Thrive Corner Tank Bioactive Build

I have three or four Thrive hexagon tanks and love them, but for a build, the corner tank is where it's at. The deep V at the back gives you a lot of space for a custom background, plenty of vertical room for logs and decorations, and a secluded area at the back for your geckos, with wall space to climb and crevices to hide in.

For each layer of a build like this, step by step, see my Thrive hexagon bioactive build. This post covers what I did in the corner tank.

Drainage layer

This time I did put in a drainage layer. It isn't strictly necessary, but it makes it much easier to avoid overwatering, so the cage doesn't get soggy, gross and moldy and the plants do well. Over it is an 8 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in) layer of Josh's Frogs BioBedding with live plants that do well in it.

Two log bridges

I set two logs across the tank from one side panel to the other: a grapevine near the top and another log near the bottom. Each one makes a bridge, and together they give the geckos basking and perching spots as well as places to hide.

Use the vertical space

I wound one of my moss-covered jungle vines all through the tank. The size of a cage doesn't matter much if the vertical space isn't used. Put a gecko in a giant cage where the only thing to climb is the walls, and the extra size doesn't do much for it.

Decor

A T. rex skull, a T. rex imprint and a piece of cork bark on one side give the geckos more surfaces to climb on.

The new geckos: peacock day geckos

I raised a group of peacock day geckos from hatchlings, and they were about full grown when they moved in. They are a small day gecko species from Madagascar, bright green with red eyes, spots down the back and a black spot ringed in neon blue behind each front leg, like the eye of a peacock feather. That spot gives them the name.

Compared with other day geckos I have kept, they are much tamer and less fragile. They are not handleable like a crested gecko, but they settled down after a few months with me. Crested geckos tend to come out only at night, so in a display tank you rarely see them. These are active, vocal and out on display all day, which is why I chose them for this cage.

What they need, which differs from a crested gecko:

1. UVB light. They are diurnal, so overhead UVB is a requirement, not an option. They need it for vitamin D. The top log gives them a basking spot close to the light.
2. More heat. An ambient temperature of about 27 °C (80 °F), a few degrees warmer than a crested gecko likes, with a basking spot near 32 °C (90 °F).
3. Higher humidity. A planted vivarium holds a steadier, higher humidity than a traditional setup, another reason they suit this cage.

I'm not setting them up as a breeding colony. If they breed, great, but I chose them as a display species I'm excited about. If you're interested in them, do your own research first.