# A few of my planted ripariums



## hydrophyte

Hi again,

I am a new member and I have posted just a couple of messages. I do not keep frogs, but I have been keeping busy with a kind of display that is similar in some ways to a vivarium--planted ripariums, which are aquariums filled part of the way with water, with air space above for the emergent growth of plants. Unlike paludariums and vivariums, ripariums don't have any real land area--the above-water part is rendered just with plant foliage--so they are not suitable for keeping darts or other herps. They are instead meant for the enjoyment of fish and the emergent growth of marginal aquatic plants.

I have some pictures from a few of my tanks.

*20 Gallon with Cheap & Easy Plants*










This tank required just a little effort to plan and set up. I used readily available houseplant and pond plant varieties for the aerial portion, and a few low-tech aquarium plants for the underwater area. I hope that it will be low maintenance.

*55 Gallon Riparium Featuring Cryptocoryne *










_Cryptocoryne_ plants (also known as "crypts") are among the most popular of aquarium plants. This Riparium has some larger-statured species/varieties growing as emergents, as well as a few fully-immersed crypt plants. Fish include _Botia_ loaches and _Puntius_ barbs.

*65 Gallon South America Biotope Riparium*










This one is a rather loose "biotope". It contains some representative South American plants, such as _Echinodorus_ swords, as well as others used primarily for their form and appearance, such as the _Acorus_ sweetflag and creeping jenny (_Lysimacchia_).


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## R1ch13

Brilliant mate...

I really love these, When i was really into my high tech planted aquariums, i always had rotala, Hygros etc growing right out of the water and they looked great.

Most of the really enthusiastic scapers simply just cut them back miles before they emerge out of the water, which is a great shame...

Im glad this idea has come about, its really great.

Welldone man, the first one is still my favourite 

Richie


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## hydrophyte

Richie,

Thanks so much. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I hope that this theme is not too far afield for dendroboard.com. These systems do borrow do share certain technologies and plants in common with dart frog vivs, and this community seems to appreciate botanical science and plant diversity, which are other angles of these planted ripariums.

This idea was also inspired by that kind of display that you mention with aquarium plants growing up past the water's surface. I find it fascinating to observe the plants' responses to different conditions.

Regards,


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## mongo77

Beautiful tanks!! I don't think peope will mind you posting them here. Most peope here like to see other peope tanks for inspiration. Besides you'll never know what might interest you untill you're exposed to it. Once again, it appears you have a true artistic talent.


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## raimeiken

Aren't these called Paludariums?


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## doncoyote

raimeiken said:


> Aren't these called Paludariums?


If I may jump in... I think Hydrophyte is trying to draw a distiction betw what he's doing:



> I have a concept that I have been working on for a few years, planted _ripariums_. I have heard my model systems compared to dart frog vivariums many times, but they are different in that they do not have dedicated terrestrial areas. The above-water areas are rendered instead with plant foliage: the plants being supported with hanging and floating planter devices. Ripariums would make poor habitats for most reptiles and amphibians, in fact, being more appropriate for keeping fish and other fully aquatic animals.


and what we think of when we hear paludarium.


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## hydrophyte

thanks again very much. i have a lot of fun planting these. i think that the most compelling aspect about ripariums is that one can grow plants that haven't really been kept in aquariums before. another feature is that the _emersed_ forms of popular aquarium plants--many such plants can grow either fully immersed, or up into the air--can also be grown successfully and planted in an aesthetically pleasing aquascape. i am especially fond of plants in genus _Cryptocoryne_

here is a _C. undulata_, a really handsome plant, in a riparium planter.










crypts have really great flowers. blooming is one of the main objectives of hobbyists who grow them. this is a _C. wendtii_ flower.


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## R1ch13

That is a beautiful specimen my friend..

My favourite Crypt of all time has to be the good ol' bog standard Cryptocoryne Wendetii "Green" 

I just think its an amazing aquarium plant, when i was stripping down one of my lower tech aquariums a year or so ago, i pulled out a couple of these plants and the roots were spread all over the tank, was insane.

Richie


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## hydrophyte

Yes crypts really are great. My experience is that many seem to develop a lot of root relative to leaves. Perhaps this is why many readily "melt" with changes in conditions, such as aquarium water chemistry. They might find it advantageous to just draw nutrients back into their extensive root systems with environmental changes, then sprout again when conditions have settled.

Crypts have great flowers too. This one might be the flashiest of all, _Cryptocoryne ciliats_.










Another great feature is that, with a few tricks, crypts are easy, low-maintenance plants for growing both above and below water.


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## Julio

its like a pitcher crossed with a lilly


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## hydrophyte

Last night I was over servicing the 120G again. It is looking better because I have been able to visit with more frequency. The pink rain lilies (_Zephyranthes macrisipohn_) have bloomed consistently. Notice also the bright green taro _Xanthosoma_ 'Lime Zinger'--another real nice plant. 










I have a few more pictures that I will reformat and post later on.


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## Julio

hydrophyte said:


> last night i was over servicing the 120g again. It is looking better because i have been able to visit with more frequency. The pink rain lilies (_zephyranthes macrisipohn_) have bloomed consistently. Notice also the bright green taro _xanthosoma_ 'lime zinger'--another real nice plant.
> 
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> 
> i have a few more pictures that i will reformat and post later on.


looks great how long has it been setup?


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## hydrophyte

Thank you. This one has been set up for a little more than a year.


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## Phyllobates

These displays are stunning and inspirational!! Great work


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## hydrophyte

I did some more photo-editing and came up with this FTS.










This picture is a montage, made with a combination of two shots at two different shutter speeds. I copied and pasted the underwater area from the shot with a slower shutter. Somehow photographs of this tank always depict the foliage with more glare and the water with more shadow than in real life


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## bmasar

This is really awesome. Thanks for sharing!


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## hydrophyte

Thanks. I am working on another new round of pictures that I hope to put up pretty soon.


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## ClintonJ

It may be your editing skills but it looks like an illusion. The plants just grow out of nowhere! I'd call you a pioneer in this field. I think a lot of herp keepers can relate some of your methods to planting "water plants "on drip walls. Very nice work!


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## hydrophyte

I didn't really alter the appearance of the display: my edit just made the underwater area a little bit brighter than it turned out in the original photograph.

THe plants are all supported by hanging and floating riparium planters, which are hidden by the foliage as the plants grow in. This is why there is no terrestrial land area apparent in this picture. You can see the planting hardware if you get up close and look in at the right angle.


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## hydrophyte

Here is another picture that I had meant to put up here. There really are fish in this display. They are difficult to see in the full tank shot.










These are all F1 offspring of individuals that I collected down in Mexico.


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## Colleen53

Awesome tanks!! What type of lighting are you using?


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## hydrophyte

Thanks very much. Oh these tanks all have HO T5's in various configurations.

I have been working on tidying this tank up some more. Here is a quick shot from last night.










The underwater area needs some more plants. I will post a new full-tank shot when I get it resolved. 

Here is the view down inside. This is what i see every time i walk by.


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## Colleen53

Would it be possible to ID your plants? I would like to get a few for my tank. Your tank is so impressive to see!!!


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## hydrophyte

I have a lot of those plants ID'd in a blog post from a couple of weeks ago...

Colectoritis: 65 Gallon South America Riparium


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## raimeiken

Colleen53 said:


> Would it be possible to ID your plants? I would like to get a few for my tank. Your tank is so impressive to see!!!


i 2nd this! ahaha awesome tanks man!


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## hydrophyte

Yes well like I say have a look at that blog post it has most of those plants labelled and with notes. Here is a shot from the post.


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## Colleen53

Thanks for the ID. I need to see if we have some of those plants here in the area. Can't say if I have heard of the names. They are beautiful plants.


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## hydrophyte

The combination of swordplants (_Echinodorus_) and sweetflag (_Acorus_) looks real nice in this setup.

I can send you some cuttings and small divisions for real cheap (S&H reimbursement) if you might be interested. I still have extras of some of that stuff.


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## hydrophyte

The 120-gallong Mexico river biotope that I put together is the featured Tank of the Month at AquaticPlantCentral.com. here is the link.

June 2009 Tank of the Month: Devin Biggs - Library - Aquatic Plant Central

And here is a recent picture.


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## housevibe7

Are you using ADA tanks?


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## Mworks

Stunning tanks - a real inspiration of what can be achieved if you have the 'eye' and the skill.
+ Rep points for your input.
Keep the photos coming.

Regards
Marcus


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## housevibe7

Ok, I was impressed before, but then I read the whole article over at the planted tank forum. Now I am REALLY impressed  Well done.


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## hydrophyte

I got a few shots of the 65 tonight.










This one is shaping up a little bit better.

You can see the fish in this shot if you look at it full-size.


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## hydrophyte

I got a quick shot of the 20-gallon tonight.










This one has a pretty dull selection of plants, but it is nice to have in the room for some bright green foliage and I like to watch the fish too. This setup is quite low maintenance. I did a little bit of rearranging before getting this shot. I should come back in a couple days after the plants have had a chance to settle back into place.


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## vivariman

I am stunned at the beauty of these tanks.... really makes me want to make some of my own. What substrates are you using on the bottom of the tanks and in the planters? In one of your larger tanks, a school of 5-8 of a small species of hatchetfish would look amazing.

Keep up the good work!

Caden


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## hydrophyte

Hey you're just over in Elm Grove. I could drop off plants for you--I have a lot of 'em.

Both of these have pool filter sand on the tank floor with a top dressing of a larger rounded pebble. The planters have clay gravel product (Turface) similar to the substrates often used in planted tanks.

Hatchetfish would be cool in one of these. That they offer a view of the water's surface is another nice feature of riparium tanks.


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## chinoanoah

I am enthralled....

is a canister filter required for this type of setup? 

I want to make one with tiger barbs or red cherry shrimp.. oooh I am so tempted! I have two empty 20g and a 55g... hmm...

Please keep posting pics!


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## hydrophyte

chinoanoah said:


> I am enthralled....
> 
> is a canister filter required for this type of setup?
> 
> I want to make one with tiger barbs or red cherry shrimp.. oooh I am so tempted! I have two empty 20g and a 55g... hmm...
> 
> Please keep posting pics!


For that 20 I just used a cheap submersible filter. Canisters are much better for larger tanks. I installed a Filstar in my 55 crypts display, applying a simple plumbing modification so that it could reach down to the water. Here is a shot of the return fitting with a 9" section of 1/2" PVC attached with a vinyl hose sleeve.










A 55 is a pretty good size, if rather long and flat. It provides a lot of planting spacing along that rear pane of glass. A 90, which is similar in shape, but deeper, would be better for a more naturalistic scape. I hope to put together one of these in a 90 next.


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## hydrophyte

I have that filter mod described in a thread over on *The Planted Tank Forums*:

Riparium Mod: Filstar intake & return


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## hydrophyte

I did a little more gardening in my 55-gallon _Cryptocoryne_-themed tank. I think it is looking better. I need to get a few more crypts into the underwater foreground to brighten that area up.










There are fish in there. A few of the barbs are visible there in the lower right.


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## hydrophyte

Here's that 55 again, now with blue background...










This tank makes a nice display in the room where I have it. It is pretty low maintenance, although the fish are quite greedy.


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## eos

All your tanks look amazing! Job well done on all of 'em.


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## hydrophyte

Thanks very much!


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## daykinmade

are you able to grow african water fern emersed with this set up? I think I see this in the photos? very cool

Daykinade


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## hydrophyte

Yes that is a _Bolbitis_ fern. It is growing on a trellis raft.


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## hydrophyte

I've been seeing lots of neat plant events in my 65-gallon riparium tank. Last week the blooms on the ladies' tress orchid (_Spiranthes cernua_ var. _odorata_) began to open. Here is a shot of the whole flowerhead:










The spike had been developing for more than two months. Here is another picture a little closer:










I have tried out a few different orchids in riparium planters. So far this one has had the best performance. The _Phragmipedium_ that I planted in this tank last spring did not grow at all and I eventually removed it to plant again in a regular pot with bark orchid mix. I have a few different _Bletilla_ too. These plants are now starting to go dormant.

Here's a recent picture of the whole tank:










Actually I pulled the _Spiranthes_ out for this picture. I have been growing it in the front right corner, but it does not have very much foliage and the planter is rather obtrusive.


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## Energy

hydrophyte said:


> The 120-gallong Mexico river biotope that I put together is the featured Tank of the Month at AquaticPlantCentral.com. here is the link.
> 
> June 2009 Tank of the Month: Devin Biggs - Library - Aquatic Plant Central
> 
> And here is a recent picture.


Can you Id any of these plants? I am especially interested in finding out what the taller plant that looks like a green fireworks display. Where are they available?


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## hydrophyte

*Energy*, that tall starburst grassy-looking plant is a _Cyperus_, umbrella sedge. I have some extra of it. Would you be intersted in having me send a few divisions?

Additionally, my 65-gallon has gotten to be quite overgrown. This picture shows that the taro and big sword on the right are blocking all the light:










I have extra divisions and plantlets from these plants too, notably with the _Colocasia_ taro, the sweetflag and the _E. cordifolius_ sword.

Does anybody know if there is anyway to change a thread title? "A few of my planted ripariums" sounds kind of stupid.


