Some of my Planted Ripariums

I definitely will. I've been reading the PDF instructions for the planters and the rafts. :)
 
Anytime.

Here's a close up of that Pilea sp. there on the left-hand side...

14-x-09-pilea-i-m.jpg


That's a pretty plant and a good grower--very easy.
 
Fantastic tanks! The plants look great, the arrangements are nice, and the overall effect is very clean.

I've been working on some similar setups myself. I have found that mud plantains (Heteranthera sp.), lizardtail (Saururus cernuus) and swamp dock (Rumex verticillatus) do very well with minimal care. My Peltandra virginica and various Sagittaria species melted and regrew after transplant; I have hopes for them recovering. Eleocharis and Alisma subcordatum seem to have succumbed. I recently got some Lobelia cardinalis, Hydrocotyle ranunculoides, Echinodorus cordifolius, Pontaderia cordata, and Limnobium spongiae that I'm trying to get started.
 
I have some Lobelia cardinalis that is in my tank with green leaves. Do you think it would turn purple again if it were switched to a Riparium?
 
Did it have purple leaves then change to green? The purple-leaved variety usually stays purple whether grown submersed, emersed, or terrestrially, at least in my experience.
 
Fantastic tanks! The plants look great, the arrangements are nice, and the overall effect is very clean.

I've been working on some similar setups myself. I have found that mud plantains (Heteranthera sp.), lizardtail (Saururus cernuus) and swamp dock (Rumex verticillatus) do very well with minimal care. My Peltandra virginica and various Sagittaria species melted and regrew after transplant; I have hopes for them recovering. Eleocharis and Alisma subcordatum seem to have succumbed. I recently got some Lobelia cardinalis, Hydrocotyle ranunculoides, Echinodorus cordifolius, Pontaderia cordata, and Limnobium spongiae that I'm trying to get started.

Thanks so much. They might not seem so clean if you could see them in person.

Those are some neat plants that you have gotten going. Did you collect them yourself? Do you have any pictures? I had some Heteranthera for a while, but I found that it ran all over and was difficult to keep in a planter. Some of those things, such as the Alisma, might not do so well in an aquarium setup because they have real strong seasonal cycles.
 
Did it have purple leaves then change to green? The purple-leaved variety usually stays purple whether grown submersed, emersed, or terrestrially, at least in my experience.

I was under the impression that when it's terrestrial, it had purple leaves and when fully aquatic, it turned green. I don't really know though. Guess I'll do some research.

Hydrophyte, are you familiar with this plant?
 
I have tried to grow Lobelia cardinalis a few times as an emersed plant. I had what I understood to be a couple of distinct varieties. If you look in that last picture you can see a tiny little bit of it behind the green Staurogyne and the Pilea. That one was given to me as "tall" variety. It has just been sitting there for a couple of months and not really growing at all. I might pull it out of this tank to make some room for something more vigorous.

Another time that I grew it I transitioned a piece of the underwater dwarf form that looks like a tiny swordplant. It also grew very slowly and with a strange habit. It retained the fleshy almost succulent leaves and turned a greenish purple color emersed.
 
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I have been looking for an idea for a 10 gal tank that I can set up about 15 or 20 feet from my bed....I need something to pay attention to from there and I have a small aquarium (6 gal) of guppies on the other side and I think that would be so very interesting to watch...like having your own pond inside...How much care do they need? My nurse aides have to do the actual care so I would have to have one that needed very little done to it on a daily basis.... Are they much work once they are set up? I'm going to research them before I decide so I'd appreciate your opinion....thanks...Martha
 
Martha, That sounds like a nice idea. A 10-gallon would be pretty tight and would leave only about three gallons of water. Do you have space for a slightly larger tank in that spot, like a 20-gallon (24" X 12")? I think that a 10 probably could work if you just put a few small fish in it.
 
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