60L Paludarium

Finally, after months of research and gathering materials, I've started the first of many phases in creating a paludarium in my 60L cube aquarium. Sadly my TOTM scape is no longer. I began to neglect it which I know I shouldn't have. But after the honey gourami died. I lost interest in maintaining it. Weekly water changes were all I did for a while which meant algae slowly began to take over. But now is a chance to try something new.

This is what it looks like at the moment. Firstly, I created a filtration chamber out of 2mm picture frame glass secured with silicone. This will house the pump and heater. Then I made a cage out of an egg crate that will hold terrestrial plants wedged between small lava rocks.

I also added small strips of egg crate to the glass. This was done for two reasons. To support the plant cage and to help the expanding foam adhere to another surface as lava rock will be used for the back wall. For mechanical filtration, a 1-inch thick matala mat and a 2-cm thick coarse foam will do. I will add a zip tie to the foam for ease of maintenance and cleaning.

The aquatic plants for this paludarium will all be epiphytes. The majority are from the past scape. They're currently in the holding tank with the fish and shrimp.

The next phase will be adding hardscape and foaming in the back wall next week hopefully.

The main hardscape is now secured to the egg crate cage with a generous amount of silicone. It's an old spiderwood stump that was used in an old scape from around 1-2 years back. I had to cut it in half with the table saw for a flat surface to help the silicon better adhere to the cage. I also added spiderwood branches glued in with gorilla super glue gel topped with crushed aqua soil to hide any glue as it becomes obvious when submerged.

The next step is the scaping foam. I've had a few ideas on different scapes. The first is just the back wall and filtration chamber covered in a thin layer with small lava rock pieces added for texture. The second is the first idea + adding an arch from the filtration chamber towards the front of the tank to create a fake cave effect. This would allow me to add more terrestrial plants up top, mosses, and spiderwood branches to give a more natural look. I'm still deciding on what scape to go for.

I have gone for the expensive aqua-scaping foam over general expanding foam as it gives me the piece of mind of not leeching anything or needing anything added on top such as paint.

At £17 a can it better work!

Foam is currently setting in. I went for just the back wall as I realized that a fake cave/arch would take up much room. A water test will be done tomorrow along with carving and adding lava rock/wood with silicone.

After 15 minutes of the foam setting, I pushed it down to around a 1-2 cm thickness. I also did this below the egg crate cage to allow for water to flow down. My current plan is a waterfall and dripwall. A dripwall on the top flowing down the back wall and a waterfall above the filtration chamber which would help with water aeration


Also, many small white dots have been growing on the 1-2 Anubias pot. I assume they are flowers.

The Paludarium is slowly improving day by day. At the moment I'm having an equipment nightmare. First, my intended pump was too weak to produce a decent flow, which has been replaced with an Eheim CON 600. Second I don't feel confident with the current water movement. A 4mm airline hose is used on the drip wall and main waterfall which limits the amount of water passing through for the main waterfall. I have found an 8-4mm T piece online. I'm hoping one of my LFSs has it in stock. Lava rocks have also been added as well as some Java moss. Green spot algae from my old Iwagumi aquascape remains on the lava rock.

water section = 10gUS/37L

Looking really good

The paludarium is steadily coming together. All of the 4mm air hose has been replaced with 8mm hose. This has made the flow much faster. I've added terrestrial moss found in the garden. I believe it is Swan’s-neck thyme moss (Mnium hornum). Some springtails have been added also but no idea how they will end up.

I've used zip-tie suction cups to hold up the drip wall hose on the back wall and used 4mm straight connectors to act as taps for the drip wall.

I'm waiting on some 8mm 90-degree bends to make the hose work cleaner. The lower waterfall also needs to be adjusted. Pothos has been added into the plant cage wedged in with small lava rock. I'm thinking of gluing moss to the back wall to help cover up the exposed hose. Old substrate from the TOTM scape has been added along with a single Ramshorn snail from the 90L as a test subject . I am hoping aquatic plants and fauna will be added by this weekend as the fish are becoming impatient in the holding tank.

A few changes to the paludarium. I first removed the pothos as I found their colour was too bright, contrasting with the Bolbitis, Buce, and Anubias in the aquatic section. A single Lemon button fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia Duffii) was added along with 4 Peace Lily's (Spathiphyllum wallisii).

I also added Hydrocotyle on the left side where water flows down. I hope it will do ok there as I've seen other scapes do it before and work well. The lava rocks on the right side are a temporary measure to hide equipment cables/hoses. I need to find or make something that fits seamlessly with the scape.

Current Aquatic plants ​

• Anubias bateri var. 'Coffeifolia'
• Bucephalandra pygmea Bukit Kelam 'Wavy Green'
• Bucephalandra biblis
• Bolbitis heudelotii
• Hydrocotyle tripartita
• Pistia stratiotes

Current Emersed plants ​

• Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum wallisii)
• Lemon button fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia Duffii)
• Swan’s-neck thyme moss (Mnium hornum)

I intend to add another fern to the top section to fill in the gaps. I also need to add moss to the back wall but still am deciding on what species. I also managed to find a small gap between the wood and foam on the right side for the other waterfall/outlet. It pushes the water around pretty well. I'm considering adding an airstone to the filtration compartment on a timer to help with oxygen levels, especially on hot days in my attic room.

I will most likely be adding the fish tomorrow.

The fish are in! Acclimation went without any issues. After all the fish were added I added a full 30ml bottle of API quickstart as a precaution along with matured filter media from the holding tank. Tested the water the next morning and didn't see any increase in Ammonia, Nitrite, or Nitrate.

