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What is a paludaruim
anyway?
A paludaruim is an
aquarium which is set up with half water and half land.
Ideally it is a balanced system which houses plants and
animals from all levels of the food chain - a balanced
ecosystem packaged nicely in a little glass box.
The Photos and images
here are of an older paludaruim that we disassembled in
the summer of 97. At this time it was just about three
years old and was an extremely successful setup. (We
disassembled the tank out of a need to move the tank
itself to make some repairs to our home, not because we
were dissatisfied with the tank - Right now we are
setting up a smaller paludaruim in a 29g tank and will
post photos of that setup once it is established.)
The paludaruim housed
many different critters. The general makeup of the tank
was:
- 2 Fire bellied
newts
- 4 Freshwater clams
- 4 African pygmy
frogs
- 12 Neon tetra
- 4 Kuhli loaches
- 2 Pictus catfish
- 8 Otocinculus
- 5 Cloud mountain
minnows
- 6 Guppies plus
several dozen fry
- Spade Leaf -
Gymnocoronis spilanthoides
- Brazilian
Pennywort - Hydrocotyle leucocephala
- Crypts -
Cryptocoryne Wendtii
- Java Moss -
Vesicularia dubyana
- Duckweed - Lemna
minor
- Clasping-leafed
pondweed - Potamogeton richardsonii
- Parlor palm
- Woody parsley
- Pineapple plant
- Heart leafed
philodendron
- a weekly crop of
wild mushrooms accidentally introduced with the
mosses.
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Putting it
all together
It's easier than it
looks.......
I thought this might be
of interest since there have been postings off and on in
the aquaria newsgroups concerning paludaruim and home
made river tanks. While this isn't a river tank in the
sense that there is a continual current in one direction,
it is very similar in layout and it does have a very
nice, natural look to it that the plastic kits miss by a
mile - hopefully it may serve as inspiration to those who
are leery about constructing their own ...
Paludaruims are easy to
build and maintain. In many ways, they are easier to deal
with than most full water set-ups. You don't need a huge
tank or a mountain of expensive equipment to produce
great results. Unfortunately unlike freshwater aquaria,
there is not a lot of information available on
paludariums or their inhabitants, and what is available
is spread thinly all over the library. However, if you
are willing to be patient, experiment and do a bit of
research you will be amazed at what you can do with a
tank and a few well placed rocks. :)
History.....
Our first paludarium
was set up in a ten gallon tank. Like our first aquarium,
it was bought on a whim. The mom and pop pet store down
the hill had a tank full of newts by the register which
we would always stop to flirt with when we went to get
supplies. We thought they were just plain cool! After
about two months of Monty Python jokes, we broke down and
bought a pair of newts, a 10g tank with a screen lid,
gravel, a small submersible filter and 2 dozen crickets.
Later we added plants, a flock of danios, driftwood and
then experimented with building springs, water falls and
PVC pipe caves. The newts did not stay in the 10g for
long. There were just to many neat things to do and
animals to add. Over the next few months we moved them
into a 15g and then a 29g tank until finally it became
more logical to convert our 55g tank to house the newts
than to deal with the algae patch form Hell that had
taken over any longer. To say we was frustrated with the
55g tank would be an understatement. Algae!
Arrrrgggghhhh!
Our 55g paludaruim went
together as follows.....
After taking everything
apart and declaring an all out algae scrub-o-thon, we
decided on a layout for the tank and then laid the
substrate. Instead of starting with new gravel, we mixed
the existing substrate from the 55g full water setup with
that of the 29g tank the newts were in at the time and
covered the whole thing with more gravel. The old
substrates were full of detrus, newt poop and blood worms
so no fertilizer or special additives were needed. To
allow plenty of room for plant roots we keep adding
gravel until the substrate was about 4" deep in the
front sloping up to 6" in the back. Next we
furnished the tank and built the beaches out of layers of
3"to 5" river stones.
The layout of the tank
is rather simple. In the right half of the tank we placed
a hollow log which extends from the middle of the tank
out of the water into the upper right corner. This
provides a nice sheltered area both above and below the
water line for the inhabitants. Against the left side of
the tank is a rock pile which rises above the water
surface to form a large beach. This rock pile makes up
most of the land mass and is shored up with a nice piece
of moss covered driftwood. Although the river rocks
naturally form cracks for plant roots and small animals
to hide, we also placed three pieces of black 2" PVC
pipe inside the rock wall which open onto the main body
of water but are hidden by the rocks and are completely
out of view. This gives the newts and fish a nice place
to retreat to that is somewhat secluded and protected.
All of the fish and amphibians use the caves at one time
or another (also to a certain extent it keeps them from
burrowing into the rocks and either getting stuck or
causing an avalanche). A thin strip of rock beach which
hides the sandshark also extends from the main beach
along the back wall to the hollow log. Near the center of
the tank there is a second, smaller piece of driftwood
which rises just to the surface of the water and is
covered with java moss. On the right side of the tank a
piece of lace rock hides the powerhead from view. The
layout of the tank keeps a strong current running from
the back right corner to the center of the tank where it
is evenly dispersed. The rocks and logs also provide
large areas of still water for our little friends.
Setting the land masses
up is a lot of fun. We use river rocks that are about
3" in diameter. This size lets you create land
masses that are pretty sturdy and also leaves big enough
cracks that you get good water circulation throughout
them, which is important if you plan to plant live plants
on the beach (which is of course half the fun of having a
paludaruim). It is also a lot of fun to rearrange the
rocks until you find a configuration you like - just be
careful, if you find more than one setup you like, it is
very tempting to run and and buy another tank rather than
compromise.
After furnishing the
tank we filled it about half way with a combination of
water from the old 55g and 29g set ups and some fresh
water. Then we got both the filters going and planted the
tank. Finally after about eight hours of this insanity we
introduced the newts and all the other in habitants to
their new home.
After 16 months the
tank is pretty well established. Aside from a few losses
due to old age and a slight algae problem everything is
going well. We are having broods of guppies almost weekly
and the plants are growing inches between water changes.
As an added bonus, we recently won an award for best
naturally planted aquaria.
I hope this description
inspires some of you to give paludariums a try. They are
lots of fun and well worth the effort.
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Tank specs
- Tank: 55g
- Age: three years
- pH: 7.2
- Temp: 72 degrees
- Depth and volume:
7" to 9" or about 22g
- Amount of water to
land: about 70% open water to 30% dry land
- Lighting: Two
48" fluorescents - one cheapy and one plant
tube
- Filtering: Believe
it or not, no filtration - only a powerhead and
small sandshark for current and aeration.
- Substrate: a mix
of 3-5mm gravel and local river rocks from pebble
size up to 4 or 5 inches in diameter.
- Maintenance:
Weekly water changes of 1/3 to 1/2 the water- at
which time we vacuum up any solid wastes left on
the bottom.
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Original
content © 1998-99 Amy and Phillip Pittman.
Last updated
25 January, 1999
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