10g swamp paludarium

[aquariumlover10]

So I finally setup my paludarium tank, I was visiting my grandparents in Florida and they have a fairly large cypress swamp on their land so i collected some different plants and some critters for the tank.

Fauna:
8 cypress crawfish (Cambarellus blacki), ranging from half an inch to an inch and a half, no aggression between them yet.
1 male Mosquito fish
and 1 Dwarf Salamander who has been hiding since i put him in the tank so i dont have any pics of him yet.

Flora:
4 differnt types of moss, I only found 1 fully submerged so i assume besides it, they're all terrestrial or only semi-aquatic
1 fern i found near the waterline in the swamp
some sort of grass that put off very long runners, looked like a bog plant when i found it so i have it planted just above the water line with the runners going into the water
and lastly i have a little bit of salvania which was comepletly covering the swamp i got everything at.

As for how i setup the tank i took some Pumice rock my grandpa had, and i cut it to make the basic structure of the land portion. one of the hunks of rocks has moss growing on it so i am using it for the waterfall. after all the rocks and waterfall tubing were in place i filled in all the crack with sand and slowly added water and plants.

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The pump i was gonna use for the waterfall is half the price on amazon as what it is at Lowes so itsa being shipped rn and should be here next week.

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The wood in the back right of the tank i foudn the salamander under on the edge of the swamp.
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I plan on going and getting more plants and critters from the swamp near my house, once all these get good and settled in.

[showmebutterfly]

That looks like a pretty cool setup.

[aquariumlover10]

thanks, I'm just waiting for the plants to grow in and cover everything

[Slaphppy7]

Unique little set-up, I like it

[aquariumlover10]

I got the water pump in the mail today and got everything setup, Ill get some pictures when the water clears up alittle bit.
I did find the salamander where I figured he was, behind the waterfall rock, but he swam and is hiding behind the wood sticking out of the water. I also put a Catappa leaf teabag on the watefall so hopefully the water will be brownish like the water in the swamp i got them from.

Here's some pics of 2 of the crayfish i took yesterday.
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[BluewaterBoof]

I didn't see this until now. Very cool!

[aquariumlover10]

Ill get some more pics tomorrow but heres a full tank pic
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[WhistlingBadger]

Wow, that is really neat! Hope it works out well. I'm not familiar with your species (I've kept crawdads, but a different species) but that seems like a lot of livestock for a very small water area. Any signs of stress or aggression?

What a cool idea.

[aquariumlover10]

So far no, I've seen the smallest ones hanging out right by the bigger ones. I'm hoping they'll stay peaceful at least long enough to breed so I have a reason to setup another tank.
The water quality for this tank isnt a super big concern because i caught them in a dirty swamp.

[WhistlingBadger]

I'd still keep an eye on water nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia. From what I read, that brown swamp water tends to be *very* clean, biologically, due to flowing through all those plant roots. I would think that waterfall down through the moss and pumice rock would provide quite a bit of biological filtration. Hopefully the plants will take care of the rest.

Looking forward to watching this project grow.