Planted Ripariums

[hydrophyte]

I have a concept that I have been working on for a few years that relates in a few ways to orchid gardering, planted ripariums. These systems make good habitats for tropical fish and other aquarium livestock, while also supporting live plants artisically arranged in a miniature garden composition. Ripariums are often compared to a superficially similar kind of planted aquarium, the paludarium, but unlike paludariums, ripariums do not have built-up terrestrial areas: the emergent aquatic plants are supported instead with hanging and floating planting hardware.



I include a picture above of a riparium composition that I recently put together in a 65 gallon aquarium. I actually have a few orchids growing in this setup--varieties selected because they use wet terrestrial habitats in nature--a Phragmepedium and a Spiranthes. I have a couple of different Bletilla going in another tank. I really do hope to source other suitable species and try some more orchids in my ripariums.