The word paludarium can represent any enclosure with a water section and a land section. It could be temperate or tropical. Freshwater or marine. Jungle or dessert. If you have an interesting paludarium we'd love to hear all about it. comment.
This is a wonderful paludarium, or, as it has a great waterfall, a riparium. Water trickles down the wood into shallow mossy pools. Aquatic plants are doing well around this pool: Anubias and Java fern are growing emersed, with some nice bromeliads attached to the branches, higher up the tank. An absolutely superb dart frog habitat. The tank is fitted with coco panels from top to bottom. Note how they have absorbed moisture (the darker areas) where they have been misted. This capacity to hold water significantly improves the growth of mosses and creepers on the back walls. A tank of this size and planting level will need strong misting daily or perhaps twice each day, depending on temperature. An automated misting system is by far the easiest means of keeping the moisture levels that replicate the conditions in a tropical rainforest. Check out the really great misters available from MistKing. Photo Luis E.
This really well planted section of bank is replete with miniature thumbnail orchids growing amongst the moss. Orchids are of the genera Trisetella, Masdevallia, Scaphosepalum and Dendrochilum. What a display! Photo Scott Wilson
This paludarium hosts a large shoal of Apalachee Shiners (Pteronotropis grandipinnis) enjoying the shade of the Cryptocoryne leaves above them. Aquatic plants grown in paludariums often break the water surface and grow emersed foliage. The numerous crypt leaves both submerged and emersed in this tank look spectacular. Photo Scott Wilson
A close-up of the tank above. Leaves growing down from the land, or up from the water really help to blend in the boundaries between land and water sections of the tank. Photo Scott Wilson
Many popular aquarium plants will readily grow emersed leaves, especially if the have something to hold onto, and enough light. Although not strictly a paludarium, this picture demonstrates how plants we think of as aquatic, can readily start to grow as the marsh plants they really are. Photo Gergely Hideg
This Hydrocotyle verticillata is taking advantage of the smallest amount of support. Photo Gergely Hideg
The loggerhead musk turtle (Sternotherus minor). Photo Laurent Lebois
The Fire bellied toad (Bombina orientalis) is a truly amphibious species, equally happy on land as in shallow water. They spend a lot of time at the water's edge, keeping moist and playing in the shallows. An excellent paludarium species. Photo Laurent Lebois
Plants around our installations can also add to the overall ambiance. Photo Laurent Lebois
This wonderful 3 foot wide tank has a waterproof glass bottom, and adequate front window ventilation to keep the front glass clear. Although marketed as a Terrarium, it works as the perfect Paludarium. Front-opening doors, and removeable top for easy access and effective maintenance. Available in a wide range of sizes: with a larger surface area for ground/water dwelling species, or taller for leaf dwellers. Suitable for just about any paludarium inhabitant.
The top is equipped with closable inlets on both sides - this allows access for wires and tubing without offering an escape route for paludarium animals or the tiny invertebrates with which they are being fed. Suitable for powering Heat Wave rocks, waterfalls, filters and sensors, or injecting water through misting systems, external canister filters, etc.
All in all a great enclosure, providing a perfect environment for plants and animals, yet easy maintenance for the paludarium keeper. Available from Amazon and other good pet stores.