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Anonymous
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Awesome so far, I like the waterfall effect of the log. This might sound corny, but a single nice male betta, male dwarf gourami or even one of the S American apistos would look good.
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Lawdawg":2nsunxov said:
Doesn't sound corny - all three were on my short list to think about. Unfortunately, I just don't think a pond 3.5"-4" at it's deepest point, and .5" at it's shallowest, would really work well for these guys. I've thought about maybe a small pair of killifish (god knows they thrive in practically no more than a drop of water), and Mer's really pushing for some neone or other small tetra... but I just haven't made up my mind on it.
Youtube video (may take a few minutes after I post this before Youtube lists it as available, but it should be there shortly):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoqG4zNiBGo
Noise in the background is an airconditioner a few feet away, not the tank.
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Hmm, hadn't thought about the lack of depth (from the pics it's decieving) but a betta wouldn't mind that nor would some of the killis. Video looks good 8)
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I agree, that's looking great. 8)
I personally like the idea of a few of those red shrimp in there.
I personally like the idea of a few of those red shrimp in there.
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Shrimp are a thought. I've never really looked into them in any detail, but don't most of them need alkaline conditions? My tap is acidic to begin with, and when you add in the pH lowering properties of the aquasoil and the organic matter I used as amendments to the AS, water in the tank is definitely on the low end of the pH scale. I haven't measured it, but I'd be surprised if it was much higher than 6.0 or so. I'll have to do some digging for freshwater shrimp info and see what's what.
In the meantime, there's no question I've got to replace that selaginella (the plant in the far back left corner). It photographed pretty well even in the condition it's in, but it's deteriorating pretty rapidly. I think I've pretty well made up my mind as trying calathea musaica as it's replacement.
But as I was looking at the tank last night not too long after posting all the pics, I noticed something. A tiny little bug. Looking around carefully I noticed several more. A few here, a few there, evenly distributed between the glass, the cork backdrop, the plants. So I came to the only conclusion any reasonable person could:
TIME TO ADD MOAR CARNIVOROUS PLANTS!
Heh. I'll have to figure out exactly what, maybe a small pitcher plant, butterwort or sundew.
In the meantime, there's no question I've got to replace that selaginella (the plant in the far back left corner). It photographed pretty well even in the condition it's in, but it's deteriorating pretty rapidly. I think I've pretty well made up my mind as trying calathea musaica as it's replacement.
But as I was looking at the tank last night not too long after posting all the pics, I noticed something. A tiny little bug. Looking around carefully I noticed several more. A few here, a few there, evenly distributed between the glass, the cork backdrop, the plants. So I came to the only conclusion any reasonable person could:
TIME TO ADD MOAR CARNIVOROUS PLANTS!
Heh. I'll have to figure out exactly what, maybe a small pitcher plant, butterwort or sundew.
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Oooh, yes carnivorous plants! Definitely a good option. Are you using RO/DI water though? A lot of them won't thrive with any sort of tap water.
Good point on the ph/shrimp. I'm out of my comfort zone when it comes to offering any sort of opinion on freshwater. Trying to wrack my brains for acidic-water loving suggestions. The Amazon's acidic isn't it? What about some mini-Corydoras? I seem to remember you posting some picts of a non-bottom swimming type a while back...
Good point on the ph/shrimp. I'm out of my comfort zone when it comes to offering any sort of opinion on freshwater. Trying to wrack my brains for acidic-water loving suggestions. The Amazon's acidic isn't it? What about some mini-Corydoras? I seem to remember you posting some picts of a non-bottom swimming type a while back...
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The Escaped Ape":1em187gc said:
DI. NYC is blessed with the best tap water in the country, which makes it affordable to use just DI cartridges and skip RO entirely.
I'm thinking nepenthes ampullaria or one of it's hybrids. Small, their central plant can be pinched off to keep them stunted, mostly they grow basal pitchers. Here's a couple of pics of two varieties...
Corydoras hastatus, great little guys about the size of a dime. Mer whould shoot me for putting a black and white fish into the tank instead of something colorful, though
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Nice choice! I've considered setting up a tank for tropical carnivorous plants, but didn't have enough room in my current flat for an RO/Di filter. Might try and get one set up in Japan once the fish tank has been fully equipped and the wife's let her guard down again...
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Y'know, there are a lot of'em that do just fine as houseplants. Pick up a copy of 'The Savage Garden' by Peter D'Amato if you're interested. No reason you need a tank to keep a lot of CPs.
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cjdevito":2xcyud33 said:
I own 'The Savage Garden' because I had a brief, unsuccessful flirtation with CPs.
