Riparium setup for Synodontis petricola

[hydrophyte]

What about the best conditions to discourage shyness? I am pondering also adding a sinlge medium-sized Cyryptoheros cichlid (not Tanganyikan, I know) to this tank as a centerpiece. Will this make them more timid?

[Birger]

Having other active fish in the tank will make these catfish less likely to bolt at every movement or sound, as long as the Cryptoheros is not attacking the cats which is unlikely unless it is a breeding pair.

Birger

[hydrophyte]

Well today I added the catfish. There are also a number of those P. chica mollies in the tank, and I hope that they will encourage the S. lucipinnis to swim around out in the open some. So far they have mainly been moving around back in the shaded area in the rear of the tank.

I added plants too. Here is a quick shot looking down through the top of the tank.



This is not the final layout--I just stuck the plants in there quick. It's not much to look at now, but once they get a chance to grow in it should be pretty nice. Here is a quick rundown of the selections that I included, beginning with the red-stemmed plant on the left.

• Limnophila aromatica, this is an excellent riparium plant for creating a floating carpet of stems. Here it is planted in a hanging planter, then trained to grow across a trellis raft.
• Cyperus ??, I don't know which variety this is. I wish that I had not lost the variety information, because this one is perfect for riparium culture. Most of the other ones that I have tried grow to be too large.
• Bacopa ??, I am not certain, but I believe this one to be madagascariensis. It is really great for creating a floating carpet. It looks thin here, but I will trim the growing tips to encourage branching and make a nice dense green carpet.
• Cyrtosperma johnstonii, this thing is really cool. It is a tropical aroid with unique red-veined leaves. It might eventually grow too large for this setup, but for right now it is only growing very slowly. I wrote an entry about it over in the Plants sub-forum,
• Lipia nodiflora, this is not a true aquatic, but it grows as a creeping stem in wet areas. I have seen it a few times in Florida.
• Echinodorus cordifolius 'Tropical Marble Queen', this is an excellent riparium plant. Here it is sort of competing with the C. johnstonii as a centerpiece, but the two also make an interesting contrast with each other. The leaves are about the same size on each, but white-variegated in the sword, but re-veined in the aroid.

[hydrophyte]

Here is another new update. I added another couple of plants and more fish too. The plants still need to grow in--this will take a while--but this gives a general idea of what it will look like.



That larger fish down near the bottom is and Archocentrus cutteri cichlid. SO far it is getting along fine with the Synodontis.

[hydrophyte]

Hey my old 65-gallon riparium setup (the one that was in the same spot as this new display) was featured as December 2009 Tank of the Month on AquascapingWorld.com


XXXXXXXl







*

[Proteus]

I follow your threads in other sites and you're one of my favorites to keep an eye on.


This was an inspiration for me to try to squeeze in more room and a great excuse to bring out another fish tank and if I wasn't tight on the money I would have had this setup up and running already on my 45 g high cube tank and dedicate it to the oil catfish I have in that tank with the cories. Once I have other projects tackled and out of the way this is going to be the next one

[hydrophyte]

Hey well just send me a note if you ever have any questions. I have lots of extra riparium plants too and we are not too far for shipping so if I send a box it might get to you in just a day. We might even be able to arrange a hand-off of plants because I go to Chicago from time to time.

[hydrophyte]

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Hi All, I apologize for this. The site that I linked above was apparently compromised during the period that I posted and was loading malware. I have heard from the person who found the problem that it has apparently been resolved, but I am waiting to hear back from the site admin to verify. I hobbled the link, but I will post again when I can make sure that it is OK.

If you did follow that link last night or earlier today, then please check your systems!

[hydrophyte]

I have been back in touch with the administrator at that site and he has fixed the breach. Here is the link again.
http://www.aquascapingworld.com/forum/a ... tream.html

[Proteus]

Thanks! I'm gonna start hoarding those plastic cubbies and those thingies you stick on the glass with whenever I stumble upon em. A step closer to the goal.


Cheers

[hydrophyte]

Well like I say I have lots of plants too if you ever get started with a setup.

The raft planters are also important. Many kinds of plants grow best on those, and since they hold the plants out in the midiground they help to develop visual depth.

[DJ-don]

its a great setup you have here Hydrophyte!!!
i would like to start a riparium of my own after just following this thread
but i do belive no petstore in canberra does riparium setups and such

nice work though!!

[hazena]

Hey you guys,
I might be entering the world of aquariums once again and I am really excited. The stuff available has changed quite a bit.

Well coming across this setup you have- It looks awesome with the water level being mid level. I did that a lot when I was younger but I also remember that it looked awesome in the beginning and then the mineral ring just got ugly. Is there something you guys do to remedy this?

Also i have been seeing a lot of open top tanks with say a Halogen lamp on top. Since the evaporation rate greatly increases has anyone out there found it too be a real pain in the butt to keep refilling the tank? Or is the clean cool look worth it all?

Hazen Audel

[MatsP]

For refilling the tank, you could always use a drilled tank with a sump and float-valve-controlled refilling.

