dividing a tank?

[iggygec]

Hi all, new here. I have a question about possibly starting a community setup with leos.

I have one female (my 12 years young little lady) living solo in a 20 gal long right now, but I've been wanting to branch out and maybe do something else.

My thought is this: with a 50 gal long, physically divide it up into 2 parts, 30 gals dedicated to a single small female community (2-3), and the remaining 20 gallon for a nice male. Probably sounds a little nuts but I have the 50 to spare, and I'd really like to do something interesting with it. I have no immediate goal to breed, which is why I would want them divided, but if I'm going to invest in 3-4 geckos I might as well get nice ones and not exclude the possibility.

I guess my primary question is has anyone ever divided up a tank before with good results? I've done it in the past with fish, but never reptiles. Would exposing a group of females to a male so closely, if they don't have physical access to one another, be ok? Is that overly stressful provided they have plenty of space? I know breeders typically house in pretty tight quarters, but I'm not totally sure how acceptable this would be for long term living.

Any thoughts?

As an aside, my plan would be to buy all from the same breeder, preferably from the same/similar clutches to keep everyone's size consistent, especially with the females.

 

[acpart]

I do divide my hatchling tanks with plexiglass. You could do the same, but put some contac paper on the plexi so the geckos can't see each other. The only thing to thiink about is that since tanks are measured in 3 dimensions, a 50 gallon tank isn't necessarily equal to a 20 gallon plus a 30 gallon. Generally I keep 2 geckos in a 20 gallon footprint (30"x12") and 3 geckos in the same footprint with a 12"x12" second level. Think about the square footage and make sure a 50 gallon can accommodate that many geckos.

Aliza

 

[leopard love]

Sounds like a brilliant idea I wish I had a 50 gallon tank to spare or at least the room for it hahaha I would love to see pictures

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

[iggygec]

Thanks for the replies!

For the spacing issue, I had the idea of doing levels, with cooler hides higher off the ground to better utilize the space (which you are certainly correct, the 50 long is only 6" longer than than the 20). I've always wanted to do a custom habitat, make my own decor, just never really had a project that I felt like investing the time into before. But if spacing feels like it might become an issue, its not the end of the world to ditch getting a male and only have 2-3 pretty females to take up the 50.

Thanks for the input!