My Mudskipper Paludarium

[HX67]

Thank you kou102.

James, good to hear! Are you keeping a journal of the build anywhere, then?

 

[Verminator89]

Hopefully, yes. Just got back from a few days on the south coast with the other halfs dad, and he has leant me his heat gun. So definitely going to get started on this (tommorow?) haha, if not then atleast on sunday maybe! So want to get this going. When i'm at a point where i can get photo's up and some dialogue of what happens i shall be sure to drop you a line!

Already got lots and lots of inspirational paludarium and DIY 3D background threads from various sites all saved to my favourites. So lots to trawl through and pick from. Thinking i'm going to save some hassle and work on creating a rocky sculpture, and incorporate real wood work, as i have some interesting pieces to choose from. I feel this will be easier, certainly easier than 'making' a piece to have both rock/wood sections. So many decision to make - ahh!

Was also in a LFS today and they had some mudskippers for sale, only tiddlers (<2"). But then i turned around and was greeted by a whopper mudskipper who was easily 8" long, and very very chunky. Such a sight to see, i can certainly see their appeal now i've seen one that size up close!

 

[Axyadbad]

OMG, amazing. That is all...

 

[josh_g]

Ah man that tank is truly amazing

 

[Questions?]

that is amazing
is it still up and running?

 

[HX67]

OMG, amazing. That is all...

Ah man that tank is truly amazing

that is amazing
is it still up and running?

Thank you, people. I appreciate your words.

Yes, sure, still running.

A pic from today, just before a serious harvest:

The flower stems of Samolus alone were pretty bulky in there:
A large stem

All the blooming

I started forcing the black mangroves downwards and sideways a little. I hope they can handle it... I'm hoping to get them to grow horizontally and bulk up a bit.
Pics as soon as they just turn their leaves a bit more to the light and such...

Thanks for looking!

 

[maurizio]

Hi HX,
looking forward to seeing the mangroves! Mines are actually down to just one, with a huge single-branch ridiculous root, and 6 leaves.
Cheers!
M.

 

[Questions?]

lol that is hilarious
that looks so good it is funny, how do you get that good of growth?

 

[HX67]

Hi HX,
looking forward to seeing the mangroves! Mines are actually down to just one, with a huge single-branch ridiculous root, and 6 leaves.
Cheers!
M.

Well I must say I'm ahead of you, there. Could be that I'm working with Black mangroves (of exceptionally good quality propagules from Riparium Supplies)? As discussed before, I have managed to kill a total of 15 red mangrove propagules so far, and got none left.

These black mangrove things seem to be growing nicely. I hope they survive my tough love...

lol that is hilarious
that looks so good it is funny, how do you get that good of growth?

Yeah, tell me about it. I'm actually recycling the harvested Samolus, feeding some fresh (especially the flowers) to my Uromastyx and freezing the remains to be mixed in to a food I prepare for the Tilapias I keep in an aquaponics trial system.

How? Beats me. I feed the fish, keeping in mind the tank needs some food too. No plant fertilizers at all, ever.
Samolus just seems to love the tank. I've been looking for a sign of a normal decline of a plant species a given tank with no added fertilizers often goes through, but nothing. I have to harvest about 3 pounds (1,5 kg:s) of plant matter every couple of months.

Beats me, but I'm not complaning!

 

[maurizio]

Gorgeous.

For me, no chance with black mangroves, I have a fully flooded tank. so gotta stick to the reds. Also, with the blacks you miss the prop roots, right? How do they look, then?
Cheers!

 

[snazy]

I remember reading the journal quite a while ago. It's beautiful!!! Love it.

 

[HX67]

Thanks, snazy!

Gorgeous.

For me, no chance with black mangroves, I have a fully flooded tank. so gotta stick to the reds. Also, with the blacks you miss the prop roots, right? How do they look, then?
Cheers!

My blacks are in a riparium planter, so they'd fit a flooded tank just perfectly?
You're propably right about the roots, though. They wouldn't grow roots as nice as reds do, even if kept without a planter.

I can't take a nice shot of them. But at least some of the foliage can be seen now that I harvested more than a kg of Samolus.

I forced some of the shoots to a more horizontal position to let them pick up some more length.
Leaves are very slow to react and turn back to a more natural position.

*sigh* Plantscaping. Tough.

 

[techen]

Just had a look at this today, Totally in love with it. Keep up the great work

 

[Mads]

HX67 it's been a while since your last update, is your paludarium still running? - great thread to read love the pics.
 
What temperature are you keeping the air and the water ?
 
Regards
Mads

 

[HX67]

Hi, Mads. Thanks for your nice words.
 
Yep, tank is still running. The fish are doing good.
I have not been a good aquarium keeper for several (six, actually) months now, since work has taken me away from home, and I've only gotten to do tank maintenance for a day every couple of weeks or so. I'm hoping this will end soon...
 
Water is about 25°. Air gets a bit warmer during day, with heat from the two 70 W Hqi:s.
 
What sucks is that the tank got infested with mealybug (Pseudococcidae). I have no Idea where it came from, but it's a real pain.
I have tried reducing the problem by just spraying the plants with water every chance I get, but I'm losing it. The nice Nepenthes I had was the first casualty, and the black mangrove is taking a serious beating, too.
 
I suppose I'll have to take all the plants away for pesticide treatment, take the tank totally apart and start from the beginning?
From what I've read, mealybug is not the easiest pest to get rid of... Any ideas, anyone?
 
On a good note, the fish are all well and active.
Here's a pic of one of the two male empire gudgeons in there:

 
Thanks for looking.