[hydrophyte]

last i was moving some stuff around in the 120G Mexico river biotope riparium.

here's a shot down into display from the top.

this one has a lot of Cyperus in the background and semi-woody plants such as Ludwigia peruensis in the midground. the Ludwigia have flowered with many nice blooms. so have the Wedelia trilobata (the pointy lobe-leafed plant on the left side).

i added a new plant, a Xanthosoma 'Lime Zinger'. this plant will look really good for a while, but it might eventually grow too large for this enclosure. it has such pretty green satiny leaves.

i pulled the next plant out to make room for the Xanthosoma taro. this is a Cyperus 'Baby Tut' planted in a Small Hanging Planter.

look at the roots on that thing! you really can't go wrong with Cyperus--they are such vigorous growers. i wish, however, that i could find more shorter-statured selections. this one grows like mad with only moderate light and basic care, but it gets too tall--almost 30 inches in height.

 

[hydrophyte]

here is what the whole display looks like.

this isn't the greatest picture i know, and it's from a couple of months ago. the plants have since grown in quite a bit. i hope to take some time and get a good picture soon.

 

[Veneer]

I find your riparium approach very refreshing. Did you have a specific locality in mind as you were working on this tank?

 

[fishlover]

Very nice and cool.
Now for questions:
-What fauna do you have in there? I'd love to see some livebearers in there, wild swordtails would look great, also some small central american cichlids like Firemouths.
-Are all your plants from Mexico?
-Don't the overhanging planters appear? How do you conceal them and if you don't, how does it look aesthetically speaking?
Anyways, the tank looks amazing!!! nice, new, easier than the palu from what I understand, and the water must always be nitrate-free. Seems like a perfect setup!!

 

[hydrophyte]

Very nice and cool.
Now for questions:
-What fauna do you have in there? I'd love to see some livebearers in there, wild swordtails would look great, also some small central american cichlids like Firemouths.

there are fish in there. i stocked it with poecilids and goodeids that i collected in the Rio Purificacion in Mexico. they were still rather small when i shot this picture and the tank is so deep front to back (24") that very often many of the fish are way in the background.

here is the stocklist:

• Poeciliopsis turneri
• Poecilia chica
• Xenotaenia resolanae

-Are all your plants from Mexico?

i did my best to use plants that were representative of things that i saw down in Mexico (e.g., Wedelia trilobata, Bacopa monnieri). in some cases i used plants that were different species, but in the same genera as things that i observed along the river there (e.g., Ludwigia peruensis). there are a couple of plants that i included simply because they looked nice in combination with the other species (e.g., Eleocharis montevidensis)

-Don't the overhanging planters appear? How do you conceal them and if you don't, how does it look aesthetically speaking?

there are several tricks that one can use to hide the the Hanging Planters and Trellis Rafts from view. in general, they become obscured by leaves, stems and roots as the plants grow. if you look hard you usually can see some of the hanging planters, but you almost have to have your head inside of the tank.

i have a blog post (still in draft form) that describes some of this.

http://hydrophytesblog.com/?p=275

please stop by and leave a question or comment if you have a moment.

Anyways, the tank looks amazing!!! nice, new, easier than the palu from what I understand, and the water must always be nitrate-free. Seems like a perfect setup!!

thanks! i think that this method/concept really is easier to set up and keep than most paludarium designs. one of the most compelling aspects of it is that it provides a pretty simple way to keep many kinds of plants that haven't really been used in aquarium displays before.

hydrophyte

 

[fishlover]

Cool, You have some really nice wild fish in there (I'm a fan of wild livebearers) and it's great that you actually went to the place you are recreating, I'm sure it makes it more realistic. So, no submerged vegetation in that biotope?
I visited your blog, it's really cool as well.
I'm already awaiting your next creation LOL. Since you have a central and south american biotope, how about an African river tank or an indonesian tank?

 

[hydrophyte]

thanks very much. i have a Web journal too for one of my trips down there.

A la Pesca

i have a start on another project that will have a loose Southeast Asia theme, although it will also use some plants and fish from Sri Lanka. i am planting it with emersed crypts and i started a journal over in the Aquascaping forum.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquascaping/61708-55g-crypt-riparium.html

 

[fade2black]

Very cool. You just added one more thing to my list of "I need to set one of those up".

