I'm playing with a new digital camera--beats reading the directions first, but I am going to have to learn how to cut off the automatic flash. In any event, I thought I'd share a few shots of the 180 gallon paludarium that has just recently been set up. It has two land areas separated by a pond in the middle and water also runs across the front side about 6" wide. Water is circulated from the aquarium section into an external canister filter, then over a fern bark panel in the center back in the central pond. This water also splashes the bromeliads a bit.

The background is mostly slabs of cork bark. The white stuff around the edges of the land portions is Great stuff, just allowed to flow and expand. It is gradually being colonized by algae, and overgrown with creeping plants. Hopefully it will one day not look quite so much like Great Stuff. The fern bark is being overgrown by Java moss and Ricca toward the bottom and under the water.

The lighting is 2 dual Satellite hoods each with 96 W dual bulbs, both Sun-paq (6700 K) The water is tan from a lot of tannins, but I'm gradually doing partial changes to lighten this, as the fish are hard to see.

The fish include small schools of various tetras, some algae eaters and dwarf cat fish. I plan to add a Yo-yo or clown loch for some snail control.

I had originally planned to put D. auratus Ancon Hill on one side and some galactonotus, yellow form on the other. Now I'm not so sure, as the auratus have turned out to be extremely shy, and I would like to see them occasionally.

I'd like your suggestions. It's not too late to change some of the plantings.









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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

Dendrobates: auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, tinctorius azureus, leucomelas. Phyllobates: vittatus, terribilis, lugubris. Epipedobates: anthonyi tricolor pasaje. Ranitomeya fantastica, imitator, reticulata. Adelphobates castaneoticus, galactonotus. Oophagia pumilio Bastimentos. (updated systematic nomenclature)

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