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Re: Paludariums


Subject: Paladriums

Carol,
 
> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I have a couple of questions, My Brother teaches High School Biology and w
> to use a tank of mine that leaks at the top to set up a paladrium with th
> class. (sp? The tank that is half full of water with aquatic plants, bog p
> and house plants; and fish as well as amphibians ect.) We want to use nati
> fish, s.a. minnows, small bass or whatever, and maybe cray fish (craw dadd
> here in MO) and frogs or something. I realy know nothing about this and to
> him I'd find out. Is anyone aware of how-to books on this subject? 

Not that I know of, although there are small sections on the subject in 
several books.  Two that I can think of off hand are "The Natural Aquarium" 
by Satoshi Yoshino and Doshin Kobayashi (TFH) and an out of print TFH book 
that you might be able to dig up called "Aquarium Decorating and Planning" 
by Wilfried Weigel.

Is this the list where Karen Randall is? 

Yup, this is me!<g>

>How did you learn how to do this? Or better yet, how can I learn how to do 
this? How do you make the different levels?  

I learned by thinking about it for a long time, then setting up a prototype 
in a 10G tank before I attempted a big tank.  Since then, I have seen 
several tanks set up differently than mine is, and all are beautiful.  Be 
creative!  Most people seem to use siliconed in glass partitions to divide 
the land and water sections.

If you want to work with native fish, I'd stick with minnows, darters, mad 
toms and other little fish.  Bass are illegal to keep in captivity in most 
states as game fish.  Check the laws in your state.  Cray fish will catch 
and harm fish as they sleep, and will _destroy_ plants.  Interesting 
animals, but not a good idea in a community setting.  Likewise, frogs are 
too big and to destructive for any but the biggest paludarium.  Aquatic 
Newts might be OK, as would tree frogs.
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> Forwarded for Karen Randall.  Karen, you sent this to 
> aquatic-plants-owner at actwin_com (by mistake, I assume.)

Shaji,

Sorry!  I hit the "send" _then_ remembered that I needed to change the 
address!

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