 

[hydrophyte]

Very cool. You just added one more thing to my list of "I need to set one of those up".

thanks very much. let me know if you are looking for any setup details. i hope to add some updates soon.

 

[hydrophyte]

I was over servicing this tank the other day and I got a few shots. Here is a view down inside made with five photos stitched together.

I haven't been able to tend this tank more than once a week for a while, so the underwater portion is rather dingy. However, the emergent plant growth is looking good. Note the big Xanthosoma taro at right.

 

[macclellan]

Very nice! Inspiring even, and I don't say that often or lightly.

One gripe though: I think a better translation of "Gone Fishing" is "A Pescar." Many uses of the gerund in English like this are the infinitive in Spanish.

 

[hydrophyte]

thanks very much.

well, when i lived in Costa Rica my campesino friends, who might not have spoken perfect Castillian, but had their own legitimate version of Spanish, said "a la pesca". this phrase sounded just like "gone fishin'" to me.

i have never really improved my ****** Spanish very much in all the time that i have lived down there.

 

[hydrophyte]

I can never resist taking a few shots when I get a new Zephyranthes macrosiphon bloom.

I have a couple of these in this 120. They do really well in riaprium conditions and are prolific bloomers--one of my favorite plants.

 

[MARIMOBALL]

Awesome! I have a ten gallon rimless. what plants will stay small enough for a ten gallon with a current 40watt PC light?

 

[hydrophyte]

Awesome! I have a ten gallon rimless. what plants will stay small enough for a ten gallon with a current 40watt PC light?

Do you mean for a riparium? I think that it would be difficult to plant one of these in a 10 gallon. It is difficult to hide the hanging and floating planter hardware in such a small space. Many of the best plants are also too big and coarse for a small tank. The smallest size tank that I have used with success is a 20 Tall.

Here is a shot of a scape that I recently put together in a 20 Tall.

I bet you could find a cool way to grow plants emersed in your 10 gallon. There are many possibilities. Growing emersed crypts for flowering is becoming so popular, but most people use little flower pots and no attempt at an actual composition. You could plant a few tall crypts in one corner, with a slope down to a little pool of water, or something like that. You might even have enough space for one or two very small fish or a few shrimp.

 

[nemenem]

Hydrophyte, your Ripariums are always stunning, almost to the point I want to ditch the whole submersed thing!

If you want me to stitch those photos together on the previous page so they match up perfectly let me know. I will use a program to do it.

 

[Darksome]

Wow, impressive set up...it's really neat that you are exposing ripariums there's barely anything out there about them.

BTW, both you and macclellan have it right...it could be said both ways. In fact there are many variations or ir de pesca. I know because spanish is my first language.

 

[Navarro]

I really enjoy your article as well as your project thee are 3 more states that you can find much more species of everything and the conditions are more pristine.
The states of Tabasco, Morelos and Chiapas are places you may want to concider for the future and if you need a interpreter le t me know!
Cheers,
Luis

 

[hydrophyte]

Hydrophyte, your Ripariums are always stunning, almost to the point I want to ditch the whole submersed thing!

If you want me to stitch those photos together on the previous page so they match up perfectly let me know. I will use a program to do it.

thank you. that would be interesting to stitch together tank pictures with that kind of software--ibet it would give a very different look. i did that one real quick for something of an artistic effect--or an experiment anyway. i understood that for pictures like that to merge correctly you have to use a special kind of tripod that pans the camera right around the focal point. is that right? i don't know that those pictures i took could really be put together in a seamless way because i just handheld the camera(?).

Wow, impressive set up...it's really neat that you are exposing ripariums there's barely anything out there about them.

BTW, both you and macclellan have it right...it could be said both ways. In fact there are many variations or ir de pesca. I know because spanish is my first language.

thank you. i have a lot of fun planting these ripariums. there are a lot of plant species that grow well in these that haven't really been kept in aquariums before. yep, just like English and most other languages there are often many ways to say the same thing.

I really enjoy your article as well as your project thee are 3 more states that you can find much more species of everything and the conditions are more pristine.
The states of Tabasco, Morelos and Chiapas are places you may want to concider for the future and if you need a interpreter le t me know!
Cheers,
Luis

thanks very much. actually that area of Jalisco is quite pristine. there isn't much nature left in the area around Guadalajara, but that place is toward the coast and there are very nice forests and rivers and so on. here is a nice view of a stream where i have done some collecting.

 

[orlando]

Nice!

-Orlando