# Riparium



## goldier (Feb 13, 2010)

I've been reading about riparium on this site and become quite fascinated with the idea of expanding dimension of the mini eco system to include fauna and flora above and below water in an aquarium. Imagine you can have frogs, skater above water; crabs along the water edge, and fish, shrimp, snail, tadpoles in the water.

The setup here is purely eye-candy and so natural! http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...-gallon-south-america-biotope-riparium-4.html

http://hydrophytesblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/scratch-3-ix-09.jpg

Have you ever thought, designed or maintained a similar riparium? I am thinking to build a large and tall, rimless tank like one in the photo (on to-do list for now). The El natural technique certainly can apply to a riparium, although the author used sand substrate in his setup.


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## NayR:D (Jan 14, 2010)

I love this type of tank, in this months issue of PFK they have done a little step by step on making rainforest tank a completly water area for an apistogramma cactuoides and pygmy corydoras and they a bank with plants on and wood and even mushrooms, obviously youd need a top for this because of the humidity needed. These projects rrequire an amazing amount of planning from what ive seen haha. Defonatly on my list to do one day, 

Introducing npt into this is a great idea because of the possible gap between water and light fixture low light plants are proberly best getting there nutrients from a muddy sandy bottom, it would defonatl be something to be very proud of. 

Regards


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## goldier (Feb 13, 2010)

Elaborate planning and setting for sure. I recall seeing an outdoor, above ground version of a structure, maybe better known as a paludarium (?) in Hong Kong several years ago before the turnover. There was an island rising into a hilltop in the middle of a large rectangular pond with glass windows viewing on 4 sides. A temple sat atop the hill with meandering paths down the slope, weaving among little bonsai trees, vegetation, and moss covered rocks. One path crossed a small waterfall which poured into a shallow bay, where a red half-moon bridge crossed, under which the juvenile guppies gathered for refuge from the big sharks in the deep. Land met water from dramatic vertical rock formations with bared tree roots dangling on one side to a sandy beach front on the other. Red swordtails inhabited the under water world, along with colorful guppies and gouramis. The moss seemed to carpet everywhere below the water surface where sunlight barely cut through at the northwestern corner, while a dense forest flourished at the other deep end. The dragonflies hovered near the pond and birds stopped by to quench their thirst, and perhaps took home their catch of the day...


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