can coexist, let us learn how to create an aquarium environment fit for lizards and fish to coexist in. In other words, let’s find out how to create a terrarium.
Creating Aquariums for Coexisting Fish and Lizards
Here is how to turn an aquarium into a terrarium where lizards and fish can coexist.
Things You Will Need
- Fish tank or aquarium. The bigger the size of the fish tank, the better
- Two big tubes of aquarium glue are essential
- Twenty pieces of slate or more depending on the size of the tank. (Each piece with a flat edge approximately 5 inches long and 1/2 inch thick is required for the tank)
- Tank hood with a fluorescent light fixture.
- Identify the effects of various ultraviolet rays on different lizards.
- Filter, heater, thermometer, and gravel
- A solid understanding of lizards, amphibians, and fish
- Heater for lizards
- Submersible fish tank heater
Steps
- Using the exterior glass, draw a removable straight line around the tank about one-third of a way up the mountain. There will be 2/3rds water and 1/3rd lizard habitat in the tank.
- Make sure the tank is on its side, with the top facing you, and glue slate pieces to it in a zig-zag pattern.
- Each piece must be level and spaced widely enough. It will help a lizard to swim or hop from one to the next. But it should not be too near so that the lizard can escape the water. The slate should be ideal for mimicking a beach.
- Glue other slates to the remaining three tank sides after waiting for the sealant to cure.
- To reinforce the binding between glass and rock, apply more sealant once the first adhesive has dried.
- After the adhesive dries, the tank should be filled up to its main slates. Now it should be ready for the fish.
- Remember to cycle the tank. This step is necessary for the health of the fish.
- Refill the tank with water and let it sit for a while. The fish’s well-being depends on it.
- Keep your fish tanks clean and well-cared for.
- Small lizards will not suffocate your fish and will not pull lizards beneath the water.
Other Tips
Inspect whether or not the lizards can swim back to the slate if they become wet. Most lizards can swim well and float. There should be no obstacles in the way of the lizard swimming, such as air hoses and heating cables. Put them out of the way by gluing them to the glass just above the waterline.
At least seven years should pass before you need to re-glue the slate, even if it is over the waterline. Once they have been attached, avoid touching them, but if you must, apply just a little pressure.
It looks better if the tank’s front is entirely slate-free. On the other hand, Lizards will swim up against the glass and seek refuge in a corner if one side is left without a beachhead. So make sure that each corner has a smooth landing.
Some water level difficulties can be compensated for using a cork bark floating platform. Then, as the water level rises and drops, your lizard will always have a safe place to rest.
The water should be changed more often than a standard tank since the sickness can contain the lizard excrement. A substrate like dirt/chips or water is inferior in many ways to a water-based one. On the other hand, changing them too often causes them to get rancid rapidly, costs a lot of money, and harms the environment.
Build an area where you can choose the appropriate heater for your lizard on an extra thick-sided slate, attaching it, so it does not fall in. The foundation should be glued down with more adhesive. Glued pebbles or a sticker-pad heater can keep the heater from shifting.
Conclusion
Purchase community tropical fish, which are small enough to avoid dragging lizards underwater and lizards that are at ease in the water and will not eat your fish. Many fish, including neon tetras, Corydoras, bettas, guppies, and even certain danios, can coexist alongside lizards and amphibians, including lizards. Goldfish, silver dollars, knife fish, and cichlids, on the other hand, are terrible options! Good Luck!
