Mixed species enclosures and other changes for Burgers Zoo

Nah, he comes around here every now and then. It started out as a thread to ask about which mixed species could work and which wouldn't, it eventually turned into the burgers zoo expansion discussion. But that's not hte official role for the thread. Maybe I should make a seperate one

 

There is already an active mixed species ideas thread (its the one by LowlandGorilla4) so no need to make another.

 

Sorry, I meant make a seperate thread for the Burgers Zoo project

 

I'm getting new information on animals at random, so everything is kind of going at random but oh well.

Appearently Dierenpark Amersfoort kept their brush-tailed porcupines in a full walkthrough, So I think they should be cool in the aardvark walkthrough. Maybe we can even keep two groups.

One in the aarvark walkthrough, and one in a seperated enclosure together with galagos

Also: Sitatungas are actually kept in walkthroughs, as well as being nocturnal. So I think those would be better instead of bongos



Also also also: Tamandua's can be kept in walkthroughs, appearently. So I want to either have two seperated walkthroughs in the South American Nocturnal hosue, or add the tamanduas to the larger walkthrough and size up the river section of the tapir/anteater enclosure and add Arrau turtles and arapaimas

 

As soon as I finish the new map with decorations I'm going to make a new thread for discussion of the Burgers Zoo Project. But it might take a little while

 

I am once again asking for your intellectual support

Jokes aside, I need some help designing the aboriginal caves. I finally got around to translating the species and I've got the basic layout



But I have no idea what species can go together (Apart from a few mentioned at the very beginning of this thread).

I already have some of the animals planned (right), but some I have no idea of (left). I want to leave some space for aboriginal murals on the walls, as well as some general empty space at a few points.

I want at least one aquarium, though I doubt that the murray cod will be able to go together with the smaller rainbowfishes.

I also need some more inveribrates. I had a lot of arthropods, such as rhinoceros beetles, inland robust scorpion, and the giant huntsman spider. But I can't find any info on them in captivity, let alone in Europe

You can change the shape of the caves as you please, but the oasis of the rainbow serpent, the perentie pit, and the dingo den are set locations. As well as the entrance / exit points

Edit:

I'm thinking of also maybe making a small nocturnal section in here, with a second housing of tawny frogmouths and moving the sugar gliders as well

 

Of all the rainbowfish species you listed, only one of them is actually found in Australia, that being the threadfin rainbowfish.

Also your mural choices are rather interesting. Why the emu war? Also out of all the catastrophic introductions of invasive species in Australia you choose dogs? Cats would be a much better choice as cats have actually caused the majority of extinctions amongst Australian fauna.

You are correct about Murray cod, pretty much the only thing that can be kept with them in an aquarium are spangled perch and certain grunter species, and maybe a large native catfish species such as a tanadus or a salmontail.

Other than that this looks pretty cool!

 

For the aquarium you could have all the rainbowfish in a tank together, but as someone already mentioned only the threadfin is actually found in Australia. I think Australian Arowana and Australian Bass might work but every other species you've listed is probably best kept by itself of with others of it's own species. Some aquariums do the Australian Lungfish and Australian Arowana mix, but it is risky and there is a high likelihood you will end up with a dead Australian Arowana, the Australian Lungfish can be quite aggressive and take chunks out of other fish.

 

The Australian Arowana is also known as the most aggressive Arowana species if I recall correctly, so this is something to watch out with.

I do remember that Australian lungfish were mixed with rainbowfish and others in Duisburg. Wether these rainbowfish were also it's snacks from time to time is however unknown to me.

 

Well, damnit. Can you guys help me with freshwater Australian species that are also available?

Oh yeah, definitely cats too. I just remember that, after the introduction of rabbits, they released dogs to take care of the reddit problem. But instead they started hunting the much-easier-to-catch marsupials and monotremes, so that didn't exactly work out.
And the emu war is just such a funny and interesting piece of Australian history that I don't think I'd get away with not including it

 

Other rainbowfish that you could add (that are actually Australian species) are Eastern Rainbowfish, Pacific Blue-Eye, Western Rainbowfish, and if you wanted some for a colder tank, Macquarie Rainbowfish. If you wanted to add some other non-rainbowfish species, Tandanus, Empire Gudgeon and Hyrtl's Catfish would be good options (although I wouldn't trust the Tandanus or Hyrtl's Catfish with the Pacific Blue-Eyes).

As for other fish, Archerfish, Snakehead Gudgeon, Mouth Almighty, Australian Freshwater Moray, Barramundi, Rock Flagtail and some species of grunter (like Sooty Grunter, Silver Grunter, Tully River Grunter and Barcoo Grunter) would be interesting options. Fly River Turtle could be good too, they are fully-aquatic turtles (other than for breeding) and so do not need land area in their exhibits.

 

Thank you! Which of these would be able to safely go together?

 

I forgot to mention Sleepy Cod and Australian Short-Finned Eel.

You could go for:

- Eastern Rainbowfish, Western Rainbowfish, Pacific Blue-Eye, Empire Gudgeon, Fly River Turtle

- Eastern Rainbowfish, Western Rainbowfish, Hyrtl's Catfish, Tandanus, Fly River Turtle

- Archerfish, Snakehead Gudgeon, Rock Flagtail, any of the aforementioned grunters, Fly River Turtle

- Barramundi, Australian Arowana, any of the aforementioned grunters, Australian Short-Finned Eel, Fly River Turtle

- Mouth Almighty, Archerfish, Sleepy Cod, Fly River Turtle

The Australian Freshwater Moray is probably best kept by itself or with others of it's own species.

- Tully River Grunter, Barcoo Grunter, Sooty Grunter, Silver Grunter

 

It’s that way of thinking that’s partially responsible for the utter lack of breeding in Fly river turtles. These vulnerable turtles definitively deserve a decent patch of land to lay eggs.

 

Well, the fly river turtle in Dutch is called the New guinean two-clawed turtle. So I think it wouldn't be very logical to be kept in Australian desert tunnels. Maybe it can be kept in the new guinea house instead of the New guinea snapping turtle, though this doesn't have underwater viewing

 

Fly River Turtles do live in Australia, but if the exhibit is specifically desert-themed then I would recommend it in the new guinea house.

 

Well, it's not desert themed. But since there is a specifically regional house on New Guinea, it would be strange to see an animal with New Guinea in the name outside the New Guinea house

 

I know that I'm doing these kind of spitfire, but we'll get back to those fish later

I want to keep the Eurasian black vulture in woods, but would they do better in the large aviary we discussed earlier, or free-roaming in the alpine region (now with an aviary above it) together with Alpine chough, Alpine marmot, Alpine rock partridge, Chamois, Alps hare and Alpine ibex?

 

Saratoga might be considered aggressive in comparison to other arowanas however they are often bullied and killed when kept with other Australian native fish.

Dogs were not purposefully introduced into Australia, I believe the feral populations originate from escaped domestic pets. Also feral dogs rarely feed on small marsupials and monotremes, and generally only pose a threat to larger marsupials such as macropods and koalas.

 

You could make the alpine ibex exhibit also an aviary and put them there.