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Riparium Bonsai

hydrophyte

hydrophyte

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Joined
22 Aug 2009
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Riparium Bonsai

This thread is a continuation of a couple of others that I have been working on about growing certain kinds of trees and woody trees as bonsai specimens in planted riparium setups. I thought it would be a good idea to record some of my observations with a journal thread, too.

All of the species that I am using are true swamp-associated plants that can have their roots permanently submerged. Here is a quick list:
  • Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
  • Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum)
  • Swamp rose (Rosa palustris)
  • Pond apple (Annona glabra)
  • Hummingbird tree (Sesbania grandiflora)
Just yesterday I got the Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) sapling that I had ordered. The potted plant that they sent looked pretty good. It came rooted in a 1-gallon pot.

5-III-13-Taxodium-mucronatum-I-m1.jpg

5-III-13-Taxodium-mucronatum-VIII-m1.jpg

The tree had an extensive root system and I had to prune it back quite a bit to fit it into a riparium planter.

5-III-13-Taxodium-mucronatum-V-m.jpg

5-III-13-Taxodium-mucronatum-VI-m2.jpg

The little cypress still looks good today. It hasn't wilted or anything. I have some more pictures to share later on.
 
Thanks for the likes you guys!

I cut out a lot of the roots on this cypress so that I could fit it into the planter.

5-III-13-Taxodium-mucronatum-IX-m.jpg

Since I removed so much root I also took about 50% off the top of the plant.

5-III-13-Taxodium-mucronatum-IV-m.jpg
 
NanoJames said:
This seems like an interesting idea, growing trees in aquariums!😉 How big would this plant grow normally?
Click to expand...

Monetzuma cypress can gro wto be one of the biggest trees on earth (Google it) but you can also keep it small with bonsai training.

I have been growing mangrove trees for some time riparium setups. My 65G tank has white mangrove, black mangrove and red mangrove.

2-VII-12-tank-II-s.jpg
 
flygja said:
This is gonna be a cracker as always!
Click to expand...

Thanks mate!

NanoJames said:
Wow, I find that really interesting! How do you keep the roots small too? Is that with "bonsai training" too?
Click to expand...

The roots won't grow a whole lot more because they will be contained in the riparium planter.

Here it is in the planter. I've had the plant in the tank for a couple of days now. It still looks pretty good.

5-III-13-Taxodium-mucronatum-III-m.jpg
 
I'm working with a few other tree and shrub species as potential bonsai for ripariums. Here is a quick list...
  • Swamp Rose (Rosa palustris)
  • Buttonbush (Cepahalanthis occidentalis)
  • Hummingbird Flower (Sesbania grandiflora)
  • Pond Apple (Annona glabra)
  • River Cane (Arundinaria tecta)

These are all true swamp/wetland plants, so I hope that they can adapt to growing in a riparium. The river cane is actually one of just a couple of related US-native true bamboos.

I bought a dormant buttonbush a couple of weeks ago and planted it in a ripairum planter. It is starting to leaf out and grow lots of roots in the planter. I should get some new pictures of. This shot shoes the dormant potted buttonbush plant...

21-III-13-Cepahalanthus-occidentalis-I-m.jpg
 
Here is a quick update for the T. mucronatum that I have started from seed. The little plants are growing very fast right in the planter.

11-IV-13-Taxodium-mucronatum-I-m1.jpg
 
Since this tree seems to be establishing fine I decided to just go ahead and wire it. I was getting tired of seeing its awkward shape. Here it it wrapped with aluminum bonsai wire before I started to bend it.

17-IV-13-Taxodium-mucronatum-I-m.jpg

Here it is after I put a few more natural curves in it. I'm still working on it and I might change it again, but it is best not to re-bend wired trees very much.

17-IV-13-Taxodium-mucronatum-II-m.jpg
 
I have some new shots.

This picture shows the tank construction. The glass is 1/4" plate and I sealed the seams with GE Type I silicone. After bonding the five glass panels and letting the silicone cure for a couple of days I scraped excess silicone from the inside corners, then masked for 1/8" seams all the way around. This is the easiest way to get nice and straight seams. I gave the completed tank a full week to cure before setting up the tank and adding water a few days ago.

28-IV-13-tank-I-m.jpg

I set up the tank in the basement shop in a provisional way and here it is with water.

28-IV-13-tank-IV-m.jpg
 
NanoJames said:
Looks nice, I wouldn't have guessed that it was a DIY!🙂 Are you growing the trees in this or are you growing trees and fish? What is the plan?🙂
Click to expand...

Thanks mate! It's not hard to build a small rimless tank like this. It went together easily.

I'm going to keep the bonsai tree along with a few other plants and some kind of nano fish in a small group. My current two favorite fish ideas are Microdeverio kubotai and Heterandria formosa.
 
NanoJames said:
Both nice species of fish! I look forward to seeing your final choice. Where do you find glass for making tanks? Is it cheap?
Click to expand...

Have you had experience with the M. kubotai? Do you know if they are inclined to jump? I can just imagine fish leaping out of this tank, especially since the water is so shallow. I want to choose something less likely to jump.

The glass was about $35 US. Most any local glass shop can cut a few pieces of plate glass pretty cheap. I spent another $5 on the tube of silicone.
 
NanoJames said:
I'm afraid I haven't had either of the species. Have you looke here? Microdevario kubotai — Seriously Fish and Heterandria formosa (Dwarf Livebearer) — Seriously Fish This is a great site and lets you know all you need! I didn't realise that you were in the US! Still, once you convert the glass money to GB pounds it's definitely a lot cheaper than buying a ready made tank! Are you going to filter it?
Click to expand...

Yes I visit SeriouslyFish.com quite a lot and I had seen those pages. Both of those fish might be pretty good choices for this tank.

If you put it together right it's pretty easy to make a small to medium-sized rimless tank and like you mention it can be much more economical. Another big plus is that you can make most any shape that you want. I really like low and broad enclosures like this one.

I will use just a few very small fish in this setup, so it won't need much filtration. I will probably use a small submersible filter or maybe just an airstone to move the water around a bit.
 
I wrote a blog post about this setup. It includes most of the same details that I have already mentioned here. Here is the link if you want to check it out...

Bonsai Trees in Planted Ripariums | Riparium Supply

I still need to set up the tank with substrate, hardscape, fish, a few more plants and a better setting, so the blog post just describes it as a work in progress. I will try to make more headway with it as soon as I can.

28-IV-13-Taxodium-mucronatum-II-m.jpg
 
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