40 Gallon Coldwater Paludarium Journal

[mandy2936]

LOL

 

[mandy2936]

LOL I love it

 

[LemurLad]

Thanks Amanda. You are inspiration to get the HabiCat back in action!

3 Finals down, one more to go, then it's tank time! I'm working on getting a car this week after three months without one. Carting sculptures around on buses got old pretty quick.

 

[LemurLad]

After a bit of terror last night (10 Gallon Rescue Escapade!), I figured it was time for some tank maintenance to deal with overcrowding/bullying a little. I decided to move my Dwarf Gourami to my 20gal, the Badis pair from the 20gal to the 10gal, and 5 of the white clouds into the 10gal.

Current stock lists -
20Gal: 1 Dwarf Gourami, 2 Dwarf Puffers, 4 Kuhli Loaches,
10Gal: 2 Badis Badis, 3 Sparkling Gourami, 5 White Clouds
5Gal: 4 Glowlight Danios, 3 White Clouds

The White Clouds and Danios will most likely all go into the paludarium, but I'm reconsidering how I'm gonna stock it though. I think I want more species variety.

 

[LemurLad]

Finally, winter break has brought me some free time! So it's time for a real update!

I foamed together a new rock wall tonight, using shards of petrified wood to fill in the smaller spaces between the larger rocks. It looks a bit messy right now, but once the foam dries, it'll be easy to clean up. There are some intentional spaces left in the wall for driftwood, plants and the filter. I set up the tank with a lamp pointing down at it to see how the light will play off the rock face. I think it turned out pretty spiffy if I do say so for myself!

 

[LemurLad]

CHA-KOW! Quadruple post!

As I said over in the Vampire Crabs thread, I paid for a pair of Red Geosesarma crabs today. I was never sure whether or not I wanted crabs for this tank, but the moment I saw them in the store, I had to have 'em. This also means I've really gotta kick this project into high gear! So tonight I aim to finish up the wall with gravel and driftwood, then figure out how I want the hardscape.

I already water tested the wall earlier in this project, but I'll do it again tomorrow just to be sure I didn't rip any of the seals in "rocking" the wall.
Here are some pics of the hardscape as it will likely be:

Opinions?

As for a materials update, I've got all the substrates I'll need, most of the fishies, the crabs, all of the plants for the aquatic section, a couple of plants for the terrestrial section, the filter(s) and the light. I'm trying to find pitcher plants, but the nurseries around here don't usually carry them in winter. :/

 

[LemurLad]

What's this post then, pentuple? Well, hopefully someone will post after it. I better give that someone good reason! SO! Finally, without further ado...

After weeks of work...

I present to you...

Drumroll please...

My 40gal Paludarium.

Can you spot the crab?

Time for a dip.

Om nom nom banana.

Mmm... Mud.

Is that glass dirty or what? The water portion is still clearing up and cycling-ish; I'm using a filter/substrate from another tank, so I'll give that some time to settle down before I add fish. The four crabs mostly stay on the land, but they'll crawl in the water occasionally. Ah yess... feels so good to have this thing done. Well, mostly done anyway.

 

[mom2reds]

looks very cool. Good job!

 

[mandy2936]

Nice! Great job!
Cute crab, too

 

[fort384]

Wow! Great! I love the hardscape, especially that driftwood. Post some pics when the water clears.

 

[th08tu]

How are the crabs doing? I looked into those, but I heard they are hard to keep in captivity.

 

[LemurLad]

Thanks for the comments, guys.

So far the crabs are doing great! They seem to have paired off on opposite sides of the tank, but they are still pretty shy. I've read that the "red devil" crabs that I've got are collected at some elevation, so I'm keeping them at room temp with no heater in the water. The documentation of these crabs is few and far between, hopefully (with some luck) I'll be able to breed them.

 

[LemurLad]

Update - Everything's settling in nicely. I added the danios and white clouds over the weekend and they seem to enjoy the tank, but are staying in the "pool" area away from the current, I might have to take one powerhead out. I love the blackwater look that the water has taken on, very dramatic against the brightness of the land portion.

The crabs are all surviving. It's hard to tell how well they're doing because they are quite shy and hide out most of the time, but the bloodworms I put near their burrows at night are disappearing. They seem to be out more since I added the fish, which could be good or bad, haha. These guys aren't supposed to be fish hunters, but I still hope no fish go missing!

The most beautiful of the crabs was out in front today which was a total surprise because he's the shyest. I love the pattern on his back, very different from the others.

 

[LemurLad]

Updates! I've got a few new white cloud fry swimming around now and I chucked the grass/moss stuff that was just rotting away and put in some pothos. Hopefully it'll spread a bit!

I LOVE how the water ivy is wrapping around the driftwood and shooting up these tall leaves!

If you look right in the middle, you can see one of the white cloud fry!

 

[fort384]

Lookin good!

 

[Coleallensmom]

NICE!

 

[Viper]

This tank is really awesome!

 

[Coleallensmom]

Any new photos?

 

[LemurLad]

Time for an update! Tuesdays have become my vivarium fooling day so I decided I'd work on a background for the paludarium today! I also put the vampire crabs back in the tank because I hardly saw them in their other set up.

Here's the tank yesterday before I took out the big piece of wood on the land portion -

And here's couple shots of the background being made. I siliconed Indian Almond leaves and clay/cocofiber mats to the area above the land portion -

And here's the finished rescape -

I think the crabs are happy to be back home -