Paludarium 2.5: Small but nice

Yes I admit. I have been building a paludarium without writing about any of it..! So trying to make things right, here is my current setup.

My last post on the current paludarium was around building a new cabinet under “some new paludarium”. Well, that paludarium was actually completed quite a while ago, and here it is!

Paludarium 2019 (or version 2.5). 50x50x120cm, 30cm of water.

So this paluadarium has been running for over a year already, in fact almost two years at the time of this writing. It was inspired by my wife: “Designing something you want will take years. Why not build a simple version that you can enjoy NOW while designing something new?”. And I did just that.

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Paludarium 2020: Electronics!

I admit… I have failed to post any new blogs on my current Paludarium setup. I posted the construction of the wooden cabinet… And then it stopped. I did however finish the build, and maybe I’ll add a post on that one later. In this post I introduce a new paludarium design, and it is getting ready to be actually build! It is going to be bigger, better, faster, more! ehhh… more automated than EVER.

The problem with these larger projects is that there are SO many bits and pieces to put together. Today I am writing up part one as I am almost ready to push the button on ordering a complete PCB that will contain practically all electronics required for my new Paludarium 2020 build!

Requirements for the electronics

I wanted to be sure I’d create a PCB that has all stuff on board I might be needing, without overdoing things. Still, I ended up with a huge amount of speeds and feeds. Here they are in random order:

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Building paludarium 2.5

Yes, paludarium 2.5. Not 3.0 (yet). It was taking too long to construct version 3.0, so now I’ve started to build version 2.5, which is a high-tech version but not in the new acrylic houseing. It will be a classic glass construction like the ones I’ve built before.

Building the wooden table

The glass paludarium is already here, and it is 50cm x 50cm x 100cm (length x depth x height) in size, with 28cm of water. Before building the paludarium out I wanted to construct Read more »

Paludarium 3.0: Designing the new “canopy”

Thinking back on Paludarium 1.0 and Paludarium 2.0 I cannot stop wondering why on earth I ever thought that introducing 230VAC on top of a paludarium was a good idea. Powe failure would cause the canopy to “condensate up” and cause huge issues when the power came back. This and a hundred extra issues. So now is the time to set things right in version 3.0. The hood on top used to be a very “smart” lighting (and more) system I called “the Canopy”. Now it is time for a drastic new approach: Canopy 3.0!

Minimalistic design

The new Canopy will have as little as possible electronics inside. All stuff need to be driven through either pipes or wires, and all of the pumps and electronics can sit Read more »

Thinking up The Paludarium 3.0

As I have moved between houses, I decided to not move the paludarium with me. A hard decision, but also an important step forward; building something new will allow me to think different once again.

One primary reason not to move the current paludarium (v2.0 if you will) was the fact that the new place where the paludarium would sit should again have access to tapwater and sewer. Then add the complexity of the move itself. Another not totally unimportant reason was the fact that my new home really did not have a decent space to fit a paludarium of this shape. So I found a new home for the inhabitants and sold the glass box. Including the “canopy” (after I removed its “brains” though).

Next I figured out that it would actually be an awesome chance to Read more »

On our way to Costa Rica!

My first blogpost from high in the skies! Right now we are headed to Fort Lauderdale for a connected flight out to Costa Rica. Having internet up here is definitely something new for us, but it’s really great (and gives me some time to write this up)

We are sooo excited to be visiting Costa Rica… Many things to see, maybe I’ll get some cool ideas for any creatures living on the dry part of the paludarium

Costa Rica here we come!


It is almost time for our trip to Costa Rica. I can’t wait! There will be plenty of animals to photograph, and I am especially exited to visit the La Selva Biological station where the Paludarium gets its meteorological data from.



Travel plans

In a few days we’ll be touching down at the San José International airport. From there we’ll be renting a full-size SUV, which we are probably going to need.

From the airport we’ll head over to Heliconia Island, a nice place with many things to see. Most exciting of all, we will be visiting the La Selva Biological Station and finally see where the Paludarium’s values all come from!

Next we will be travelling around Costa Rica and visit the Monteverde Cloud Forest, the Los Quetzales national park and finally Corcovado National park which may be a bit exciting to reach given the fact that you need to cross some rivers by car that may have too much water when we arrive to cross decently.

Routes we'll be travelling while in Costa Rica

Routes we’ll be travelling while in Costa Rica




Things we’ll be looking out for

As I am very much into photography of all living things, I’m hoping to find poison dart frogs, lizards, snakes, scorpions, spiders and insects. On top of that we’ll be scouting for larger animals like mammals and birds.

If I have the time (and the internet connection) I’ll be posting some more blogs as we move through beautiful Costa Rica.

Pura Vida!

Keyhole Cichlids built a nest!

What I noticed in the past few days was the keyhole cichlids (Cleithracara maronii) were very aggressive to the other fish. As they have never done this before I decided to investigate.

