Some of my Planted Ripariums

[gagaliya]

This is beautiful! i know you want the focal point be the emersed plants, but adding a few anubias nana at the bottom of the tank will make it look even nicer!

btw how do you deal with the roots from the emersed plants? cant really see the middle section in the photo as it's dark.

I have a quick shot from my new 50-gallon setup

The background is a wrinkled white bed sheet--I just hung it up to try another different background color.

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.

 

[hydrophyte]

Thanks very much. I don't think that A. barteri nana would work so well for this particular layout, but I am going to add some Amazon swords to brighten up that underwater area. If you look you can see one in there already in the shade to the left of center.

The plant roots actually help to make everything look more natural and they hide the planter cups and trellis rafts. They develop near the rear of the tank underneath the plants and I have never had them grow so big that they are in the way. The fish appreciate the plant roots as cover.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here is another shot of that 50-gallon from the other night.

The carpeting plants have just about covered the foam trellis rafts. I reallyy like this view down inside.

 

[Rbishop]

Awesome tank!

 

[hydrophyte]

Thanks. I might get a tidier full-tank shot tonight if I can make time. I also want to get some video too because the fish are really cool.

 

[hydrophyte]

I just saw a blog update by guitarfish on the Riparium Supply product review that he had done a couple of months ago. Here is the link to the update...

http://www.guitarfish.org/2010/01/05/riparium-update

He put this planting into a 20 Tall. He has some pretty nice plants going in there. I think that I sent him most of the emersed plants. That Cyperus umbrella sedge is an especially good riparium plant and it looks happy in his setup. The underwater area is nice too.

 

[hydrophyte]

I have an update from my new 50-gallon setup. The centerpiece plant, a lone 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 leaves have such strange colors and patterns--they look prehistoric to me.

The petioles are also growing more spiny as the leaves 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.

I have that tank journaled over in the Catfish sub-forum...

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213440

 

[WeedCali]

Your tanks/photos never cease to amaze me

 

[hydrophyte]

Thanks WeedCali!

 

[hydrophyte]

Tonight I was admiring the Echinodorus cordifolius 'Tropica Marble Queen' sword in my 50-gallon setup.

This is a great riparium plant. Unlike the species E. cordifolius, which can become large and unruly, this cultivar grows rather slowly and does not get so big.

I got a leaf close-up too.