Apologies in advance - I know NOTHING of paludariums. My FIL has decided he either wants one, or a FW aquarium (this I can do). I have a few years worth of FW fish keeping, and a little over a year worth of planted tanks (easy, low light tanks, though nothing technical or difficult). I am seeking ALL advice Re: paludariums. My questions:
He wants a VERY big, custom built tank. VERY tall, VERY BIG... (IF my LFS can even make it this big, I still have to ask them)... it would (not even half way full) hold close to 200 gallons of water... is that at all plausible? Is that much water workable?
What kind of fish are best for these set ups. MUST be flashy. He wants discus, I am not sure about this one.... or other various cichlids.
A good site to figure out what kind of animals (reptiles) would go well in your set up? Thinking: matching humidity, plants etc etc etc? Or should I narrow down what he wants and come back and ask??
How much weight??? Suppose it is.. 4 feet tall, 5.5feet wide, 2 feet deep, plus LOTS of water? He wants mostly rocks? will that work? I THINK those are th measuremens... not 100% on what the height is... may be taller...
Necessary equipment for a paludarium that you wouldn't need for a FW tank? cost of setting this up?
Maintenance on a paludarium??
how different is it, really, from a planted FW tank???
I plan on making 3 spreadhsheets for him.. 1) FW tank, 2) 200 gallon paludarium (not what he wants, but thought i'd leave it as an option)
3) above mentioned HUGE paludarium with: options for fish/plants/reptiles/cost
He really has NO thought of the live stock, and NO idea about .. well anything or care of said fish (will probably end up being ME who does this, as I'm 99% sure he won't unless I make it ridiculously easy...) ... he just wants it to be pretty and so it is up to me to do this, or find out if he likes any of these options at all.
so... sincere apologies if some of these questions are ridiculous.. but I truly don't even know where to begin (besides asking my LFS about possible tanks). I am off to go look through some of these other threads now and try and figure some of this stuff out! Thanks a lot!!!
lots of questions 
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