New Member, New Paludarium :)

[vodox]

HI all,
been reading this forum for a while and i think theres a lot to be learnt from this forum!

Anyway, just started up setting up a 20gal paludarium, its actually a 40gal, with the front half missing. Already set up infrastructure... waiting for the tank to cycle.

Heres some pix. Just finished it last nite.




What do you guys suggest I plant or keep.
For starters, in the back i want to keep stem plants in the water that will actually grow out of the water to cover all that unsightly tubing lol.

Also some usual glosso here and there and some others in the front. On the wood I am going to put bromiliads and other assorted ferns and plants. Any suggestions? Going for a mossy look too

For fish im thinking of tetras. As well as the usuall assortment of oto's and ghost shrimp

Using a external canister filter and will be bubbling co2 either through a diffuser or through the waterfall on the right.

PS. Sorry for the Picture quality, took it with my phone in a rush.

[vodox]

HI guys,

didnt get any replies, so i just went ahead with what i could.

Heres a pic of what i've done.

No fish yet, just an apple snail

any suggestions?

[Momotaro]

I like it already!

I think I would give the plants a little time to fill in, then I would start to make some decisions on what to add next.

Nice work, and welcome to the board!!

Mike

[serjuanca88]

Where did you get that tank? Did you make it yourself?

What comprises your land? I see some lava rock in there.

[vodox]

Hey there, Im from singapore, so i got my tank from MY LFS .. the location wldnt be much use to anyone on this board hehe :P

But i got it second hand coz the owner started specializing in planted, and stopped in terrarium/vivarium type set ups. Got it at a bargain for 200 singapore dollars including lights and cabinet.

The wierd front end missing tank is good for me here in singapore, since its humid, i donthave to worry about the humidity dropping, just using a fogger to keep the wood moist at most times.
Gives me easy access to all the plants and shifting things around as well.

2 problems I didnt forsee that i have since noticed.
Problem 1. Water can tend to splash out since I have a water fall in the back on the right. So i have to make sure it splashes softly. haha..
I guess thats problem 1.5 , if its not splashing well, its gonna be really noisy 24/7 especially since its not a closed tank.

Problem 2. My Lights are somewhat situated in the back half of the tank if u can understand what i mean from the pictures.
I am wondering if there is enough light going into the tank. I am using 2 2 foot 18 watt Arcadia Freshwater bulbs. ( Any one have any good things to say abt them???) I used them in my nano planted tank and they worked fine to the point of algae problems.

I do have 2 Hitachi LUMICD 18w Tri-Phosphourous lights, and I dont know if these are good? I just saw another LFS here using these bulbs, and the plants look healthy too. So if possible, I need to construct some kind of device to hang the second set of lights over the front half of the tank. OR is this overkill??? Does anyone know?

Waiting for my plants to root and start photosynthesis, hopefully thats soon. . IF so,. then i guess I dont need so many lights.

Secondly, my land is made up mostly of driftwood. Abt 4 pieces in all, had to somewhat imagine it in my head and bring it back home and spent like an hour arranging it all so that it all fit snugly and tightly into place, but with easy disassembly as well. Theres 2 pieces of lava rock there but its mainly for show, hoping some moss will grow on it. Ripped out some Mossy + Fern in my backyard and stuck it in there too. Have no clue what it is, maybe someone on the board knows? Waterfall is made from Granite Bricks, well at least i think granite, and am trying to cover that with moss.

Heres a pic of that mossy fern thing in the back ground

[Kris]

wow!
i really like your tank. what animals will you have in there? will you put a lid on it?

kris

[vodox]

probaly no lid, as u can see the front half of the tank is lower than the back half, which would mean an extremely custom lid.
As for animals, I doubt im going to put anything in, as they would probably jump out and attack me in my sleep. maybe a newt, but i think those can still crawl out?

Fish are going in it, some amano shrimp, neons ( green and king i believe) and some otos and corys i think. that shld be about it

[Kris]

wow!
i really like it. newts can climb out. so do shrimp. :-)

[vodox]

yup waiting to get the shrimp in, goign to cycle the tank with a couble otos soon and some daniaos as well i think


everything is growing! yay... but i dont see any bubbling ( photosynthesis) Is this normal? coz in my last planted nano tank, everything grew like wildfire and there were streams of O2 coming out the plants.. :lol:

Now i can defn see the plants budding and reaching toward the light, but i dont see and O2 is it my choice of plants??

[vodox]

WOohoo....still see no oxygen bubble streams, but the plants are definetly growing...
got some type of amazon sword plant in there and it bloomed today, the flower bud shot straight to the top and then some, then it opened today
check it out


Also my banana plant, ( nymphoidus aquatica) shot one leaf that was kinda floating ont he surface with a long stem. and this evening when igot back, it some CRAWLED...yes crawled to the top of my lava rock under the falling waterfall. So wierd.... is this supposed to happen???


Got some Rummy nose tetras in there, two blue rams, some congo blue tetras, and 3 mini puffers swimming in there. all seem to be doing fine. i think there are 6 Otos in there too who are really keeping the plant leaves clean from algae...

[Kris]

that's fantastic.
what animals are you going to put in there to keep the fish company?

[vodox]

The leaf looked like it was drying out, im classifying it as a case of suicide.... so i put it back in the water,

Animals?....dont think any ...they would crawl out at night.

i WAS thinking of a terrapin or a mini soft shelled turtle...but i think they will mess up the water quality as well as eat my fish ....so cant think of anything else.

Any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

WOW! that looks really great, but you may have some problems with the dwarf puffers, i'm guessing thats what the fish your calling mini puffers are, nipping/biting your other fish. puffers are aggresive fish. but sometimes aggresion varies from fish to fish so you may be alright. but still, thats really nice looking.

[vodox]

Hey thanx, the dwarf puffers are absolutley tiny at this point...probably like 3/8 of an inch, really not bothering anyone, they are bothering the little plant snails, which is good, dont want a infestation of snails

I was told at my lfs that the dwarf ones dont get too aggressive anyway. Definetly will be keeping an eye on them :P

Thnx!

[corigan]

Originally Posted by vodox

I was told at my lfs that the dwarf ones dont get too aggressive anyway. Definetly will be keeping an eye on them :P

Thnx!

I wouldn't necessarily say aggressive, but they can definately get nippy on other fishes fins. Paulderium looks great, keep us updated with pics!

Matt