--
Mats

[hydrophyte]

That chalk line that tends to form is easy to manage. If you clean it off routinely it never builds up very thick and comes off easy. I use an old plastic phone card to scrape it off every time that I do a water change, about twice per week. A little bit of white vinegar can be used to remove more stubborn deposits.

I do get some evaporation from these tanks, but it is also manageable and we actually appreciate the extra humidity here during the wintertime.

For a tank that is put together as a nice display for a living room or wherever one probably needs to attend to it a couple-few times a week anyway for minor touch-ups to keep it looking nice.

Incase you haven't been there yet here is the link to the Riparium Supply site.

http://ripariumsupply.com/

There is some information there and also on the blog that links form the site home.

[hydrophyte]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Here is a quick update.



The plants are all growing pretty well. You can still see the trellis rafts there along the front edges of the bacopa and other carpeting plants, but they will be covered up as those plants grow into floating mats.

[hydrophyte]

This isn't the best picture, but the plants are looking pretty good. Everything is growing well.



I have been pruning and training the plants to cover up the edges of the foam trellis rafts. I really enjoy the carpeting effects of the Bacopa and the Limnophila and they are perfect for this layout. I pulled the Spathiphyllum out--its foliage was too coarse and did not go well with the other plants.

The Cryptoheros cutteri is doing well too. Now that he feels more at home his colors have deepened.



I found a good solution for a mid-water shoaling species and it was right under my nose, or right under my floor (in the basement fishroom). I have had a colony of really nice Ilyodon furcidens (Goodeidae) for some time and I never really think about them or my other livebearers as display fish, but they are perfect for this setup. Here is a shot of one in the display from last night.



I really like these fish a lot. I had collected the parental fish during a trip down to Mexico a few years ago.

[hydrophyte]

I have an update for this tank. I don't much care for the tannish-yellow wall as a background, so I tried a white sheet. I know that it is wrinkled, but it gives an idea of how the foliage looks against white. I think that the color and contrast are improved. What do you think?



This image is a montage made with a shot at slower shutter speed, which I used to cut and paste the underwater area. This corrected for my camera's tendency to overemphasize glare and shadow.

For the sake of comparison here is an older shot with the wall as background.



I have asked, but the CEO gave thumbs' down when I asked about repainting the wall. I think that I need to look for some kind of temporary background that I can hang up for photography.

[2wheelsx2]

Yep, the white looks awesome. Maybe just cover a piece of plywood in bright white table cloth and have it stapled down tight?

[hydrophyte]

Thanks. I think the white is better too. That yellow wall seems to turn all of the leaves yellow and it is not a good contrast against foliage either.

That's a good idea. I might also just purchase a big piece of that hollow-core presentation board, which is light in weight.

[DJ-don]

great setup
i would think that you could add some small growing plants in there and some wood because to me its just to plain (no offense)
and maybe some other riparium plants too? i dont know how these things work but still its going really good

[hydrophyte]

Thanks very much. I do plan to add some more underwater plants, probably Amazon swords. However, I don't want to have too much in the way there because the I. furcidens and the synos are very active need the room to swim around.

In other ripariums that I have put together the emphasis has been more on the plants and the fish have functioned more like accents, but I have really great fish in this one to showcase, so there is somewhat less of the emersed foliage here. However, those plants will grow in some more.

By walking up to the tank you can get a real good view of the plants. Here is a shot down through the top.

[hydrophyte]

My centerpiece plant, the Cyrtosperma johnstonii, is still growing and looking healthy--I wondered if this environment would be suitable for it. Here it is with a new leaf slowly unfurling.



The leaf undersides have this unusual reptilian patternation and colors.



The leaf petioles are also growing more spiny as they get larger, but the spines are soft. Here is a view of the petiole up close.



This plant will eventually grow too large for this enclosure, but it is growing slowly so I hope that i will be able to keep it here for some time more.

[hydrophyte]

Here is a quick shot from today.



Algae is growing on the rocks, which I sort of like. The fish like it too. The tan wall is imparting that yellow tinge to everything. I think that I will paint the wall white for picture taking. I put a couple more (ratty-looking) plants into the underwater area. I think that I want to find a couple-three decent Amazon swords to use there.

[Fish]

That tank is pure awesome!

[hydrophyte]

Thanks Fish!

[hydrophyte]

I have another quick update from tonight. I have moved the stones around some more.



This is not such a good picture--the water was still cloudy from my disturbances.

[hydrophyte]

Last night I also finally got a picture of one of the little S. lucinpinnis.



It will take some effort to get a few good pictures of these--they are skittish.

[hydrophyte]

Today I was admiring the Echinodorus cordifolius 'Tropica Marble Queen' that I have growing in here.



This is such a nice plant. It is the perfect size and shape for growing in a riparium. This variety of E. cordifolius grows rather slowly and stays smallish, so it does not become so unruly the way that the species does.

Here is a leaf close-up.

[hydrophyte]

I got some new pictures of this tank tonight. Here is a view from above.