Paludarium Journal

paperdog9

paperdog9

Large Fish
#1
Dec 11, 2009
633
0
0
Your Imagination
#1
So, I've been having the urge to try taking care of red clawed crabs for quite some time now, and I can finally put my plan into action. I finally got my hands on a ten gallon tank with a screened top for them, and I'm just using plexyglass to divide the land from the water. My goal is to give it a more natural look, so I'm thinking about making a rock wall about as tall as the plexyglass barrier to disguise it. on the land side, I will probably fill it with sand or a rock and sand mixture because I've heard that RCC's like to burrow in sand. I am probably going to put a few big shells on the sand to give it a "beachy" look, and provide shelterfor the crabs. I've already got a tetra wisper filter (looks exactly like a turtle filter) rated for ten gallons, which is good considering it will be in only about 3 gallons of water. so on the water side I'll probably get some kind of root decoration or something so that they can crawl out of the water onto the root and hide underwater. This is just an idea so I'm open to any more suggestions, acctually, I want suggestions ;) Also, any tips on keeping crabs?
 

paperdog9

paperdog9

Large Fish
#2
Dec 11, 2009
633
0
0
Your Imagination
#2
Ok so I had an excelent idea that I need to share. I am still going to have th wame basic setup, but it will have a river made of plastic water bottles going through it. I'll jsut glue on gravel so the river looks natural. All I need to figure out now is how to get the output of the waterfall filter thing to face a different way as the intake faces. Also I heard that they like to burrow down right to the water line, so I might make the land area 3 inches higher and put some holes in the plexyglass to let water soak the bottom layer of sand. Sorry about all the rambling, i just have so many ideas flowing through my head right now. Suggestions? Tips? Comments?
 

L

littletankbigworld

Superstar Fish
#4
Aug 16, 2009
1,318
0
0
SW Pennsylvania
#4
It sounds fantastic!
Maybe you could ditch the plexiglass idea and just create a wall out of petrified driftwood or some type of rock and have gaps in between the rocks. Or you could have the sand slope into the water if you didn't want to mess with a rock wall. However, a rock wall would look better with the river.
A river sounds like it would be a very interesting challenge. You might not need the plastic bottles if you dig a ditch in the sand and line the ditch with smooth river rocks. Hmmmmmm...I'm trying to think of a way that you could make a river. Maybe you could use some clear tubing and run the tubing from the water end to the filter intake. If you tried to make the filter as close as possible to the beginning of the tubing and made a zig-zaging river, this might work. You can purchase tubing in many different sizes at the hardware store.
Good luck! I hope you update us with lots of pictures!
 

paperdog9

paperdog9

Large Fish
#6
Dec 11, 2009
633
0
0
Your Imagination
#6
So I guess i'll justskip the plexyglass and just use rocks for a wall, that would look more natural anyways :) For the river, I decided to take a plastic tarp and glue multiple layers on to make it leak proof. I'm going to use multiple plexyglass "U" shaped frames to hold it in it's shape, and glue gravel onto it for a mor natural look. I have the tarp strip ready, so all I need is to cut the U frames and glue the rocks on. fI'll post some pictures when the river is finished, which could be a few days. Thanks for the advice Val and Littletank! I was getting worried that nobody would look at thsi thread because it's in the brackish section! :p
 

paperdog9

paperdog9

Large Fish
#8
Dec 11, 2009
633
0
0
Your Imagination
#8
Does anyone know of small brackish fish/shrimp that can coexist with RCC in brackish water? I thought I've seen somewhere that ghost shrimp can be brackish, is this true? Sorry I'm late on the pictures, the cutting of plexyglass is harder then I thought:(
 

ValRasbora

ValRasbora

Superstar Fish
#9
May 2, 2009
1,202
0
0
Atlantic Canada
#9
I believe that guppies can often be acclimated to brackish and often coexist with red clawed crabs. I heard somewhere that ghost shrimp can go brackish... i'd say google it. Good luck with the river! If your using an external filter, you could hide the tube behind the tarp, going into the water, then having the waterfall spilling onto the river and into the tank... that'd look gorgeous! I can't wait to see it once it's all done! Paludariums are a challenge... and a blast!
 

paperdog9

paperdog9

Large Fish
#10
Dec 11, 2009
633
0
0
Your Imagination
#10
Ok thanks, I think 2.5 gallons of water is a little small for guppies, I wish I had a big tank because guppies would be cool! I will look up ghost shrimp, thanks! I'm using one of these as a filter - Filter ( the 10 gallon form) so it might be hard to make the output face backwards, but I might be able to make a waterfall if i can figure out a way to redirect the output. Thanks a ton!
 

paperdog9

paperdog9

Large Fish
#13
Dec 11, 2009
633
0
0
Your Imagination
#13
Well I'm giving up on redirecting the filter so I'm going to buy this - Filter filter thing and attach a tube to the output and run that up to the Waterfall witch will run into the river. I guess 10 bucks will be worth it :). Thanks for the ideas!! Pics coming, cont worry!
 

paperdog9

paperdog9

Large Fish
#16
Dec 11, 2009
633
0
0
Your Imagination
#16
Ok finally got some pictures!! They aren't that exciting, just some planning and what not. The first one is a side view drawing, the second one is a top view drawing, the third one is the river base, and the last one is the river base in the tankto show a size comparison.
 

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paperdog9

paperdog9

Large Fish
#18
Dec 11, 2009
633
0
0
Your Imagination
#18
Im pretty sure I can pull this one off, but thanks for the suggestion! :) I wasnt planning on land plants, but it sounds like a good idea! Do any of you guys/gals know of any land plants that will be ok in sand and with the destructive red clawed crabs?
 

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