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## hydrophyte

I removed almost all of the emersed plants from the tank:










I plan to replant with almost all new material. This is one new thing that I am going to include, the sweetflag _Acorus gramineus_ 'Omogo':










This is a handsome plant. It looks like 'Ogon', but with dark green leaves.


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## hydrophyte

I took a few extra pictures of the _Colocasia fallax_ 'Silver Dollar' taro when I yanked it out while taking the 65 apart...










This plant has such attractive leaves.


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## NorthernFrogguy1976

amazing ripariums


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## hydrophyte

Thanks very much. I post again the last nice picture of the 65 because it got bumped back and because I just tore it down.










It was a little sad to take that apart because I really enjoyed the look of all the plants together, but I'm stoked to put together something new in there.


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## hydrophyte

Gosh I haven't been back to dendroboard or this thread in a while. I have still been working on my riparium setups. A while back I put a new tank in place of that 65 that I had been working on. Here is a recent picture.










I have some cool fish and plants in there. I will try to come back with some more detail pictures.


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## chesney

Very nice pics


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## hydrophyte

Hey thanks Lisa!


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## raimeiken

that looks awesome!


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## R1ch13

Stunning mate.

Never grow tired of seeing your work.

You have now got myself wanting to set something similar up in my room, havent had any fish for ages and I really miss them.

I do however have 2 very intrusive young cats, so these open top set ups you have mastered would not go down to well In my place.

Any ideas?

Id love to do an Amazonian biotype with a shoal of small tetras, couple of bristlenose plecos or corys and that's about it.

Hmmm, my creative side is going mad.

Richie


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## wimvanvelzen

You do a fantastic job, well done! Love the different kinds of foliage and the Crypts you have!

Ever thought about more elaborate backgrounds in a riparium theme? I know this is the Amano look, which is fine - I just wondered.


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## Groundhog

Most excellent, indeed.

1)Just out of curiosity, why Spathiphyllum in the Crypt tank? Why not stay Asian with Aglaonema or Lagenandra?

2) And why an Asian Pilea in the South American tank?

3) Are you a fan of Anubias? 

4) " " Mangroves? (w Mudskippers )

5) Have you ever contemplated herps? A partially-covered tank would certainly have more humidity! (I mean a screen top, partially covered.)

--_Hyla heilprini _in a neotropical setup;
--_Hymenochirus sp_. and/or reed frogs in Africa;
--_Cynops ensicauda, Bombina_ or _Tropidophorus_ (Water skinks) in Asia (An emergent log or floating cork will do the trick.)

And, of course, *The-lo-der-ma*...


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## hydrophyte

Hey thanks very much everyone! I just started setting up another new tank and I will try to make it back here with some picture updates.


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## Dartfrogfreak

Wow your tanks are absolutely amazing!
Ive been toying with a similar idea for a few months now. It was very cool to find your thread and see some successfully doing something similar.

Todd


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## hydrophyte

Thanks Todd. Really these things are pretty easy to put together. There are a lot of cool plants that you can grow well in a riparium.

My current favorite is that _Cyrtosperma johnstonii_ that I have going in the 50-gallon tank. It has these crazy leaves.


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## nathan

Dang that is a sweet leaf !


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## hydrophyte

I'm using that 50-gallon setup as an unofficial riparium plant propagation tank. I had chopped up a lot of the plants that were in that layout to get more new stuff started in planters. Now there are plants hung on all four panes of glass. What a mess! It's not much of an aquarium display at the moment, but looks kind of cool from the top.


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## sk8erdave

I must ask what you are using for basketing/potting your plant in and how well do you find those suction cups hold? i know sometimes after a while the heater suction cups get stiff and old...
Dave


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## hydrophyte

Those suction cups that come with the riparium planters are sturdier than what you usually get with aquarium hardware and they last a long time. I have some that are still staying strong after more than a year of use.

There is also a riparium planter model that uses sandwich magnets. These make a real sturdy mount.


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## hydrophyte

Here's a quick shot of my 15-gallon.


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## raimeiken

pretty neat stuff. I really love your rimless tanks. where do you get them from? 

i was thinking of doing something like your tanks but my 50gal has this stupid oak colored rim around it


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## chinoanoah

That 15 gallon, is it not filtered?


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## hydrophyte

This tank is just a regular Aqueon 15 with the top rim removed. That is why I don't have it filled quite all the way to the top--probably not strong enough for that. I took the top rim off and cleaned the silicone from all four inside seams, then resealed all around.



















I did the same thing for that 50-gallon above and it worked great. I think that a tank de-rimmed like this is strong enough so long as you leave a few inches empty at the top.

I have added a small submersible filter. I'll be back pretty soon I think with more pictures.


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## raimeiken

awesome! nice to see some construction photos


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## hydrophyte

Thanks!

Here is a bit of a rescape with a stone rearrangement and a couple of new taller plants.


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## hydrophyte

Here's another view of that same tank from a different angle.










This should look pretty good when the plants get a chance to grow in.


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## hydrophyte

Here is a quick shot of the 15-gallon from last night. I added some underwater plants.


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## hydrophyte

Here are a couple more quick shots of the 15-gallon. The plants are looking happy and growing in pretty well.










I hung up a white sheet as a temporary backdrop for the picture. The foliage doesn't look so great against that tan wall. I wonder about repainting this part of the wall with white for the sake of picture-taking.


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## hydrophyte

I took the _Cyrtosperma johnstonii_ that I have going in my 50-gallon setup outside for a shot in the sunlight. This new leaf has more of the gold and pink.










This is a great plant, and pretty easy to grow in a riparium provided that you can give it some vertical space.


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## zBrinks

Any source for Cyrtosperma johnstonii, that doesn't cost $42 after shipping?


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## hydrophyte

Hi Zach, I might have an extra plantlet or two after I divide this one up, but I have to check because I had several pending inquiries about it. 

Where do you see them for sale? Perhaps I or somebody else could be talked into a combined order to save some on shipping(?).


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## zBrinks

A google search turned them up for sale at Asiatica for $22 plus $20 shipping a couple months ago, but I can't seem to find it on the website now. 

I've got one planter left for the riparium I'm working on, and that seems to be one wicked plant


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## hydrophyte

They must have sold out already in late winter. I don't see anybody else who currently has it available. I am working on finding some more sources for it and other unusual aroids. There are a couple of nurseries in Florida that I mean to get in touch with again. Another real cool plant that I am trying to track down is _Lasia spinosa_.

Can you remind me what other riparium plants you have going? I might be able to hook you up with something else that can work as an eye-catching centerpiece.


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## zBrinks

Right now, I have the dwarf papyrus, Bacopa, and another trailing-type plant. I'm also using two peace lilies and some emergently grown amazon swords. I'm looking for something nice and tall (around 24-30'') for the center, preferably with nice big leaves, as well as a few stem plants.


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## hydrophyte

A _Dieffenbachia_ could be a good choice for a centerpiece subject. They have this nice white-variegated foliage.










I have a few of these around already established in planters. Do you want one? I have a couple of other ideas too.


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## zBrinks

I worked at a greenhouse for a couple years. Found out I'm highly allergic to those things O.O

I'll probably just end up using some kind of Alocasia sp. - I can get a few neat varieties locally.


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## hydrophyte

You can probably find a few _Alocasia_ that are suitable enough, although some are not really associated with wet areas in nature and might not make it in a riparium. I understand that there are more species among _Colocasia_ and _Xanthosoma_ that grow well in wet soil--a number of them are popular pond plants.

I have done alright with "African mask" _Alocasia_ by planting it such that the tuber is a bit above the waterline.










I got pretty good root development from that plant.


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## zBrinks

I've got an Alocasia rugosa doing pretty well currently.


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## hydrophyte

Gosh I haven't been back to this thread in a while. I have a quick YouTube video update for my 50-gallon setup and here is the link...

YouTube - ripariumsupply's Channel


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## chinoanoah

so nice looking!


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## hydrophyte

Thanks!

Here is another quick video of my 50-gallon setup. This one shows the Magnetic Small Hanging Planter and Nano Trellis Raft in use in the tank.






I must say I have some real nice plants in this tank


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## hydrophyte

...hey that's cool that that video embedded automatically like that.


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## Dendro Dave

Hey Hydro...I saw some posts involving you on orchidboard awhile back and talk about Cleisocentron merillianum. I was just wondering if you ever picked one of those up to try in your setups? I got one recently and added it to a viv just above a pond in a sloping area against a drip wall...Hopefully it will do well there.


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## chinoanoah

Hydrophyte, Where are you located?

Love your tanks!


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## hydrophyte

Hey thanks very much! I am in Wisconsin waiting for the long winter to start.

I got another quick video and here is the link. This one just shows one of those Tank Planters in action.


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## hydrophyte

My 50-gallon is all torn up. I have all of the plants that were in there underwater overnight to kill any plant pests that might have been around. I have more of an update over in the journal thread. Here is a quick picture.










I am considering whether to just set up most of the plants that I had in there, or replant with a totally new theme(?). Those spindly things on the rear pane are _Cyperus_ umbrella sedges that I just potted up and have in there provisionally, but I wonder about using a few of them for most of a new background.


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## Dendro Dave

I'd like to see you try a vivarium with land but also a large water feature done in your riparium style if you haven't already. Think that would look pretty cool...maybe you could add some seiryu stone or some of the other popular aquascaping rock offered by ADA and such places... Just an idea  I'm personally kinda moving towards the aqua-scaping style (done terrestrially) in my vivs, and plan on using more rock and less wood (though I'm sure it will still have its place). Wish that ADA rock wasn't so expensive though.

p.s. I don't think you ever said if you tried Cleisocentron merillianum when I asked about it awhile back, still curious.

good luck with the new project!


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## hydrophyte

Thanks very much. For now I think that I have plenty of regular riparium projects in the works. And I have several new fish that I want to try: ripariums seem to be the best way to do this with fish. OFr something with a land area I wonder if a regular paludarium-type construction might be better(?).

Oh sorry now I remember that you had asked about that orchid. I remember reading about it and everything I ran into described it as an epiphyte. I don't think that it would do so well with its roots in the water(?). Did I miss something?


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## Dendro Dave

hydrophyte said:


> Thanks very much. For now I think that I have plenty of regular riparium projects in the works. And I have several new fish that I want to try: ripariums seem to be the best way to do this with fish. OFr something with a land area I wonder if a regular paludarium-type construction might be better(?).
> 
> Oh sorry now I remember that you had asked about that orchid. I remember reading about it and everything I ran into described it as an epiphyte. I don't think that it would do so well with its roots in the water(?). Did I miss something?


Ya a paludarium would be cool...basically with some large rocks sticking out of the water, and maybe a couple of sectioned off places with land made of just leca with sphagnum moss packed in over it would probably work and keep tannins low so water stayed clear. Frogs would probably even do well in a viv like that. Here is a pic of Tims viv..you may have seen it before, it is a board favorite...








This is kinda what I had in mind, only you doing your riparium thing in the water section. In that viv I would have liked to see the land area blended into the water area better, and the land not so flat...but still a great viv. You could do islands made of eggcrate boxes filled with leca, and sphagnum moss(maybe mix in laterite or something else without tannins in with the sphagnum?), and hide the eggcrate with stone/rock and/or drift wood...you could even lay rock or drift wood over some or all islands connecting them with plants growing up in front of and/or behind the "bridges". Something like that is basically what I have planned for a 55gal sitting empty, but probably be awhile before I get to it.

As for the Cleisocentron merillianum...









It is my understanding is it grows in swamps...king of orchids talks about it in second post on page 4 of your thread on orchid board...
A Few Planted Ripariums - Page 4 - Orchid Board - Most Complete Orchid Forum on the web !
Andy's orchids has it listed for $75 but I checked with them before I ordered it and it turns out they had a few of the $48 dollar smaller plants left so I got one of them. It is one of the few blue orchids, if you are interested it might be worth talking to them and seeing if they still have a cheaper one left if you don't wanna by the larger multi growth $75 plant.

I don't have a new pic with the actual plant in it yet, but here is the viv it is in now (This viv has alot of growing in to do)...








It is planted above the pond in that bare section between the glass on the left and the opening of hollow log...a couple inches below the plant that is pictured. It may eventually outgrow that spot if it does well but I'll worry about that when the time comes (if it comes). Seems to be doing ok there...really it hasn't done anything at all yet, except loose 1 leaf that was already yellow when it arrived. But I accidentally cut 2 roots that had grown into the tree fern pot it shipped in, so it is probably still recovering.

Have you considered using Utricularia graminifolia as a ground cover in your rips?...It can also be used as a flowering marginal plant in terrestrial areas of vivs/palus.


----------



## hydrophyte

I haven't been back to this thread in a while.

Really I am more of a fishkeeper and I don't have any plans for keeping herps any time soon, so riparium setups are better for me. There are a zillion different plant and fish combinations to explore and I still have a backlog of a dozen different riparium ideas in my head that I want to put together. 

Where else did you see references to _Cleisocentron merillianum_ growing terrestrially in swamps? I looked and looked, but only found descriptions of it growing as an epiphyte. Andy's Orchid's sells it as a cork mounted plant, which wouldn't work so well for a wetland species. It might grow in swamps, but I think it must be up in trees. Here is what I read on the species' IOSPE PHOTOS page (IOSPE PHOTOS)...



