A Few Planted Ripariums

[Roly0217]

Those are some beautiful tanks. I really also love to do biotopes when I aquascape. Have you done any ripariums with Anubia species?? I love Crypts and Echinodorus as well. I had a couple of planted freshwater tanks in the past. Congrats on the beautiful growth !!!!

[hydrophyte]

Thanks so much. Oh yes I have one tank that has several Anubias plants in it, this 55-gallon...



I was in Miami just last weekend for the International Aroid Society Show and Sale. It was nice and hot there. I saw a lot of cool plants.

[Roly0217]

Yep I see them along with the Crypts and the Java fern. Are those gold barbs and some type of minnows or tetras??

[hydrophyte]

Yes those are gold barbs along with peacock gudgeons and yo-yo loaches. Really these fish need to be rearranged, because the loaches and barbs will grow up too big for this amount of water. They are doing well now though.

[hydrophyte]

I got some more pictures tonight of the ladies' tresses orchid (Spiranthes cernua var. odorata) blooms that are going in my 65-gallon riparium setup.



Here is a close up.



These flowers shrivel and fall after just a few days, so this spike won't last much longer.

Here is another recent picture of the whole tank.

[fox]

these are breathtaking! SO beautiful!

[hydrophyte]

This tank has gotten to be quite overgrown. This picture from last night shows that the taro and big sword on the right were blocking much of the light:



I removed almost all of the emersed plants from the tank, leaving just a few planters. Here is the "after" shot:



I plan to replant with almost all new material. This is one new thing that I am going to include, the sweetflag Acorus gramineus 'Omogo':

[Paul]

Very nice!

[hydrophyte]

Thanks so much Paul!

I haven't been back here in a while, but I remembered about this thread because I have some fun news. My 65-gallon riparium setup was featured as December 2009 Tank of the Month on AquascapingWorld.com


AquascapingWorld.com December 2009 Tank of the Month

[andrew__]

I think this is the third forum where I get to comment on your beautiful tanks

The orchids you're trying in here, are you planting them with roots completely submerged (like in water culture), raised slightly (semi-hydroponic) or hanging above the water? Even if you can just raise the pots a little and grow orchids in leco/hydroton with maybe an inch at the bottom submerged (vs 1" reservoir at the bottom of a pot) you'd be able to handle a much larger variety of orchids and really make some even more stunning displays than you already do.