I like the idea of a tropical tank though. Setting up something really thoroughly, putting time into getting it to work and not having to worry about some plants needing dormancy periods appeals!
I'll be watching this with interest!
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BTW, love the new av. 8)
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The Escaped Ape":3q9kdl46 said:
Truthfully, I'm coming to the conclusion that if I ever set up another one of these paludariums, it's going to be in a MUCH larger tank with a much larger footprint. There are so many things I'd like to do with this one - both layout wise and species wise - that I feel like I'm heading into the Fruitstand look that so often plagues reef tanks. I could really see doing one of these in a tank with a 48" x 18" or 48" x 24" footprint, and there aren't many aquaria subjects I say that about.
I went ahead and placed a plant order yesterday for one of those pitcher plants, the green non-hybridized variety pictured in my post above. I also ordered a few drosera adelae plants. These are a bit bushy, I'm thinking I place them along the back wall where the riccia is now. Here's a photo for anyone who's curious what they look like...
And here's a pic of a calathea musaica, which will end up in the back left corner...
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I'm a member of a CP forum that I now can't remember the name of (again
), which had some really impressive tanks. The Brit ones tended to be functional in the extreme (i.e. ugly), but there were a few (generally German) that were very impressive, even beautiful.
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The Escaped Ape":1b2iz7nq said:
:lol: yeah, me too! Interesting thought about the CPs...it would never have occurred to me!
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Lawdawg":1xky93h6 said:
It's taking a bit of a chance, I'm not sure I can pull it off in this tank. High humidity and moist conditions for them I've got, temperature is fine, lighting should be fine... but I'm not at all sure how well they'll deal with the aquasoil. It's generally recommended that CPs be kept in a fairly inert, nutrient poor substrate. But I've seen that point also made by CP hobbyists about utricularia, and I -know- that at least two species of utricularia do wonderfully in aquasoil.
I figure I'll use some of the soil these plants are potted in as an amendment layer right under the plants when I put them in the tank, give them at least an inch or two of the medium they're used to. Whether that's neccessary - and, if neccessary, whether it's enough - I'll have to find out.
To my surprise I should be getting these plants delivered today, vendor sent them out very quickly.
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Sounds like you've got a pretty good chance to me, but then, as I've explained, I don't exactly have a impressive record with CPs...
Your thread has prompted me to search out the CP forum I used to frequent and find for you the paludarium that keeps a nagging desire at the back of my mind to try this properly one day. A lot of the other tanks on that board are simply pots sitting in water, meaning you have to get very close to appreciate the beauty of the plants.
This is the one I'm talking about. There doesn't seem to be a thread with all the details about how he set it up. This is probably the closest he got to doing so. Here's a lower res picture which shows the whole tank.
[rimg]http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/1395/terra11in.jpg[/rimg]
Your thread has prompted me to search out the CP forum I used to frequent and find for you the paludarium that keeps a nagging desire at the back of my mind to try this properly one day. A lot of the other tanks on that board are simply pots sitting in water, meaning you have to get very close to appreciate the beauty of the plants.
This is the one I'm talking about. There doesn't seem to be a thread with all the details about how he set it up. This is probably the closest he got to doing so. Here's a lower res picture which shows the whole tank.
[rimg]http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/1395/terra11in.jpg[/rimg]
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It's a beautiful tank, the moreso for the simplicity of it's limited number of species.
Doesn't need to be - he actually explains it in a sentence or two throughout the posts in that thread. Very, very simple. He's using a 5cm tall false bottom, underneath which is a water reservoir and a pump that supplies the drip wall effect over his rock formation. Over the false bottom he's got a soil layer on which everything rests. Rock formation was made by siliconing rocks onto a piece of plexiglass. With the drip wall going 24/7 and a substrate that likely includes water-absorbing peat moss in large measure, he's got constant high humidity and moist substrate conditions.
That's it. Very simple, very elegant. And I love his utricularia sandersonii, it's a great looking plant.
Doesn't need to be - he actually explains it in a sentence or two throughout the posts in that thread. Very, very simple. He's using a 5cm tall false bottom, underneath which is a water reservoir and a pump that supplies the drip wall effect over his rock formation. Over the false bottom he's got a soil layer on which everything rests. Rock formation was made by siliconing rocks onto a piece of plexiglass. With the drip wall going 24/7 and a substrate that likely includes water-absorbing peat moss in large measure, he's got constant high humidity and moist substrate conditions.
That's it. Very simple, very elegant. And I love his utricularia sandersonii, it's a great looking plant.
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I know, it's ingenious. It would likely be one of the models I'd consider if I ever set something up.
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Anonymous
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Lookin good Chucky J. Wait until ya'll see my next one.
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