> ...only in Sabah, Borneo in lower to upper montane forests and riverine forests in crowns of large trees at elevations of 1100 to 3000 meters as a small sized, warm to cold growing...


I am growing some _Utricularia gramminifolia_ in an emersed growout setup. It is very easy to grow emersed in high humidity, but I have heard that it is more challenging to grow underwater...haven't tried it. I don't think that it would work very well for much of anything in the above water area of a riparium.


----------



## ruthieb

amazing....and subscribed!


----------



## Dendro Dave

Dendro Dave said:


> As for the Cleisocentron merillianum...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It is my understanding is it grows in swamps...king of orchids talks about it in second post on page 4 of your thread on orchid board...
> A Few Planted Ripariums - Page 4 - Orchid Board - Most Complete Orchid Forum on the web !


The reference was the second post by king of orchid growing in the thread I linked to on orchid board. Here is a quote from the thread. That guy seems to know his stuff so I was taking his word for it...



King_of_orchid_growing:) said:


> There are even orchids that grow in the water of swamps! Yeah, you heard correctly! They grow in the damn water!
> 
> I'll name a couple...
> 
> 1. Cleisocentron merrillianum
> 2. Papilionanthe hookerianum
> 
> I know Cleisocentron merrillianum grows in water because after failing with trying to grow it mounted, I've decided to put it in a glass cube with water. And the freakin' thing responded positively!
> 
> The reason for this ballsy attempt is because I just found out a month ago, that Papilionanthe hookerianum grows in a swamp amongst reeds! Sometimes they're partially submerged in water. Since Cleisocentron merrillianum has a similar physical morphology, and it has always been touted as an orchid that needs lots of water to survive, I made the connection and took a risk. It paid off!
> 
> There is concrete evidence that Papilionanthe hookerianum grows in such a manner. Go onto Flickr and do a search. You'll most likely pull up a guy that goes by "sarawaklens". He has loads of pics of Papilionanthe hookerianum in the wild! And let me tell you something - THAT is WILD!!!


As for UG here is a quote from RSS on aquascaping forum who is also a member here and the person I got my UG from...

RSS
Junior Aquascaper

Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 4

Hi,

I'm new to these forums but I've been growing this plant for a while and thought I'd chime in and maybe offer a difference perspective on this little one. My main growing area is in a 18" cube paludarium, the UG is about 8" from 4 T5HO lights and is currently growing happily in a little waterfallish area in the attached photo. There is no substate in this little ledge, its just sitting on the driftwood, I've been trimming it about once a month to keep it out of the water. The photo is a month or two old and the UG is now working its way up the driftwood/tubes. I'm using no fertizilers or any additives other than the frozen food the killi's get.

One a side note, the silly killifish love to jump up into the stuff (half out of the water) to spawn then jump back out. Really odd too see. Anytime the water level gets high enough they go right in and do there thing. 

I have UG growing mostly emersed, few submerged, some in mud, some in sphagnum moss, some in rockwool, some in aquasoil, some on driftwood, and some I'm probably forgeting about. The rockwool or driftwood seem to do better for me, but ymmv. As for light I've got some under the 4 T5HO lights, all the way down to 10" from a single 14W compact flourscent bulb. All are growing fine, the leaves seem greener under higher light, atleast from my experiences. Lower light is giving me yellow/green leaves. Leaf size is also variable from area to area, while staying the same within one growing area. I haven't found a connection as to the reason for the difference. All these plants came from the same initial cutting so I'm pretty sure its all the same plant.

I do not use CO2 or any fertiziler besides fishy food on any of the UG and use only RO water. I've based this off the carnivorous plants forums recommendations. Alot of carnivorous plants will rapidly die off with normal aquatic fertiziler levels, but people here seem to be growing well with them.

From my experiences this plant likes to sulk when moved, its been 2-4 weeks after every cutting I've taken to show any growth. Its a small sample size of bout 20ish cutting but its been 100% consistant. It sits there doing nothing for a few weeks then takes off one day.

I have yet to have this plant flower. Someday, someday.


----------



## hydrophyte

**New Project!**

I have a plan for a riparium in the 11.4-gallon Mr. Aqua rimless tank. This model has a real nice shape (11.8" X 11.8" X 18.9") and I think that I have a good concept in mind for a riparium planting. 

I am going to shoot for a layout with a fine, grassy theme. I want to use baby panda bamboo (_Pogonatherum crinitum_) in several planters for most of the emersed background. 










This is a cool little plant. I have several of them going in riparium planters and they are finally (months later) starting to fill out. Baby panda bamboo is not a fast-growing plant. It really does look a lot like bamboo, but it is not a true bamboo. Like bamboo, however, it is a kind of grass.

I want to get some nice fish for this setup.

The tank came tonight with UPS and I got a few pictures. It shipped in a great bog box with lots of that spray expanding foam.










Here is the tank with stand.










More later...


----------



## Dendro Dave

Grassy theme? Utricularia graminfolia would be perfect for a very short grassy foreground plant...you shouldn't need co2


----------



## hydrophyte

I am not going to use _Utricularia gramminifolia_ in this tank. It won't work for the configuration that I have in mind. I have plenty of other plants to use.


----------



## Dendro Dave

hydrophyte said:


> I am not going to use _Utricularia gramminifolia_ in this tank. It won't work for the configuration that I have in mind. I have plenty of other plants to use.


Your call of course. I'm curious though in what way would it not be suitable to the configuration?


----------



## hydrophyte

I got some plants into the 11.4G setup...










The planting is real simple. The riparium plants are, from left...


_Pilea grandifolia_ -- on a trellis raft
_Pogonatherum paniceum_, baby panda bamboo
_Fittonia_ "red vein" -- on trellis raft
_Laguncularia racemosa, _white mangrove
_Acorus gramineus_ "dwarf"

I really like the baby panda bamboo in there. I will switch up the plants some more to better resolve the layout. There are also a couple of rosette swords (_Echinodorus parviflorus_ 'Tropica') underwater. I will add more underwater plants too.


----------



## hydrophyte

I replanted the 50-gallon tank.










Here is a quick current list of the riparium plants. I have a few pretty cool selections included in there.


_Caladium praetermissum _ (former _Xanthosoma_ 'Hilo Beauty')
_Colocasia fallax_
_Schismatoglottis_ 'Frosty Kiss'
_Acrostichum danaeifolium_, leather fern
_Avicennia germinans_, black mangrove
_Laguncularia racemosa_, white mangrove
_Pilea grandifolia_

The tall riparium plants are sparce and spindly. The _Caladium_, _Colocasia_ and _Pilea_ should start to fill the area around the planters with time to grow in.

The underwater portion has various stems and also a few crypts. It is just a jumbled mess now and I need to replant it.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here is a quick picture of the 11.4G from tonight. I worked on the underwater area some more and I also added fish. the plants are looking pretty good.


----------



## Saviorself

Tanks are looking great devon! Is that a cichlid you have in there? What kind? I just started stocking that 60 gallon I got from with some fish


----------



## hydrophyte

Hey thanks Will. I did not know that you were over here on dendroboard.com.

That little cichlid is an _Apistogramma_. I can't remember which species???? He is a little extra fish that I have had around for a while. There are also three glowlight tetras in there. 

Hey I'd love to see pictures of that setup of yours if you might ever have time to shoot a few.


----------



## Dendro Dave

I'm still curious why you don't think U. graminfolia would be suitable? It looks like from a practical stand point it would do fine in those tanks (I addressed the co2 concern earlier). From an aesthetic view I think it would rock in those tanks, but that is a subjective opinion you may not share. So basically I'm asking do you feel it is unsuitable because you don't like it, or think it would look good or because you think it still won't work? If so why? Just curious still


----------



## Saviorself

hydrophyte said:


> Hey thanks Will. I did not know that you were over here on dendroboard.com.
> 
> That little cichlid is an _Apistogramma_. I can't remember which species???? He is a little extra fish that I have had around for a while. There are also three glowlight tetras in there.
> 
> Hey I'd love to see pictures of that setup of yours if you might ever have time to shoot a few.


I couldnt find the good camera wife hod it somewhere so I quick took these for ya with my phone. Still has some growing in to do.

I havent finished scaping the bottom yet.


----------



## hydrophyte

Wow that looks great Will. You put the plants together in a nice way. Is that plant with the largest leaves (_Croton_???) growing well in there? Does it have new roots forming? 

This will look awesome when the plants have time to grow about 50% bigger.


----------



## Saviorself

Yeah the croton is growing really well. Got it last june and its put out probably 9 leaves since then. It is putting out quite a few roots right into the water column. Been thinking bout tossing a dumbcane in there saw some nice variagated ones at home depot last time I was there. Thanks for the comments.


----------



## hydrophyte

That's good to know about the _Croton_. I should try that one.

Some dumbcane (_Dieffenbachia_) can grow real well in ripariums. The one that I have had the best luck with is 'Camille', which stays nice and small.

Just remember that dumbcane is quite poisonous. You can get nasty chemical burns from the sap. I have never had any trouble, but I am extra cautious when handling the plants that I have. I keep them up and out of the way of the dog.


----------



## camlov2

Beautiful tanks. One of my favorite parts is that without a top you are not as limited with the size of plants, one of the main problems I am having in my smaller viv.


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## xxohmycaptainxx

What do you use to keep your plants on the back wall of the tank? Do you use those suction cup/ magnet aquarium pots? If so did you get them from ripariumsupply.com, if you didn't where did you get them?


----------



## zBrinks

Dātokaeru56;544468 said:


> What do you use to keep your plants on the back wall of the tank? Do you use those suction cup/ magnet aquarium pots? If so did you get them from ripariumsupply.com, if you didn't where did you get them?


 He is ripariumsupply.com


----------



## Saviorself

Yep the planter cups you can get with suction cups or magnets and I got them from hydrophyte who runs riapriumsupply. Highly recommended.


----------



## xxohmycaptainxx

So i take thats the only site that sells them. Well ok. Kinda hoped someone else did as RS.com is pretty expensive.


----------



## xxohmycaptainxx

Hey hydropyhte do you know what plants you used in this riparium 



 I know its one of your because the username is ripariumsupply. Please reply soon I'd love to know, since this is exactly what I want my riparium to look like.

Also what is that large fish zooming in and out of the plants?


----------



## Saviorself

Dātokaeru56;545479 said:


> Hey hydropyhte do you know what plants you used in this riparium YouTube - 12 X 10 riparium video II I know its one of your because the username is ripariumsupply. Please reply soon I'd love to know, since this is exactly what I want my riparium to look like.
> 
> Also what is that large fish zooming in and out of the plants?


He doesnt frequent this board much. You would probably get a quicker respons on aquaticplantethusiast.com forums. Theres a riparium section to post in. Good luck with the tank.


----------



## hydrophyte

Dātokaeru56;545479 said:


> Hey hydropyhte do you know what plants you used in this riparium YouTube - 12 X 10 riparium video II I know its one of your because the username is ripariumsupply. Please reply soon I'd love to know, since this is exactly what I want my riparium to look like.
> 
> Also what is that large fish zooming in and out of the plants?


Hi sorry to not respond more quickly I have not been back to this forum in a few days.

This setup had various plants. The plant filling most of the abovewater area was the grassy _Acorus gramineus_ 'Ogon'. That is a great riparium plant. Other riparium plants included _Pilea granifolia_, _Echinodorus cordifolius_ and _Oplismenus hirtella_. the underwater area had a few low tech crypts and _Echinodorus_.

That largest fish is a _Cryptoheros cutteri_. That is a real common species among the cichlid hobbyists. It is not overly aggressive and hardy and easy to keep.


----------



## Brian Williams

Very nice. I rarely get flowers on my crypts.


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## xxohmycaptainxx

thanks its fine with the late response I don't check this forum that often too, only every couple of days.

Oh and what other species of fish were in there?


----------



## hydrophyte

I have some new tank pictures from various setups I might post more pretty soon.

The other fish in that 50-gallon setup included _Ilyodon furcidens_, _Poeciliopsis turneri_ and _Synodontis lucipinnis_. Those are all great aquarium fish, some of my favorites.


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## Arpeggio

Hey I knew those tanks look familiar! The Planted Tank Forum ftw.

We're from the same city also.


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## hydrophyte

Hey Arpeggio which side of town do you live on?

The planting in the 55 is still doing well. This is most definitely the least demanding riparium that I have ever done. It gets only about 20 minutes of attention each week and looks great. A riparium setup like this would be real good for dentists' offices and similar settings.


----------



## hydrophyte

I just redid the planting in my 50-gallon setup. It looks a lot better, but the plants have some growing-in to do.










There are a few pretty cool riparium plants in there. I should write again with a list of selections.


----------



## doncoyote

It looks fantastic!


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## hydrophyte

Hey thanks. It will be looking a lot better when the plants grow in some more.


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## madran2

Looks awesome!


----------



## lauraleellbp

I like this one Devin!

Is the big E. africanus you got from me in there somewhere? (How's it doing for you, BTW?)