Again this won't be the permanent home of the Sawbwa. They will most likely remain in here for 1-2 months and then be moved to the 90L. The sponge filter was added to oxygenate the water as temperatures have risen in the attic room. I added 3 Anubias Barteri Nana, glued to pea pebbles, allowing me to move them easily.


As for the other fern I said I was thinking of adding. I decided on Fittonia instead (Fittonia cv) I think it contrasts the white peace lily well. Moss has also been added to the back drip wall and already has seen new growth after a few days of being added.

I had a close call the other day as I could smell a smoky smell when I was sitting at my desk. I assumed it was a neighbor burning dead tree foliage again. But it was the heater! The water level in the filtration compartment had dropped by a good 2-3 inches from the water level in the tank. I found the Matala mat was clogged full of mulm/detritus blocking water from getting to the pump. I cleaned it out, serviced the pump, and saw the water level return to a similar level to the main part of the tank. I guess I will have to keep an eye out on the filtration compartment from now on. I also did another water test and saw no difference from the first one I did.



The Hydrocotole sadly isn't doing well compared to the other plants. It does have some new growth which is a promising sign at least.

In other news, it seems it took less than a week for the Sawbwa to settle in properly

So far I've spotted 2 fry. I am not going to intervene or take them out. I will let nature take its course as I've already had my fun breeding these fish.

Started getting green spot algae appearing on the glass and plants the past few days. I'll attempt to remove it later this week. The Sawbwa have found the gaps of refuge behind the Bolbitis and Anubias lava rock wall. They do not like the DSLR camera at all. I'll be keeping the sponge filter in use for a bit longer to help with oxygenation as the temperature is slowly becoming hotter.
I've been trying to find a solution to hide the exposed hose and heater on the right side. I've tried driftwood, large lava rocks, small lava rocks glued to make a wall, and many other methods. Which all looked ugly IMO. I decided in the end to just use plants. I went for two ferns (Pteris Evergremiensis, Athyrium). I think they work well together with the Fittonia which was also moved to hide the other hose outlet. A few Java moss trimmings were added to the driftwood, back wall, and right side just as an excuse to add more moss .


As for future stocking options, I've narrowed it down to 4 options.

+ Betta Splendens

I think all species would work well in this tank. I'm favoring towards the Lampeyes and Rice fish (A single group of one species). I now know that my LFS stocks all 4 species now and then which is great.

The plants are growing well. The Swan’s-neck thyme moss is doing amazingly well on the wood and drip wall. The Hydrocotyle is also growing in after a huge die-off. I decided to remove the Anubias Barteri Nana as I didn't like how it looked amongst the Buce and Bolbitis. So I replaced them with some more Bucephalandra biblis. I've started to get blue-green algae forming but is manageable. Hair algae is also starting on the submerged java moss which I don't really mind as long as it can be kept under control. The Sawbwa are doing well with daily breeding and new eggs being spotted on the water lettuce constantly. The two new ferns are doing very well. I'm guessing from the high moisture levels as I keep the lid on. The largest amano sadly died a few weeks back. I'm hoping it was just old age and not something contagious. (The dot in the middle is the Nerite )

Not too much has changed to the Paludarium. The Athyrium didn't do very well in the end it slowly died back over the last 3 weeks. I decided to try another plant Hemigraphis Repanda (Dragon Tongue). I'm hoping it will adapt quickly as this plant is known to be temperamental when its environment changes. I've changed all the 8mm hose to black weighted 8mm airline to blend in with the background. The hydrocotle has crept into the water now and is doing amazingly well. I trimmed the Peace Lilys and Evergemiensis for the first time last week. The root systems on both plants are very dense now in the plant basket, the roots have woven through the lava rock substrate and soon I'm guessing will be visible behind the lava rock wall in the aquatic section. I also found a mini sponge filter on a local supplier's website for £2 recently. I decided to order one as I've never seen one designed like this which intrigued me. Surprisingly it is working really well at collecting fine particles in the water column as well as producing a large amount of microbubbles.

New inhabitants were introduced today. 6x Daisy's Blue Ricefish . The Sawbwa were moved to the 90L yesterday. One ricefish has a white mark halfway down its back which is a bit worrying and I'll keep an eye on it. They look really great with the lava rock background and definitely aren't as timid as my sawbwa were. I'm hoping breeding will happen and hopefully can increase the numbers by 2 or 3. I did see 2 sawbwa fry when I drip-acclimated the ricefish before. Will be interesting to see if they survive or not.

The Daisy's are settling in very well. The one with a white mark on its back is healing it seems . I feed either 2 small doses twice a day when I'm off work or once when I'm at work. They are very inquisitive little fish, always following my hand when performing maintenance or the aquarium tweezers when I remove molts from the Amanos or dead plant matter. The oto's attitude has changed as well. They come out more often now compared to when I had the Sawbwa. Perhaps they were intimated by them? They have always been active during the night but are now more active during the day.

Added in some crypt parva which, to be honest, I didn't really want to do. Mainly because this was an intended epiphyte-only paludarium (aquatic section), but with a build-up of mulm and algae growing on the substrate, a rooted plant system was my only option apart from gravel vac which I don't really like doing. I'm hoping they will do well, most are in around 3-4 cm of substrate with some in the foreground around 1-2 cm deep. I am praying the Amanos will leave the crypts alone (highly unlikely ). I expect to wake up tomorrow to see around 80% of the plants floating .


In other news, eggs have been spotted 2 mornings in a row from my largest female . Perhaps I might have fry one day only time will tell.

(Thanks again @Essjay for the helpful info & advice )