Vampire crap brom/orchid paludarium. High humidity.

[Jeryko87]

Hello orchid lovers.
A complete beginner here with a new found love for miniature orchids.
I've built a paludarium recently for some fish, shrimp and vampire crabs and would love to populate the upper part with more and more micro orchids.
The sistem is fully automated and has the following specs:
Humidity: 90%
Temp: 26°C high/21°C low
Light: 15000 lumens top part/ 8000 lumens lower part.
Air flow: low to moderate
The ecosistem is thriving so far, with all the plants growing happily.
As far as orchids go, I've added five of them with three doing very well and two kind of meh:
Lepanthopsis Astrophora - growing/flowering like mad
Pleurothallis Rubella - growing/flowering like mad
Masdevallia Nidifica - growing well
Lepanthes Gargoyla - growing ok
Stelis Mystax- struggling

What other super small orchids would you recommend for this hot and very humid setup?

A few pics of the tank below:





If you guys/gals want details on the raspberry pi controller, I'd be happy to share.

[Mr.Fakename]

Looking good! How old is the enclosure?

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

[Fishkeeper]

You might try Lepanthes telipogoniflora and Haraella odorata.

Love the tank, and the crab! Such a pretty animal.

[SADE2020]

Ohh love your tank and the little one! Well done and welcome.

Stelis for me didn't go well. Let me check my list with those conditions and I'll recommend some options as well.

[wisdomseeker]

A few (and there are several) that have worked out well for me that may also work out well for you, with your growing conditions... and they just might be worthy of your consideration.

Grown in the 70F to mid-80F temperature range (21C-29C) with humidity levels between 80-90%.

Several Bulbophyllum species (especially B. oblogum, B. lasiochilum, B. hirundinis)

Scaphosepalum rapax

Pleurothallis (Specklinia) grobyi

Dracula lotax

Dendrobium subuliferum

Psygmorchis pusilla
Although these have been short lived for me, especially compared to other species (the longest I've been able to keep them going is around the four-year mark) they constantly flower and have a nice fan-shaped structure.

Phymatidium tillandsioides
Has a unique structure for an orchid (can't keep up with the scientific name-game changes anymore, but I believe it is now labeled as P. falcifolium).

[harpspiel]

Where is the 90% humidity measurement taken from? Humidity often stratifies from bottom to top of a tank, but if it's 90% throughout with low airflow that's gonna be too humid for many orchids, you'll have your best luck with pleurothallids (which is what you have so far).

By the way, 21-26C is not considered hot, it is comfortably within "intermediate" temperatures for orchids, so if you're searching for species that will be a keyword you'll want to use.