----------



## Groundhog

Sir Hydrophyte:

You have repeatedly mentioned that these are not set ups for any herps--may I ask, with modifications, why not? (By modifications, I of course mean screen covers and maybe a protruding log.)

In a big set up. why not:

Dwarf Sirens w American flagfish
Aquatic caecilians w Ropefish
Dwarf clawed frogs w African butterflies
Puddle frogs w bettas 
tropical Bombina
Hyla heilprini w Endlers livebearer
Theloderma sp. w small gouramis and rasboras
certain Cynops (modifying the plant selection a bit) w vampire crabs
Smaller aquatic carnivorous turtles (ditto, but no crabs!)
Smaller aquatic snakes
Water skinks (Tropidophorus sp.) w freshwater gobies and/or Celebes rainbows

Would you be reluctant to try any of these?


----------



## Dendro Dave

There's no reason you can't do the water feature of a viv like this, or do a half and half type viv/paludarium...he just isn't into keeping herps much.


----------



## lauraleellbp

A big part of the riparium design is growing the plants out the top of the tank, so they don't work so well covered. Most (if not all?) herps just wouldn't be safe to keep in an uncovered tank.

A covered setup would be more correctly called a paludarium.


----------



## Dendro Dave

lauraleellbp said:


> A big part of the riparium design is growing the plants out the top of the tank, so they don't work so well covered. Most (if not all?) herps just wouldn't be safe to keep in an uncovered tank.
> 
> A covered setup would be more correctly called a paludarium.


True if you're growing really large stuff, but a 6inch deep water section with 12-18+ inches of back wall till you hit the top of the tank would give you a lot of room to work with for smaller/medium plant species. You could have quite a few aquatic/marginals growing in there without scraping the lights on the top. You could do a riparium/planted drip wall as part of a vivarium even. All kinds of places you could take the basic idea. Now if the true definition of a "riparium" means that the plants actually have to grow outside of the tank and not just above the water line...thats another story  Still be basically the same thing though no matter what you called it.


----------



## reptij

i like the 3rd picture a lot!


----------



## Groundhog

lauraleellbp said:


> A big part of the riparium design is growing the plants out the top of the tank, so they don't work so well covered. Most (if not all?) herps just wouldn't be safe to keep in an uncovered tank.
> 
> A covered setup would be more correctly called a paludarium.


I had a paludarium from 1986 to 2004, so I am somewhat familar with the concept  Ever since a knee injury, I cannot maintain huge set ups anymore (unable to move big tanks, etc.)

What I did learn is that a screen top is actually problematic--I had to cover the "pond" side with saran wrap to elevate the humidity. once I did, the emersed crypts, anubias, bacopa, java moss, etc. did quite well. 

I also learned that, for aquatic organisms, surface area is way more important than volume. It is actually not very difficult to maintain quite a few small fish in a wide, shallow pool--once the tank is established. I measured the actual volume of water at 4.75 gal, with 1 African butterfly, 5 Rasbora espei,* 2 Honey gouramis, 2 Cory panda, 3 bumblebee gobies and a mudskipper. Even raised a South American lungfish until it grew too large, and (s)he never bothered her tankmates (great aquatic pet, btw).

It was a very rewarding experience. 

*Though I did learn the hard way that Day Geckos occasionally hunt fish...


----------



## hydrophyte

I have a few specific things to add to these responses. I'll write more with another post. 



lauraleellbp said:


> I like this one Devin!
> 
> Is the big E. africanus you got from me in there somewhere? (How's it doing for you, BTW?)


Laura I did not buy that plant. I think it might have been Justin D. who bought it.


----------



## hydrophyte

I'll get back to those comments from before but right now I have a couple quick pictures of one of my favorite riparium plants.

I got the baby panda bamboo (_Pogonatherum crinitum_) in the 11.4G tank growing a lot better and now it looks pretty good. I really like this plant a lot. 










Here is close-up of the base of the plant. You can see that it is growing vigorously now with lots of new shoots. 










I just cleaned that tank. Tomorrow after the water has had time to clear I'll get a picture of the whole thing.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here is a picture from today with all of the riparium foliage.










If you compare against the older shots you can see the foliage is much more full. This picture is from 1 January 2011.










The underwater portion doesn't look like much. There was a lot of algae there for a while so I removed the underwater plants. The pike cichlid murdered everybody else and now he's the only fish in there. I really like that fish, but he isn't very good for photography because he just sneaks around.


----------



## hydrophyte

A few months back the black mangroves in my 50-gallon setup started to grow these _pneumatophores._










Pneumatophores probably help the mangrove trees to improve oxygen uptake in strongly anoxic substrates. Cypress knees might have a similar function.

It took a while for the pneumatophores to develop. Black mangrove is a slow-growing plant.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here is a quick FTS of that 11.4G tank.










This tank would benefit from more fish to swim around in that middle area. There is a single _Crenicichla_ cichlid in there, but he just sneaks around and I don't see him much.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's another view of the foliage. I love that baby panda bamboo.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's a quick photo update for that 11.4G tank.










I added the driftwood branches and also a few more fish to fill more of the vertical space.


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## joshct

looks great


----------



## hydrophyte

Thanks joshct!


----------



## frogparty

I like to think of pneumatophores as snorkels for plants


----------



## hydrophyte

frogparty said:


> I like to think of pneumatophores as snorkels for plants


Yep I have heard there is still debate about that among the plant physiologists but that is probably right. 

Here is a quick picture update for the 50-gallon setup. 










I removed all of the underwater plants and added some big limestone boulders. I realize that I need to work on scaping the stones some more, but I wanted to get them in there for an idea. I like the way that the _Poecilia_ are the same color as the rocks.

I also switched the riparium plants around some. I am going to shoot for a background filled mainly with those _Spathiphyllum, _and with the _Colocasia fallax_ as a centerpiece.


----------



## hydrophyte

I made another new scape for the 50-gallon setup. You can see that I replaced that largest rock on the right and a couple of others.










I think that this is an improvement(?). I am going to do a bit more rearranging.


----------



## Mitch

Looks good! How come you only use rocks in your underwater scape? I think some moss covered wood could look awesome. Sorta like this:

http://www.adana-th.com/limagegal/image/nano7.jpg

Oh, and the wood protruding out of the surface looks even cooler


----------



## hydrophyte

Mitch said:


> Looks good! How come you only use rocks in your underwater scape? I think some moss covered wood could look awesome. Sorta like this:
> 
> http://www.adana-th.com/limagegal/image/nano7.jpg
> 
> Oh, and the wood protruding out of the surface looks even cooler


I prefer for this one to just have the boulders prominent, so I do not plan to add moss or driftwood.

I have a quick photo update from last night for the 120 riparium setup with Mexican livebearers. I replanted the whole thing and it is still growing in. It will be a little while before the plants get to be nice and full.










I also changed the fish stocking a little while ago. I replaced the _Xenoataenia resolane_ that were in there with another goodeid, _Ilyodon furcidens_. The _I. furcidens_ are a better aquarium fish. They are nice and robust and never stop swimming; the _X. resolanae_ hid much of the time.


----------



## frogface

Stunning! I'm so glad you continue to share these with us


----------



## hydrophyte

Hey thanks frogface!


----------



## hydrophyte

Finally I cleared some space and got the tank set up for my brackish riparium project










I have these really great manzanita stumps that I am going to use in here. I have not yet had them in an aquarium and I stuck them in there to start leaching the organics out and get them to sink. I am going to use aragaonite sand for the bottom of the tank.

This is going to be a simple setup with some nice fish and plants. I will post a plant list at some point with the stuff I intend to use. They include a few botanically-cool selections.


----------



## bristles

Hi Devin,
Is this the set up at science house ? if it is folks will really enjoy seeing it totally grown in. I remember when everything was blooming and creeping over the top. Seeing it is always something extra to look forward to when going to the aquarium gardeners club every month


----------



## Morgan Freeman

Looking good! I loved your tanks so much I've decided to create my own. It's only a 12 inch cube and I'm just ready for planting. Thinking of doing a crypt theme can you advise on 4 good crypts that would work well together?


----------



## hydrophyte

bristles said:


> Hi Devin,
> Is this the set up at science house ? if it is folks will really enjoy seeing it totally grown in. I remember when everything was blooming and creeping over the top. Seeing it is always something extra to look forward to when going to the aquarium gardeners club every month


Hi John. No this setup is just in a 30 breeder that I have at home. I am going to have several mangrove trees and some pretty cool fish to put in here. 



Morgan Freeman said:


> Looking good! I loved your tanks so much I've decided to create my own. It's only a 12 inch cube and I'm just ready for planting. Thinking of doing a crypt theme can you advise on 4 good crypts that would work well together?


Thanks! The really important thing with growing crypts in a riparium is that they need to be kept in *high-humidity conditions*. I set up my crypt ripariums with lowered water levels and covered tops so that the moist air will stay inside.


----------



## hydrophyte

I got some great new fish for my 50-gallon riparium setup today. Another hobbyist sent me ~15 _Limia melanogaster_ (a livebearer) and 6 _Thorichthys elliotii_ (a cichlid) in the post. They arrived today with 100% survival. I scooped out the _Poecilia chica_ that were in there and introduced the new fish and they look great!

The _Thoricthys_ have some growing up to do. They are only ~1" long or so.

I will try to get pictures tonight.


----------



## Nigel Moses

Very impressive stuff!


----------



## hydrophyte

Thanks Nigel Moss!

Here is a quick picture with the _Thoricthys elliotii_ and _Limia melanogaster_ that I got just yesterday in the mail for the 50-gallon riparium setup. They are real nice little fish.










There are still a few mollies that I need to catch and get out of there and the _T. elliotii_ need to get bigger. I will keep feeding well so they can grow.


----------



## hydrophyte

I'll have more pictures for that brackish planted soon.


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## hydrophyte

I am writing a series of blog articles with more detail about my mangrove riparium for the AquaBotanic.com blog. I am going to have some pretty cool plants in there. Follow this link to read the first entry...

*Mangrove Riparium Journal - Article #1 of 4*


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## toksyn

Amazing tanks! Some of them look like ADA style aquariums - do you just remove the trim from all-glass aquariums or are they ADA?


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## VicSkimmr

FYI, the link to your site at the bottom of the article is broken.


----------



## hydrophyte

toksyn said:


> Amazing tanks! Some of them look like ADA style aquariums - do you just remove the trim from all-glass aquariums or are they ADA?


I have a few regular Aqueon aquariums that I have removed the rims from and also a couple of rimless tanks that I purchased. The Mr. Aqua is a nice rimless tank that is pretty affordable.



VicSkimmr said:


> FYI, the link to your site at the bottom of the article is broken.


Thanks! I will get that fixed.


----------



## hydrophyte

I have here what looks like a fun plant to use as background for my 50G tank. This is cat palm (_Chamaedorea cataractarum_) and it might make an excellent riparium plant. I will try to pot some up in riparium planters soon and post more pictures with details.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here is another really great mangrove that I plan to use in my new brackish setup, white mangrove (_Laguncularia racemosa_). I currently have it going in my 11-4G riparium setup but it is growing fast and getting too big for that tank. It has these great paddle-shaped rubbery leaves.










I have been growing it all along in freshwater. It will need a slow adaptation period to adjust to brackish conditions.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's another view of that same white mangrove. I wish I had more of them. I started out with quite a few of the little propagules about a year-and-a-half ago, but I gave them away/sold them all.










This is a really cool plant. When I grow it in the brackish tank it will be important to remember to rinse the salt from the leaves every couple of days. Even growing in the freshwater setup it has salt accumulation on the leaves from the little bit of salt in our tapwater and the ferts that I add. You can see the salt as the little bit of glistening on the leaves.


----------



## hydrophyte

I have a new photo update for my 50G setup. I cleaned the tank and got this quick shot.










I did not take the care to get the fish into the shot. I will take more time later on for some better pictures. The fish are looking great.

I changed the background _Spathiphyllum_. These new ones that I added have longer petioles and a more elegant look. I have a number of other real nice plants in there including a couple of botanically interesting selections. I should make another picture with numbers to point those out.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's another quick picture of the 50 from tonight.


----------



## chinoanoah

You have my heart.


----------



## hydrophyte

I have a fun plant update for my 50G riparium setup. I have tried a couple of different water-associated orchids--most orchids live up in trees--in ripariums, but never had much luck till now. This water spider orchid (_Habneria repens_) is definitely growing in here. It has two new little shoots and a lot of new roots forming in the planter too. 










I hope that I will get to see it flower. I will shoot lots of pictures if it does.


----------



## hydrophyte

The baby panda bamboo in my 11.4G setup is flowering! Grass flowers are usually pretty plain but this is cool anyway.


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## hydrophyte

I keep running into new unusual strange plants that are possible candidates for my 40G brackish setup that I am working on.

I was just reminded about an especially weird tropical aroid that grows in swampy riverbank forests in South America, _Montrichardia arborescens_. It grows into a weird small tree and forms dense stands in the water. Just look at these image search results...

Google: _Montricharida arborescens_

Sometimes it is hard to find commerical sources for odd tropicals in the US, even though nurseries in Australia and Indonesia and places like that have them, but there is apparently this place in Florida that has this plant...