Building a nest

What I saw today was that two of the Cichlids were very close together. On a rocky surface in the back I saw around a hundred tiny white dots, and both cichlids constantly at that same spot. I became clear to me: The keyhole cichlids are having babies!

A keyhole cichlid defending its eggs that were laid on a rocky surface near the filter drain.

A keyhole cichlid defending its eggs that were laid on a rocky surface near the filter drain.

Both parents show a lot of care for the eggs. Read more »

Video: Splashing tetras laying their eggs in the Paludarium!


Why are they called “splashing tetras”? You’re about to find out in this post 🙂



Copella Arnoldi: Meet the splashing tetra!”

The splashing tetra is a fish that was sick of other fish eating their eggs. So they thought of a very smart thing to keep the other fish from eating their eggs: They lay their eggs ABOVE water, not in it!

Easier said than done… It requires them to jump out of the water, lay the eggs on surfaces above water, fertilize the eggs and then manage somehow to keep them wet until they hatch… And the splashing tetra did all of that.


How they lay their eggs

So how do they do all of this magic? As the female is getting thicker and thicker, it becomes clear she is producing eggs. The males start courting her, and at some point they form a couple.

The male now starts “test jumping” to several objects, mostly leaves growing above the water surface. They can jump up to 10cm:

Splashing tetra male jumping out of the water to test out places to have their babies hatch

Splashing tetra male jumping out of the water to test out places to have their babies hatch

After a spot has been determined, both male and female line up just under the water surface. By gently “buzzing” their bodies they communicate with each other and synchronize the jump they’re about to make:

Getting ready to jump... They must jump together and this requires a very exact timing.

Getting ready to jump… They must jump together and this requires a very exact timing.

Then they’re off! They both jump out of the water, and this picture clearly shows how well synchronized they are when they do:

Both male and female splashing tetras jumping synchronously out of the water to lay their eggs.

Both male and female splashing tetras jumping synchronously out of the water to lay their eggs.

When they hit the surface where they’ll be laying their eggs, they will stick to that surface for a second. The female lays her eggs while the male will fertilize them:

Splashing tetra male and female sticking to a leave above water to lay and fertilize their eggs.

Splashing tetra male and female sticking to a leave above water to lay and fertilize their eggs.

After they have laid some eggs, they’ll fall back into the water:

Male and female splashing tetras falling back into the water after laying egss on a leave above the surface.

Male and female splashing tetras falling back into the water after laying egss on a leave above the surface.

They will now repeat this until they have laid between 50 and 100 eggs.


New babies about to be born!

Now this is where the splashing tetras get their names from. The eggs that were laid above water need to be kept wet. This is why the male splashing tetra will stay with the eggs, and splash them with his tail every few minutes! They have an amazing aim in doing this. I was lucky as the tetras at some point laid eggs on the side window: The next video shows both the splashing, the eggs up REALLY close (each eggs is only 0,2 mm in diameter!) and the eggs getting splashed:

Some longer closeup video of the actual eggs:

After three to four days the eggs hatch. The baby fish start their lives with an 8cm daredevil drop into the water! That is like base jumping without a parachute considering they are only 0.3mm in length. When you’d compare that to a human, it would mean that a new born baby would drop about 145 meters then hit the water 😛

Once the babies have hatched, they are very small fish that hide between leaves and roots of water plants:

Baby of a splashing tetra

Baby of a splashing tetra

And in real closeup:

Closeup of a splashing tetra (Copella Arnoldi). These fish are only about 0,3mm long right after they hatch!

Closeup of a splashing tetra (Copella Arnoldi). These fish are only about 0,3mm long right after they hatch!

Sensirion SHT-11 humidity and temperature sensor ready to go!

One of the sensors that can be read by the Neptune module is the Sensirion SHT-11 I have had laying about for years.

Now finally it is ready for use! The sensor sits on the end of a 2,5 meter cable which is soldered on directly. A small capacitor is glued on as well to cope with the excessive cable length. The sensor in its entirety is covered in a drop of silicon glue to keep the moisture out of the electronic contacts. This sensor will be measuring over 98% relative humidity at times!

The Sensirion SHT-11 sensor glued into a drop of silicone. This digital sensor measures air temperature and relative humidity in the Paludarium.

The Sensirion SHT-11 sensor glued into a drop of silicone. This digital sensor measures air temperature and relative humidity in the Paludarium.

So far the results are looking good. This is the sensor still hanging in the living room:

sensirion

22.24 degrees centigrade and 65.94% relative humidity. Sounds realistic as it’s a very moist day.

When the silicone had dried, I put the sensor inside the paludarium. After settling it showed measurements like these:

Measured values when the Sensirion sensor is inside the Paludarium.

Measured values when the Sensirion sensor is inside the Paludarium.

Great! Tempereature at 23.16 degrees, relative humidity at 87,61%. Very Jungley 🙂

What I did find out, is that the location of the sensor heavily influences the measurements. Especially the humidity is VERY dependent on where you measure.