Some of my Planted Ripariums

thanks again everyone. i really don't deserve such praise--for the most part i just stick the plants in there and they grow. here is a quick post of that 65 which i have journaled in the Planted Aquariums forum.

15-vii-09-tank-ii-m.jpg
 
These are such awesome tanks!

It will probably have to wait until I'm out of college and might actually have some money, but for I while I've had an idea to do one of these in a 75 or maybe a 4' 120 as an Ohio marsh biotope primarily for a breeding group of spotted turtles. I really love the rimless look, and I'll have to remember that for mine. These are really inspiring

I really SHOULDN'T set up another tank right now, bit I have this 20 extra high.....
 
these setups are primarily for plants and fish. i imagine turtles would trash that whole thing in a short time and there isn't really any above water surface for them to use. any animal bigger than 1/2 gram would knock down all those light stems.

i have wondered about really small mantids--those might work. here is a supplier that has many species:

http://www.mantisplace.com
 
The way I'd be doing it would have the plants in fairly secure (probably sculpted concrete) containers and would include some basking areas, so they wouldn't be the same as your setups. Also, the only turtles I plan on attempting to keep in the setups will fit in the palm of your hand. Their maximum size is only around 5". If it were my current pair of turtles, you would be correct about them trashing it. They are also very herbivorous and probably wouldn't let any of the plants survive regardless of whether they knocked them down first or not
 
Oh that would be a good way to keep plants with turtles. You could also just pot the plants in terra cotta pots and wedge them in place, but you might get a more naturalistic appearance with homemade conrcete planters formed to look like rocks. Try a Google search with combinations of "hypertufa", "reef" and "rock garden" and you might find some interesting.

I have lots of experience with growing different kinds of plants. If you start considering this some more I could suggest some plants and also send some your way if I have extra on hand.
 
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