MONTRICHARDIA ARBORESCENS - MOCOU MOCOU.

I gotta get this plant and try it out in this tank. Supposedly it can grow in brackish water too. It will eventually get way too big, but I should be able to manage it for a while and maybe prune it back. 

Here is a Wikimedia Commons (Montrichardia arborescens - Wikimedia Commons) image of W. arborescens showing the foliage and spathe...


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## hydrophyte

Well now I think I might need to tear down my 11.4G setup and replant it. I had wanted to get some new fish and clean up everything so I could do some more good photography, but now the baby panda bamboo has just gotten to be a bit too large and it's throwing too much shade. Whoops!










This stuff takes a while (months) to grow in. It will be a while before I have the layout looking nice and full again.


----------



## hydrophyte

Hey I got water and plants into the 56 column and here is a quick picture...










There are several real nice plants in there.


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## santoury

What is the tallest plant in there ? Fern of some kind ?


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## hydrophyte

That is a leather fern. I can send you one of those. Did you get the box I shipped Tuesday yet?


----------



## hydrophyte

I have a real nice cichlid that I'm keeping in my 56 Column setup just provisionally, this _Cryptoheros cutteri_. This is a real nice fish.


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## hydrophyte

Finally last night I made some more time to clean up my 40G mangrove riparium setup for some picture-taking. It took while for those manzanita stumps to sink and to stop staining the water so much.










I have some really great plants in here. The mangrove trees are all nice and big, but the _Bacopa monnieri _and the leather ferns need to grow in some more. I look forward to tracking down some fish. It is getting closer to ready.


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## hydrophyte

The better part of the afternoon yesterday I spent potting up these new plants that I got in the order from Hawaii. They included three water-associated palms that I put in riparium planters and stuck in the 50G setup. I got some other really great plants too. I shot lots of pictures and I want to post them up just need to process them.


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## hydrophyte

Hey here's another shot of that 40G brackish mangrove riparium setup with a different view. The plants look pretty thick from this angle...


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## hydrophyte

Hey here's another new article about ripariums! This one was published about a week ago in _The Aquatic Gazette_

Aquascape | Riparium Style
Isaac Evan Tan June 2011

Check it!


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## hydrophyte

Hey I got a new YouTube video put together here is the link...









*


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## hydrophyte

I got some new fish for my 56G setup. These are some pretty cool new fish...


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## santoury

Come on buddy! What kind are they ?


----------



## Bonobo

oehhhh!! Gorgeous! Really diggin that mangrove setup. Also, great video man!
I will definitely be setting one of these up some day!


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## Baltimore Bryan

These are really cool looking, thanks for sharing the pictures.
I would really like to try one... unfortunately I have no space but maybe it could be a project to do during the winter or something. I have no experience with these, so please excuse my ignorance, but do you think it would be possible to keep some sort of mudskipper in one of these? I remember one pet store display tank that was a sort of paladarium that had a mudskipper in it, and I thought it was so neat. I guess my main concern would be if they could jump out or climb up the plants and escape? 
Thanks,
Bryan


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## hydrophyte

Bonobo said:


> oehhhh!! Gorgeous! Really diggin that mangrove setup. Also, great video man!
> I will definitely be setting one of these up some day!


Hey thanks! Thanks for watching that video; it took forever to make.



Baltimore Bryan said:


> These are really cool looking, thanks for sharing the pictures.
> I would really like to try one... unfortunately I have no space but maybe it could be a project to do during the winter or something. I have no experience with these, so please excuse my ignorance, but do you think it would be possible to keep some sort of mudskipper in one of these? I remember one pet store display tank that was a sort of paladarium that had a mudskipper in it, and I thought it was so neat. I guess my main concern would be if they could jump out or climb up the plants and escape?
> Thanks,
> Bryan


You could do a mudskipper riparium very well. You would want to do it in a good-sized tank with a lowered water level and tight canopy because I have read that they will climp right up the glass. I think that a 65G might be a good size for some of the smaller species. With the water level lowered down to about 40% full it would have about 25 gallons of water. 

I think that a good configuration would be a few mangrove trees in riparium planters on the rear pane, with a good-sized hunk of driftwood out in the middle and sticking out of the water for the mudskippers to climb on.


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## AeroWRX

This is an amazing thread. Gave me a lot of ideas for a croc skink tank


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## hydrophyte

AeroWRX said:


> This is an amazing thread. Gave me a lot of ideas for a croc skink tank


Ripariums setups are mainly for fish, and plants. They don't have any real land area. Do croc kinks live in the water?


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## AeroWRX

hydrophyte said:


> Ripariums setups are mainly for fish, and plants. They don't have any real land area. Do croc kinks live in the water?


Croc skinks are 50/50 land water and can swim. I've seen that the preferred croc skink tanks are usually about 20% land and 50% water and 30% aerial.


----------



## frogface

hydrophyte said:


> I have a fun plant update for my 50G riparium setup. I have tried a couple of different water-associated orchids--most orchids live up in trees--in ripariums, but never had much luck till now. This water spider orchid (_Habneria repens_) is definitely growing in here. It has two new little shoots and a lot of new roots forming in the planter too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope that I will get to see it flower. I will shoot lots of pictures if it does.


I've got a few orchids growing in water (just water vases): paphs, phals, vanilla. They've been in water for well over a year now (maybe two?) and are doing well. I haven't had any blooms but I think that might be due to not enough light by the window where they sit. 

I'd love to see one of your tanks stuffed with orchids


----------



## hydrophyte

frogface said:


> I've got a few orchids growing in water (just water vases): paphs, phals, vanilla. They've been in water for well over a year now (maybe two?) and are doing well. I haven't had any blooms but I think that might be due to not enough light by the window where they sit.
> 
> I'd love to see one of your tanks stuffed with orchids


I know that a lot of orchids can grow pretty well in semi-hydroponic culture rooted in hydroton and sitting in a water bath. However, the biggest problem that I see with using them in riparium setups is that I generally like the display to emulate a real riverbank environment. Most of those orchids are epiphytes, so they just are not such good representations.

That _H. repens_, on the other hand, is an actual swamp-growing species that lives right in the water out in nature.


----------



## frogface

There has to be a way around that. I think some phrags grow along stream banks on rocks. Why not try adding a nice piece of wood or rock to your display and mount a paph or phrag there. I bet the roots would dive into the water and give it an interesting effect.


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## hydrophyte

Read what I wrote down. What I am saying is that I am just not interested in trying epiphytic orchids in ripariums because they are not representative of this kind of habitat. There are so many other plants that are better choices as real ripariun habitat plants. If I want to grow epiphytes in a display then I'll make something more like an epiphytic habitat. 

Most phrags are actually terrestrial and many of them also grow in streamside environments. There is one that I have been trying to find that might be a real good one for riparium, _P. percei._


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## frogface

I hope you find it. A quick search proved it to be a tough one to track down. I'll keep an eye open.

Meanwhile, maybe I'll set up an orchid swamp in one of my extra tanks.


----------



## tclipse

Baltimore Bryan said:


> These are really cool looking, thanks for sharing the pictures.
> I would really like to try one... unfortunately I have no space but maybe it could be a project to do during the winter or something. I have no experience with these, so please excuse my ignorance, but do you think it would be possible to keep some sort of mudskipper in one of these? I remember one pet store display tank that was a sort of paladarium that had a mudskipper in it, and I thought it was so neat. I guess my main concern would be if they could jump out or climb up the plants and escape?
> Thanks,
> Bryan


Bryan, a group of Indian Dwarf mudskippers would do great in a setup like the one I quoted below (except brackish, and with more landmass)... they spend most of the day perched and like having some space to move around. 

I suppose if the entire back was lined with planter pots, along with some driftwood above the water's surface in the mid/foreground, that would be enough for 2-3. With more landspace, you could have more. They are pretty territorial about their perches... if there isn't enough space you will know, because one of them will be permanently underwater. At least it's an easy problem to resolve- just add more above-water real estate.

Most of the other mudskipper species get pretty big (8"+) and would be destructive with some of the more delicate plants, so I would stick with the Indian Dwarves (3" max).



hydrophyte said:


> Hey I got water and plants into the 56 column and here is a quick picture...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are several real nice plants in there.


----------



## Baltimore Bryan

tclipse said:


> Bryan, a group of Indian Dwarf mudskippers would do great in a setup like the one I quoted below (except brackish, and with more landmass)... they spend most of the day perched and like having some space to move around.
> 
> I suppose if the entire back was lined with planter pots, along with some driftwood above the water's surface in the mid/foreground, that would be enough for 2-3. With more landspace, you could have more. They are pretty territorial about their perches... if there isn't enough space you will know, because one of them will be permanently underwater. At least it's an easy problem to resolve- just add more above-water real estate.
> 
> Most of the other mudskipper species get pretty big (8"+) and would be destructive with some of the more delicate plants, so I would stick with the Indian Dwarves (3" max).


I was thinking of only doing 1-2 dwarf mudskippers so that there wouldn't have to be as much land space since I really like the way these ripariums look. I figured between the plants and some driftwood pieces/ large rocks sticking out of the water, it would be enough for a couple little territories. The thing that's making me lean away from mudskippers is both the brackish water and that they climb glass. I really like the clean, sleek look of these rimless ripariums, but it seems with a mudskipper I would need either a full lid or at least some sort of "lip" around the edge so they couldn't climb out as easily.
The other thing is that being brackish, it seems to limit plant choices. Hydrophyte, aside from mangroves, have you found some other plants suited for brackish tanks? I think mangroves look cool, but they had always been slow growers for me, and I would also like a little variety with plants that look different, too. Also, what kind of brackish fish would you plan on keeping in yours (All I know are mollies, some gobies, archers, and some puffers)? I'm interested to see how your brackish riparium shapes up and grows in over time. 
I might just end up going with a freshwater riparium, because I love all of the colorful plant and fish choices, and if I can find space, set up a 5-10 gallon mudskipper tank for a couple because from my research they look really interesting and personable.
Last question for now- when you say you take regular aquarium tanks, remove the black trim, clean the silicone and re-silione it, do you actually remove all of the old silicone and start from scratch? Or is it more of scraping the extras and applying another layer for added strength since it will be rimless?

Thanks,
Bryan


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## Samtheman

Hey, great thread. I've enjoyed reading it from beginning to end. I would just like to comment that mudskippers are awful climbers of glass. I kept a group of dwarf mudskippers in a 30 gallon brackish tank. They never made it far above the water line, which was about 2/3s up the side of the glass. Not to say that the mudskippers do not climb. They were all over my rock work and manzanita, I had a dominant male that would perch at the very top of one manzanita and survey his domain. The only time they would come to the glass was when I entered the room. They learned pretty quickly that I was their food source and would line up along the glass waiting. It was cute but also eerie to be so observed. Another note on mudskippers and that they are messy fish and need good filtration. A great fish family to work with over all.


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## hydrophyte

Hey I'm sorry I haven't been back into this thread in a while. I can offer some responses to those questions above and I'll write again later.

In the meantime I have a quick picture of a new setup that I am doing. This is an old vintage 29G Metaframe tank that I am putting together for a single fancy goldfish and I might also add a small group of white cloud mountain minnows too.


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## hydrophyte

Hey I got a fun plant blooming in my 50G riparium setup, this _Berkeria spectabilis_ orchid.










I did _not_ grow this plant in there, but I found it a convenient place to hang it up to enjoy the flowers.


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## hydrophyte

I'm trying to figure out a new plant theme for my 11.4G setup. I want to try something different. Here is one idea that I have for a background plant to grow in several planters...










This is _Cyperus albostriatus_. It has the important advantage that it grows no taller than about 12". That other _C. involucratus_ that I use a lot can get pretty big. However this one has an important caveat. Instead of having a *clumping* growth habit like that other _Cyperus_, _C. albostriatus_ is *rhizomatous*. You can see that really well in this picture fo the uprooted plant. The effect of this is that in the riparium the rhizomes just run around and around in the planter and the plant doesn't grow many shoots and doesn't grow in very full. 

Well I might try it out anyway in this setup. Maybe if I keep nice bright consistent light on it it will grow in better.


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## tclipse

Love the cutteri, an awesome cichlid for sure.



Baltimore Bryan said:


> Hydrophyte, aside from mangroves, have you found some other plants suited for brackish tanks?
> 
> Thanks,
> Bryan


A lot of the crypts will do fine in brackish, as well as java fern, java moss, vallisneria, "dwarf onion", and some others.. that's all I can remember off the top of my head.


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## hydrophyte

I _finally _got back to work on the mangrove setup. I decided to move the whole planting into this 65G tank and I think I like this better...










There are some _really_ cool plants in this planting, all are apparently authentic mangrove habitat species. I added a small group of fish too! I need ot get some better pictures of them.


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## VicSkimmr

That mangrove setup is _fantastic_!


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## Feelin Froggy

I'm with Jason... that is pretty BA!! Is that a salt, fresh, or brackish water set up. It would cool and authentic if it were brackish!!


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## hydrophyte

Hey thanks so much. I still just have freshwater in this tank. Those plants are all real mangrove species. I am going to start adding salt, but I am going to keep it on the lighter side. Some of the plants, such as the white mangrove, are less tolerant of salt than others.


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## hydrophyte

Yesterday a really cool plant got here FedEx. I potted it up and got it into this setup. It looks a little ratty from the move, but if it takes it will grow into a really cool centerpiece plant for this tank...

*Google: Lasia spinosa*





*


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## hydrophyte

Here's a quick FTS update for my 50G setup. I have mostly all new plants in there. The water was still abit cloudy for this shot because I was mving stuff around. I took a few pictures of some of my cool new plants and I'll post those too.


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## hydrophyte

Here's one of the plants I am using for background foliage in the 50G. This is cat palm (_Chamaedorea cataractarum_)...










This plant looks nice and it has a very good growth habit for riparium layouts, but it grows very slow. I see new leaves on these plants only about every five weeks. 

This plant is cool because it is a real streamside plant. It seems very happy in the riparium and has lots of good roots formed in the planter.


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## hydrophyte

I have a couple shots of the black mangrove pneumatophores kicking around here. I moved this tree for the 65 into my 50G for better picture-taking. Here you can better see those fibrous roots that started growing from them.










They make a neat effect from the top too.


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## hydrophyte

There are a lot of great collector plants that you can keep in a ripairum!

This is the new plant that I was really excited to get, _Lasia spinosa_. I did this quick knockout to better show the shape of the leaf and to save you my zombie skin tone. I have been looking for this semi-aquatic aroid for a long time and it finally came yesterday with a box of trades.


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## hydrophyte

Last night I got the stand for my 56 Column setup all put together. I will probably be up all night tonight moving everything upstairs and into place. This is going to be a high-humidity riparium wiht some pretty cool plants inside. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.


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## Neontra

hydrophyte said:


> There are a lot of great collector plants that you can keep in a ripairum!
> 
> This is the new plant that I was really excited to get, _Lasia spinosa_. I did this quick knockout to better show the shape of the leaf and to save you my zombie skin tone. I have been looking for this semi-aquatic aroid for a long time and it finally came yesterday with a box of trades.


How did you maake everything but the plant black and white? Nice tanks BTW!


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## hydrophyte

Hi, Thanks! It was easy I used the magic wand and lasso in Photoshop then I selected the reverse and took away the hue.


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## hydrophyte

This is a cool plant, _Schismatoglottis_ 'Frosty Kiss'. I am using it in the 56 Column high-humidity riparium setup that I'm working on right now. It has grown really well in its riparium plant.










This is such a great plant. It took a while to grow up big like this.


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## Neontra

hydrophyte said:


> This is a cool plant, _Schismatoglottis_ 'Frosty Kiss'. I am using it in the 56 Column high-humidity riparium setup that I'm working on right now. It has grown really well in its riparium plant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is such a great plant. It took a while to grow up big like this.


Cool plant. I have one that looks exactly like that, but it's all green, no white. It sprouts about 5 leaves a week


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## james67

Neontra said:


> Cool plant. I have one that looks exactly like that, but it's all green, no white. It sprouts about 5 leaves a week


you sure you have schismatoglottis? i only know of 2 varieties currently available (if you could even say that theyre available) and neither have solid colored leaves.

id venture to guess that you have some other aroid. burle marxii has leaves that shape and solid green, but its generally a bit bigger.

james


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## hydrophyte

I'm working on more pictures. Here is a quick shot of that 56 on its new stand...


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## james67

hydrophyte said:


>


i had no idea they got this big. that is a truly stunning specimen!!!

james


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## hydrophyte

Yeha that plant grows really well in a riparium.


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## Neontra

james67 said:


> you sure you have schismatoglottis? i only know of 2 varieties currently available (if you could even say that theyre available) and neither have solid colored leaves.
> 
> id venture to guess that you have some other aroid. burle marxii has leaves that shape and solid green, but its generally a bit bigger.
> 
> james


It might be different, but the leaves are the same size and shape, just solid green


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## hydrophyte

Neontra said:


> It might be different, but the leaves are the same size and shape, just solid green


Can you get a picture of it?


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## hydrophyte

I got the tank set up just last night. Here is a quick view from the side.










I need to get some rocks into the underwater area. There are some pretty cool fish in this setup, but they are all hinding back under the plants because there is no cover for them up front.


----------



## Neontra




----------



## hydrophyte

I don't think that is a _Schismatoglottis_. It looks more like some sort of climber like maybe an _Anthurium_ or something like that.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's a quick update for the 56 Column setup. I'm still working on the underwater area, but here's a quick shot of the riparium plants. There are some really cool plants in there.










I have an EcoXotic LED strip (can't remember the model name??) on the left side of the tank. It creates a wonderful shimmer in the water. 

I just put that white-variegated _Aglaonema_ Chinese evergreen in there. It looks very nice, but it seems a bit too big and showy in the whole layout. It might start looking smarter as the other plants grow in some more.

That _Aglaonema_ is _not_ a true semi-aquatic plant: the wild ancestor plant grows in upland forests in Southeast Asia. However, I had it rooting as a cutting from a houseplant and it grew many new healthy roots right in the water. I hope that it can adapt to being in a riparium. I filled the planter with hydroton so that there would be water diffusion around the roots. I will see how it goes.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's a plant that I have found to be a good one for ripariums, _Pandanus tectorius_. This one os growing in the koi pond at our local botanial garden...










This specimen would obviously be way to big to keep in a fish tank--it's 20+ feet tall--but the little plant that I have in my brackish riparium is looking great and not growing too fast. 

I love those prop roots that this plant grows. I have pictures of the crown too.


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## hydrophyte

Here's a quick picture of the 56G _high humidity_ setup right on the floor after I swiped the stand. I had decided that the stand was too tall. I took 4" off the top, then refinisehed the plywood and put it back together. I was up laate last night reassembling the tank too.










I have a couple of FTS with everything all pu together again here I just need to format them and post them up.


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## hydrophyte

Here is a quick FTS for that 56 with a quick hardscape underwater...


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## Greasy

have any plans to plant the underwater portion?


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## james67

looks like there may be a crypt hiding behind the rock on the right.

as always, your tank looks fantastic.
james


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## hydrophyte

Thanks! I did add some underwater plants. I need to go dig up the links to the photos.


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## hydrophyte

Here you go here it is with plants underwater too...


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## Alegre323

very nice. now add some discus to those tanks and youll be set!


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## hydrophyte

This setup only has 20+ gallons water...not nearly enough for discus. I have some other pretty good fish in there though.


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## Wallace Grover

Wow, looks so amazing...


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## Greasy

That's better. =) Should try some splash tetras, would be cool to see them breed on all of those leaves.


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## hydrophyte

Thanks. It will look even better when I can get some fish up into the frame. There are quite a few fish in there, but they were all hiding in the back.


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## hydrophyte

Here's yet another view of the planting in that 56. There are some great plants in there...


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## james67

what is the plant with the pink-ish hue?

james


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## hydrophyte

That is a cool plant. It is _Caladium bicolor_, which unlike the common horticultural _Caladium _is a true species plant and not a hybrid. Also unlike the horticultural ones it apparently does not require a dry dormancy, so I should be able to keep it in this setup.


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## flyingSquirrel

hydrophyte said:


> I didn't really alter the appearance of the display: my edit just made the underwater area a little bit brighter than it turned out in the original photograph.
> 
> THe plants are all supported by hanging and floating riparium planters, which are hidden by the foliage as the plants grow in. This is why there is no terrestrial land area apparent in this picture. You can see the planting hardware if you get up close and look in at the right angle.


Nice job on that photo edit. I'd say what you did is kind of like HDR photography...High Dynamic Range, which is basically the same concept of combining several exposures of the same scene to render more tones and reduce shadows/highlights that are are blown out


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## hydrophyte

flyingSquirrel said:


> Nice job on that photo edit. I'd say what you did is kind of like HDR photography...High Dynamic Range, which is basically the same concept of combining several exposures of the same scene to render more tones and reduce shadows/highlights that are are blown out


Yeah that's a problem with planted ripariums. They look fine in person, but the shadows and the highlights are both overbaked in the camera, so the underwater area can be very dark in photographs. I find it helpful to position the light up near the front of the enclosure. That way it will shine right down into the open water foreground and light up the underwater area better.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's a quick picture from my 50G setup. I have this _Pilea grandifolia_ going in there, but I'm gonna to mow it all down for cuttings tonight. I have it growing on every single trellis raft and it makes a nice effect. This is definitely my favorite riparium midground plant.


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## hydrophyte

Finally here is a FTS update for my 50G...










I added the underwater plants and I think I like it better now. The fish are doing real well. There are a couple of really cool riparium plants in there too.


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## hydrophyte

Here's another quick shot showing the two really cool plants that I have in that 50G.










The arrowhead-shaped leaf shooting up is new (yay!) growth on the _Lasia spinosa_. The larger green plant to the right is the true species peace lily that I started from seed, _Spathiphyllym phryniifolium_. I think that plant is more handsome than the hybrid peace lilies that they seel as housplants. It will grow up big too.


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## dubloco

Beautiful setups - I especially like the 60 gal setup. Do you run pumps on all you displays?


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## hydrophyte

Thanks. Most of these setups have regular aquarium cansiter filters. Some of the smaller ones are run with submersible power filtres.


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## EntoCraig

I was looking into Aquaponics and this is similar but essentially skips a few stages...

My question: 

Is filtration needed? Or do the plants pull out all the nitrates from the water?

In an aquaponics setup you feed the fish in a tank or tub and its pumped up to a tray where the plant are growing in a gravel media. The tray fills and drains, and the plants absorb the nitrates. Maybe the media above is the filter that hosts the nitrifying bacteria?

Just want to get my ducks in a row, because a riparium, or bucket pond in my case, would be a better setup in my basement then an aquapoinics setup. 

I realize more bioload would need more/better filtration. I would have a high bioload. (basically a feeder raising tank for my cichlids.)

Plus they look a bit better


----------



## hydrophyte

EntoCraig said:


> I was looking into Aquaponics and this is similar but essentially skips a few stages...
> 
> My question:
> 
> Is filtration needed? Or do the plants pull out all the nitrates from the water?
> 
> In an aquaponics setup you feed the fish in a tank or tub and its pumped up to a tray where the plant are growing in a gravel media. The tray fills and drains, and the plants absorb the nitrates. Maybe the media above is the filter that hosts the nitrifying bacteria?
> 
> Just want to get my ducks in a row, because a riparium, or bucket pond in my case, would be a better setup in my basement then an aquapoinics setup.
> 
> I realize more bioload would need more/better filtration. I would have a high bioload. (basically a feeder raising tank for my cichlids.)
> 
> Plus they look a bit better


Hey here are a few quick respones...


Ripariums are mainly decorative.
Aquaponics is mainly for growing food.
Filtration demaind will depend on a number of important variables, such as light intensity, livestock bioload and plant density. However, in a densely-planted and well-lit riparium the plants are very effective at sequestering nitrates and other pollutants. Mechanical filtration is still important though for water circulation and removal of solids that cloud water.


----------



## EntoCraig

Yeah I would have medium/high bioload, and I wouldn't be growing food, just cool plants. I'll throw and ehiem canister filter on it then. Makes more sense to have it look better as a riparium then to have extra trays and bulk for aquatic and semi aquatic plants. Im a crypt junkie so I want to grow some of the larger ones our of water.

Thanks for the responses.


----------



## hydrophyte

You can grow some really great crypts and other high-humidty emersed aquatics really nice in a riparium. That is a good way to keep an emersed crypt collection as an actual display with fish. I will dig up some pictures of this kind of setup.


----------



## EntoCraig

That would be great. I would simply do a pond, but we we get the full seasons pretty heavy here and many of the plants I want to grow would not be suitable.

And yes, and pics you would love to share will be awesome!


----------



## hydrophyte

I have made a little more headway with the latest project. 

I built this stand for the riaprium in the 37G column tank that I am seeting up at our local children's museum.


----------



## hydrophyte

Hey thanks for the likes everybody.

I hope to have more pictures up soon.


----------



## Alegre323

Thats a nice stand. Quality stuff! 

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk


----------



## hydrophyte

Hey thanks!


----------



## hydrophyte

Pictures of my 50G setup were featured in another magazine article. This has become a well-known tank. Here is the link to the quick article introduction at TFH...

*Jake Jung. "An Introduction to Planted Ripariums". Tropical Fish Hobbyist December 2011. *

You need to log in with a TFH paid subscription to view the whole article there on the website. I don't know if this December issue is on the newsstand yet(???).


----------



## hydrophyte

hydrophyte said:


>


Finally I got water, gravel and hardscape into the 37G project. It looks pretty good. I have pictures too and I'll try to post some up later tonight.


----------



## hydrophyte

OK here's the cabinet for the 37G project with the tank on top...










I have a couple other pictures with water and hardscape and stuff and I'll post those up too.


----------



## hydrophyte

I haven't had much time for taking pictures, but I have made some headway with tank setups. I finally got water, substrate and a few plants into the 37G riparium that I am putting together at the museum...










No fish yet...I hope to get in there to pull together the setup some more and then start adding fish next week or the week after that. With the lowered water level it is only about 12 gallons water, but I should be able to fit some good fish into there.


----------



## james67

hydrophyte said:


>


this is a great pic for those looking for a solid reason not to use plexi as a frog tank lid. while its fine for this application. its clear why it could be catastrophic in the case of PDF tanks.

lookin good!

james


----------



## hydrophyte

That plexi top is temporary. When we ordered the tank we forgot to request the glass lid. I pondered making a glass top for it, but decided to order one instead. They have it there but I just haven't had a chance to get over to the shop again.


----------



## james67

hydrophyte said:


> That plexi top is temporary. When we ordered the tank we forgot to request the glass lid. I pondered making a glass top for it, but decided to order one instead. They have it there but I just haven't had a chance to get over to the shop again.


i didnt mean to imply that anything was wrong with the tank, it looks great! the lid just popped out at me when i saw the pic.

do you have some pics of the hardscape in a little better light? it looks interesting but i can only see a little of it. also, how are you filtering the tank?

james


----------



## hydrophyte

The underwater hardscape is going to tend to look shaded in photos. That usually happens with ripariums because the abovewater area is somewhat brighter and the camera is less sensitive than your eyes and tends to show the highlights and shadows a lot more.

The underwater area just has a few pieces of manzanita sticking up along with some rounded river stones and gravel. 

I am using this surface-skimming filter...

Aquarium Filters & Water Quality: Current SubCurrent Internal Wet/Dry Filter

That thing is marketed as a filter for nano reef setups and it is maybe not the best design for a tank like this, but it was only thirty bucks and I sort of like it so I am going to try it out for a while. I had considered setting it up with a canister filter but for only twelve or so gallons water and with all the clutter that I would have with the plumbing I figured a submersible power filter would be about the same.


----------



## james67

thats an interesting little pump. ive never seen one like that. 
very cool.

james


----------



## hydrophyte

I am going to wait for better light to get the full-tank shot, but here is a quick update for my 56G setup with a view down inside. I switched almost all of the background plants that I had in there before in exchange for various swamp and stream-associated palms. These include some really cool plants. These dark green _Licuala paludosa_ are the largest plants in there and they have this great leaf pleating.










Also really cool is this _Iguanura tenuis_. This is a swamp plant from Thailand. It was more expensive and it is rare in cultivation. The new leaves are rounded and have this awesome chestnut coloration.


----------



## hydrophyte

Finally here's a quick FTS for the 56G...










I could work on the underwater hardscape some more, but I think it's good enough for now. The underwater area will benefit with a few more crypt plants. The main thing I want to do now is order those _Barbus_ and get them in there. 

For better pictures I will also use a different color for the riparium background. Plants really don't look very good against that tan wall.


----------



## hydrophyte

I got a bunch of excellent new fish for my setups earlier this week. They arrived UPS Next Day in perfect shape...










I hope to have more pictures on the way soon.


----------



## james67

WET SPOT?

james


----------



## hydrophyte

Yep. How'd you know? Did you study the newspaper print?


----------



## james67

theyre sort of the go to freshwater folks. i know they use those sera bags and ship with newspaper. that coupled with your taste for fish (that ive seen) that arent always common gave me that idea. i didnt look at the print until you mentioned it but it does say portland in pretty big print on one page.

they are very nice people and even went as far as helping me search out a species that has yet to be described and actually got them from myanmar to singapore to oregon and then to my house. i couldnt ask for more. i now have a pretty large colony of one of the worlds smallest loaches (max is aout 1.25") i cant wait until theyre conditioned to the point where i can attempt some breeding.

theyve tempted me with some interesting offerings. like the Doryichthys martensii, but i know my limitations as a keeper and they are out of my capabilities. $10ea is pretty darn cheap though and what made me think "well may be that i could pull it off"

what all did you get?

james


----------



## fishman9809

james67 said:


> theyre sort of the go to freshwater folks. i know they use those sera bags and ship with newspaper. that coupled with your taste for fish (that ive seen) that arent always common gave me that idea. i didnt look at the print until you mentioned it but it does say portland in pretty big print on one page.


Detective James. The name's James......James67

Can't wait to see the fish in action Hydrophyte!


----------



## frogparty

Wow I looked at their site...nice. For us froggers who dont keep fish, I noticed they have a nice availability of christmass moss, Java moss, flame moss etc that a lot of froggers are having good results with. 

Then of course theres the motoro stingrays...
SO DAMN TEMPTING to get a stingray tank


----------



## dendrothusiast

wetspot has alot of unusuals and hard to find fish. They were the guys I went to to get my chocolate gouramis. Great guys to work with


----------



## hydrophyte

Wet Spot is really great if you are stocking tanks and you want less common species and if you want delivery. 

I am pondering another new riparium setup that will be a loose Western Ghats, India biotope and I see several real intriguing possibilities in their current fish list.


----------



## hydrophyte

Hey here's a quick picture update for the planting in my 56...


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's another quick view...


----------



## james67

incredible as always. 

what are the blue fish? and are those barbs i see as well?

james


----------



## Manuran

The photos aren't large enough to see them well, but they look like a Pareutropius (African glass cats) But, I could be completely off!


----------



## hydrophyte

Yep those are the _P. buffei_ cats and I had also added a group of _Barbus rhombocellatus_ barbs last week.


----------



## hydrophyte

Wow! The mail came today with a little box of plants, _Aglaonema minima_ and _A. simplex_. These are pretty cool. While most _Aglaonema_ are upland forest plants that probably wouldn't do very well in a riparium, but of these are swamp or stream associated plants. They are also nice and small and with attractive foliage.

One or both of these (can't remember right now) occurs on Borneo. I am going to read about them again and try to post pictures sometime soon.

These might be perfect little riparium plants. One or both of them are sometimes sold as vexing "faux aquatics" that can't really live underwater long-term, but most of these references that I saw were from Europe and I never seen them for sale here before. I am so happy to get them because I have been hoping to find them for a while. It will be interesting to see how they do.


----------



## wesly2007

What kind of filtration are u using on these?


----------



## hydrophyte

wesly2007 said:


> What kind of filtration are u using on these?


Just regular aquarium filtration...canister filters for larger setups, submersible power filters for medium-size and sometimes air-driven sponge filters for small and simple ripariums. 

If you use a canister with a tank having a lowered water level you might have to retrofit the plumbing, but this isn't so hard to do.


----------



## hydrophyte

I have another print magazine article on the way pretty soon. The publisher just posted the link to the sneak peek on FB and here it is...

AMAZONAS Next Issue Preview | Coral Magazine








.


----------



## gardennub

I didnt read through allt he posts but those are really good looking. You have an eye for this.


----------



## hydrophyte

Hey thanks!


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's a recent shot of the planting in my 50. I have some pretty cool plants in there. The fish are looking good too.


----------



## hydrophyte

It is a lot easier to get these shots from an angle than it is to shoot the FTS from the front. That picture above is a layered image that I made with shots at two different exposures, but this one looked like this right out of the camera with just a couple more minor adjustments.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's more quick photo update for my 50G.

It took me a while, but I really am pretty happy with how the underwater area is looking. I did a lot of shuffling to get a hardscape that I liked.










Riparium foliage...










My _Lasia spinosa_ is easily my favorite plant right now. The leaves are so awesome. If anybody out there might be interested in this plant I can recommend a vendor who has some in stock. It is such a cool riparium plant and pretty easy to grow.


----------



## hydrophyte

I also pulled one of the cat palm out for a specimen shot. These things have grown in really nice.


----------



## skylsdale

I recently delved into the riparium aspect on my office aquarium. For those interested, here's a rundown of what I received from Devin and how I set it up: wading into the world of ripariums | chasing Linnaeus


----------



## jelly_shrimp

And now I know what a riparium is. It's like a planted aquarium that grows out like a pond. Huh.....I will probably do this one day because of this post =] The "riparium" looks gorgeous =]


----------



## hydrophyte

skylsdale said:


> I recently delved into the riparium aspect on my office aquarium. For those interested, here's a rundown of what I received from Devin and how I set it up: wading into the world of ripariums | chasing Linnaeus


Hey that is a great write up Ron. You take really nice pictures too!

That _Bacopa_ and the _Proserpinaca_ are good plants for a nano riparium setup; they have nice fine leaves.


----------



## hydrophyte

jelly_shrimp said:


> And now I know what a riparium is. It's like a planted aquarium that grows out like a pond. Huh.....I will probably do this one day because of this post =] The "riparium" looks gorgeous =]


Hey thanks very much.

There are a lot of cool plants that you can grow very well in a riparium. And fish like riparium setups too!


----------



## hydrophyte

We got some new fish into the 37G setup at the children's museum...










I was in a hurry and this was the best I did for photography. I'll try to get some more pictures this weekend.


----------



## hydrophyte

My latest magazine article is out in print with the March-April issue of _Amazonas_. It turned out pretty good. You can find it on the rack at Barnes & Noble.


----------



## jacobi

Nice. Now I gotta get to the bookstore 

Jake


----------



## hydrophyte

Thanks Jake!


----------



## hydrophyte

I haven't been back into this thread in a while.

Today I was over servicing the 37G native Wisconsin riparium over at the children's museum and I got a quick picture in through the top.



I had just cleaned the tank and the water was cloudy, so I did not shoot through the front. I might go over there tomorrow to get a couple more pictures.


----------



## jacobi

Are you planning on doing one of those photoshop images labelling each plant? It would be great if there was a simple app or website for that...


----------



## hydrophyte

jacobi said:


> Are you planning on doing one of those photoshop images labelling each plant? It would be great if there was a simple app or website for that...


I could make something like that for this setup easily enough. There aren't all that many plants in there. It needs to grow in some more though before I spend much time photographing it. The planting looks kind of spindly.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's another quick photo update for the 37G setup. The tank still needs to grow in some more. The fish in here are shy and hide most of the time, but if you look closely you can see one of them.


----------



## jacobi

Wow. That works beautifully.


----------



## hydrophyte

Thanks Jake!

Like I said, it needs some more work and some more grow-in.


----------



## hydrophyte

I'm redoing the planting in the 50G setup. I removed all of the cat palms and other big plants.


----------



## hydrophyte

And here are the _Pleioblastus fortunei_ bamboo that I potted up. It will be interesting to see what they do in the 50G.










They suffered a bit after transplanting and I had to cut off a few stems that were shriveling up, but all of the remaining foliage looks good. It will be interesting to see how this plant grows.

I want to use this as the main background plant. I wish that it didn't have this white variegation. If these start to grow well I might try to track down the solid green version of the same plant.

Most bamboos are upland forest plants and you wouldn't expect them to do well in a permanently wet riparium situation, but I have found several references to growing _P. fortunei_ as a pond plant. I hope that it will grow in here.


----------



## hydrophyte

It was just published! I have another new magazine article based on a planting in my 50G riparium setup, the planting that I just took down with the cat palms and other tall plants.

This one appears in the July 2012 Issue #3 of _Aquarium International_, the online magazine for iPad with downloadable pdf's. Download the current issue with my article right here...

PDF Issues - Aquarium International the Freshwater Magazine

My article starts on page 67.

Cheers!


----------



## jacobi

Would you consider mounting these plants on chunks of lava rock? How do you think they'd grow?

Oh and I wish it was available in paper format.. Or I could buy an iPad to read your article. Lol


----------



## hydrophyte

Most of those plants need to grow in a rich soil substrate, so lava rock wouldn't work so well for them. Planting like that wouldn't really work for a regular riparium setup either.

Hey if you want to read my article on paper you could just select those 10 pages for printing. 

That magazine is new and with just a few issues so I'm sure the publishers will have lots of updates on the way.


----------



## Groundhog

Hydrophyte:

Just to clarify for Jacobi, there are plants that can grow on moist, rough surfaces as long as the humidity stays real high, such as:

Java fern
Bolbitis sp. 
Many Anubias, esp morphs of barteri

Any others, i.e., plants that would be good for driftwood, ghost wood, lava rock, lava planter rocks, etc.? 

For example, I know of no bromeliad that actually wants its roots permanently wet (branches above the water? Oh baby...) 

Come to think of it, do you have a thread on this? That is, a thread discussing:

--Plants that need to be in gravel;
--Plants for plug planters;
--Plants for driftwood, etc.?

Thanks,

G


----------



## hydrophyte

Yes there are various aquatic/semi-aquatic plants that are adapted to grow on hard substrates. You already mention the main ones there. Here are a few more that I can think of...


_Utricularia graminifolia_ - also grows well in soft substrates
_Eleocharis acicularis_ - also grows well in soft substrates
_Bucephalandra_ - rare aroid from Borneo

Most good riparium plants grow best in those planters because they need a pretty good nutrient environment for their roots.

There are a few less demanding ripairum plants that can also grow with their roots suspended right in the water and supported by the trellis raft. This is Oplismenus basket grass on a trellis raft...










For high-humidity riparium setups Java fern and _Anubias_ can also grow very well on a trellis rafts as they would grow on a rick with their rhizomes just creeping along the top.


----------



## hydrophyte

I finally got back to work on my 56 Column setup. It sat half-neglected for such a long time, but the plants have done alright. I have been please to see the _Licuala paludosa_ palms (most of the foliage in the background) still growing but not getting much taller. I worried they would get too big rather fast, but they aren't reaching up any higher than the enclosure top.

I cleaned a pail of my nice mixed gravel that I like to use and dumped it in. The glass was also a mess. I need to add some kind of background and start working on the underwater area some more. I have to find fish, too. 

This is going to be a loose Borneo swamp forest biotope riparium.


----------



## hydrophyte

This is not my setup, but check out this amazing riparium. This guy has grown his plants better than I ever will...


----------



## dendrothusiast

I like the angelfish in that set up. Really makes a nice contrast to the landscape.


----------



## hydrophyte

Yeah I guess those are hybrid Altum angels. I imagine they might be more hardy than regular Altums.

He has great plants in there too.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here is the spathe on the _Lasia spinosa_! It's already starting to open. I need to get set up to take some good studio photographs of it when it opens. 

After this spathe is done I am going to chop up the rhizome and start four or five new _L. spinosa_ plants.


----------



## ICS523

WOW!
that's amazing, I love aroids, cant wait for more pics.


----------



## hydrophyte

ICS523 said:


> WOW!
> that's amazing, I love aroids, cant wait for more pics.


I'll try to get some good pictures. The spathe is enlarging really fast and starting to curl open so I hope that it will be just a couple more days.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's a quick sketch post-processed image. the white balance was alittle screwed up, so I might try again tomorrow.


----------



## hydrophyte

The rhizome of my _Lasia spinosa_ is covered with vicious thorns. I pulled it out today to cut up the rhizome into several new pieces to stat more with, but then decided that I want to try to get a few more pictures of it. So I just put it back in the tank again.


----------



## hydrophyte

I just ordered new fish for the mangrove setup. I hope they will get here OK. I might see them as soon as Monday.


----------



## hydrophyte

New fish from Florida for my brackish mangrove setup!


----------



## hydrophyte

I'm re-doing the planting in this 55G riparium setup near the entryway of one of our local garden center shops. It will take a while to grow in.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's a shot of that 55G from three years ago when I had it at home. 










The crypts had grown into real nice full specimens. It's going to take a while to get them going like that again.


----------



## hydrophyte

This _Lagenandra thwaitesii_, semi-rare and unusual aquatic aroid, grew very well in the riparium planter. And it developed a spathe, too! You can see over on the left side of that tank shot in the 55G setup.


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's a better view of the spathe on that _Lagenandra._


----------



## Nath514

Very pretty looking plant, love the tanks!


----------



## hydrophyte

Nath514 said:


> Very pretty looking plant, love the tanks!


Hey thanks!


----------



## hydrophyte

I have been digging up some more old pictures. Here is a plant that makes a real nice emersed specimen for a high humidity riparium setup, _Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia_. Many crypts have real soft and floppy foliage when you grow them emersed, but _C. pontederiifolia_ is nice and sturdy. It should work well in a humid viv water feature too.


----------



## JoshsDragonz

Hey Devin my C. pontederiifolia that I got from you is doing good in my viv. It is putting out it's second new leaf since being in the tank. It's being grown emersed in about 1" of water.

-Josh


----------



## hydrophyte

JoshsDragonz said:


> Hey Devin my C. pontederiifolia that I got from you is doing good in my viv. It is putting out it's second new leaf since being in the tank. It's being grown emersed in about 1" of water.
> 
> -Josh


Hey that's great! _C. pontederiifolia_ is a pretty common aquarium plant, but it's one of my favorites. If you give it time and good root ferts it will grow into a nice big plant.

Once it gets up to size it will flower often with these lemon yellow spathes...


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's another crypt that grows very well in a riparium planter, _C. wendtii_ 'Mi Oya'. This one grew into a huge monster of a plant and the color was amazing. I put a layer of real topsoil in the planter and is why it grew so well.


----------



## pdfDMD

hydrophyte said:


>


This is a very serene shot; very nice work!


----------



## hydrophyte

pdfDMD said:


> This is a very serene shot; very nice work!


Thanks very much!


----------



## hydrophyte

Here's another crypt that is great in a riparium planter, _C. wendtii_ 'Tropica'. This plant develops especially wild colors when you grow it emersed. I am sorry that I didn't get a better picture--this shot is so dark--while I had this nice specimen.


----------



## hydrophyte

I was over to service the 55-gallon high humidity thing tonight and I got this quick picture. The planting is coming along OK. There are certain other plants that I want to add, but I have had a chance to round them all up.


----------



## hydrophyte

I am re-doing the fish in the 50G tank to make a loose Lake Tanganyika representation. I already have the group of _Synodontis lucipinninis_, and now I plant to add one or two different cichlids. 

_Cyprichromis_ spp. seem like good possibilities. These cichlids have wonderful bright colors and swim around in the mid-water area like rainbowfish. I think they would create a nice effect in this tank. This is a Wikimedia Commons image (File:Cyprichromis Leptosoma Kitumba-4506.jpg - The Free Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit - The Aquarium Wiki) of _C. leptosoma_...










There are several different named locality varieties for this species.

I hope that I can track down some _Cyprichromis_ and maybe one other species.


----------



## Blue_Pumilio

Check out Cyprichromis sp. "Blue Flash". It may be the most colorful of the genus.



hydrophyte said:


> I am re-doing the fish in the 50G tank to make a loose Lake Tanganyika representation. I already have the group of _Synodontis lucipinninis_, and now I plant to add one or two different cichlids.
> 
> _Cyprichromis_ spp. seem like good possibilities. These cichlids have wonderful bright colors and swim around in the mid-water area like rainbowfish. I think they would create a nice effect in this tank. This is a Wikimedia Commons image (File:Cyprichromis Leptosoma Kitumba-4506.jpg - The Free Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit - The Aquarium Wiki) of _C. leptosoma_...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are several different named locality varieties for this species.
> 
> I hope that I can track down some _Cyprichromis_ and maybe one other species.


----------



## hydrophyte

Blue_Pumilio said:


> Check out Cyprichromis sp. "Blue Flash". It may be the most colorful of the genus.


Wow that one is nice. I'll probably just get whatever I can track down. There is a guy in a neighboring town who keeps Tanganyika fish and he might have some _Cyprichromis_.

Do you have any favorite Tanganyika species? Aside from these catfish I have never kept any.


----------



## Blue_Pumilio

Oh yes, plenty:

Aethiomastacembelus elipsifer
A. moori
Juildochromis sps.
Any of the shell dwellers
Tropheus sps.
Eretmodus cyanostictus
Lamprichthys tanganicanus
Tetraodon mbu
Protopterus aethiopicus

The list continues, forever! Haha.




hydrophyte said:


> Wow that one is nice. I'll probably just get whatever I can track down. There is a guy in a neighboring town who keeps Tanganyika fish and he might have some _Cyprichromis_.
> 
> Do you have any favorite Tanganyika species? Aside from these catfish I have never kept any.


----------



## hydrophyte

How about something to combine as just one, two or three individuals with a half-dozen _Cyprichromis_ and the _Synondontis_ in about 35 gallons of water?


----------



## Blue_Pumilio

Shell dwellers in the bottom, but then you still have mid column to fill. 



hydrophyte said:


> How about something to combine as just one, two or three individuals with a half-dozen _Cyprichromis_ and the _Synondontis_ in about 35 gallons of water?


----------



## Blue_Pumilio

A few Leptopelis vermiculatus never hurt, either.


----------



## hydrophyte

Well the catfish already occupy the bottom pretty well. I am going to take these rounded river stone out and replace with some more blocky limestone. How about something that would hang around these rocks?


----------



## Blue_Pumilio

Julidochromis sps...they are like magnets to the rocks. Should breed easily, too. Just pick up a pair.

Often overlooked because they are so common, Neolamprologus pulcher are nice, too. 

Tropheus sps will pick at the rocks a lot, but also swim around. Though, they need to be in large groups. 



hydrophyte said:


> Well the catfish already occupy the bottom pretty well. I am going to take these rounded river stone out and replace with some more blocky limestone. How about something that would hang around these rocks?


----------



## hydrophyte

Hey those are great ideas. Thanks a bunch!


----------



## hydrophyte

I have zero experience with Tanganyika cichlids, but I am having fun with my initial research. 

I want to give more thought to the riparium planting as well. I might just use some of the fast and easy plants that I have here (_Ruellia, Asclepias, Cyperus_ etc.) but it could also be fun to research some mor and try to use more or less representative plants. I have looked around on the interwebs and most of the pictures that I see of Lake Tanganyika show a very rocky shoreline that looks like the ocean. But there must be some more quiet bays with marginal/emergent/riaprian vegetation. Has anybody here ever been there? I should look around scholarly articles some more to see if I can find aquatic plant lists. If I can find information on Lake Malawi or Lake Victoria that will be helpful because the flora is probably similar.


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## hydrophyte

I'm setting up my Mr. Aqua 11.4G riparium again with plants and fish. Just this afternoon I added this little group of gold white cloud mountain minnows and they look really nice with the other colors.


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## JoshsDragonz

I like the gold white clouds. I have "normal" white clouds in my viv's water section. They have turned more red since I got them. Awesome little fish. I actually had an egg hatch from them and survive.


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## hydrophyte

Yep they are great fish. They are eentsy-weentsy, but they really show up well with that opaque peach-gold color...cheap too!


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## hydrophyte

The riparium plants in my Mr. Aqua 11.4G are starting to perk up some more and grow.










I added a few _Cryptocoryne wendtii_ 'Green' to the udnerwater area.


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## hydrophyte

Here's another new shot of the planting in the Mr. Aqua 11.4G.


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## hydrophyte

Here are a few more shots from the other night. I hope that the _Pleioblastus_ bamboo will start growing up taller. I might have to think about replacing it with something else if it doesn't. The fish are still looking happy enough. One of the platies is dropping fry.


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## wesly2007

What equipmemt do you have running this thing? Lighting, filter, pumps, etc.


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## hydrophyte

wesly2007 said:


> What equipmemt do you have running this thing? Lighting, filter, pumps, etc.


It's all very simple. The light fixture is a DIY lamp that I made with a shelf bracket, trouble light reflectors and spiral CFL bulbs. The filter is some little cheap internal filter that I got at the pet store. The heater is a 50W Jager. The tank is a Mr. Aqua. The riparium planters and plants are all Riparium Supply.

Oh and here are a couple of quick photos of the new riparium foliage in my 50G. The _Ruellia_, _Asclepias_ and _Cyperus_ are all growing in well. I will have flowers on the _Asclepias _before too long.


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## Brom

hydrophyte said:


> New fish from Florida for my brackish mangrove setup!


First off, I love your ripariums. The concept is very cool and you have an eye for it. 

But I saw this image of your box of arrivals for your brackish mangrove setup, which particularly caught my eye. I don't see any follow-up to this post, though. Did I just miss it? I'd be interested in knowing what species you ordered. I have a brackish setup that I've had set up for about a year now with some mangroves that I collected from Florida while vacationing. For a while I had molly inhabitants, but I'm looking for something more natural looking. I'd love to see your setup and inhabitants.


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## hydrophyte

Brom said:


> First off, I love your ripariums. The concept is very cool and you have an eye for it.
> 
> But I saw this image of your box of arrivals for your brackish mangrove setup, which particularly caught my eye. I don't see any follow-up to this post, though. Did I just miss it? I'd be interested in knowing what species you ordered. I have a brackish setup that I've had set up for about a year now with some mangroves that I collected from Florida while vacationing. For a while I had molly inhabitants, but I'm looking for something more natural looking. I'd love to see your setup and inhabitants.


Hey thanks so much Will! 

I do still have the mangrove setup. I got some really great Gulf Coast native killis to use in it and there are some cool plants too. I will try to get an update picture sometime soon.

Here's a quick photo update for my 56G SE Asia hillstream setup. I have been working on improving the plant layout. There are some cool fish in there.


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## hydrophyte

Here's a quick update shot for the 50G Lake Tanganyika setup. The background plants are growing in well. I need to get more plants established on trellis rafts to start to cover up the planters. I'm still working on finding new fish. My current favorite idea is the add a small group of _Eretmodus_ and/or _Tanganicodus_ goby cichlids.


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## hydrophyte

I made a new video with my 56G hillstream loach setup! Please check it out...






The still images got a little screwed up. I am going to open the file again and fix those, then reload the video.


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## Blue_Pumilio

Goby cichlids would be perfect! 




hydrophyte said:


> Here's a quick update shot for the 50G Lake Tanganyika setup. The background plants are growing in well. I need to get more plants established on trellis rafts to start to cover up the planters. I'm still working on finding new fish. My current favorite idea is the add a small group of _Eretmodus_ and/or _Tanganicodus_ goby cichlids.


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## hydrophyte

Blue_Pumilio said:


> Goby cichlids would be perfect!


Yeah I liked the idea of the goby cichlids a lot, but it's going to be julies instead.

I got a few new quick pictures of the Mr. Aqua 11.4G setup...


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## hydrophyte

The brackish mangrove planting in my 65G tank is looking pretty good these days. I'm working on a magazine article about this setup.


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## Sea-Agg09

hydrophyte said:


> The brackish mangrove planting in my 65G tank is looking pretty good these days. I'm working on a magazine article about this setup.


Looks really nice. What salinity are you keeping it at? What livestock you keeping in it?


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