I made a paludarium. What orchids can I keep in it?

[Aquariascape]

I made a ten gallon paludarium (half terrarium/half aquarium). It was made for salamanders. However here in Washington you cant collect or get 99 percent so its a moot point for salamander keeping. I thought about putting some fish and plants int he bottom, and planting the top. Bromeliadsa nd tillandsias are some choices for the walls, Ill use soem emmersed growing aquarium plants like baby tears on the wet parts. I also have some live spagnum moss that I have been growing in there.

What orchids if any could go into this?

[kavanaru]

Orchidarium 29-MAR-2009 on Flickr - Photo Sharing! check the plants here... except ths Paphiopedilum and the Sarchochilus, I think most of them could do it (intermediate to warm growers) check for the light requirements too!

[Aquariascape]

Holy moly Mary mother of Jesus thats a lot of plants. I think I will have to find a book or something lol. I didnt realize there was that many small plants. I see everyone making bromeliads in their terrariums. This is much better. Itll take me a while to learn about these plants but thanks for the link.

Are most of them hard to get or expensive? The only thing I have to trade in this hobby is live spagnum, and my budget will be limited on what I can spend. I know what Illbe doing for weeks now, research.

[kavanaru]

Cannot tell you price and availability in the USA, but here in europe most of them are quite easy and not very expensive.

In this thread Orchid Nurseries Search Engine you can find the link to a custom Search for the USA. There you can check for availability and prices....

[CoolPhrog]

Check the list against what Andy's might have:

www.andysorchids.com

Great little tank! Can't wait to see it with some orchids!!!

[RSS]

Don't forget about carnivorous plants, alot them them love the moist conditions a paludarium has.

Do you happen to know what your humidity range is? My paludarium has constant 99% humidity and the glass is almost always covered with water droplets. If you have high humidity you need to be more picky about what orchids you put in there and where they go. Water will collect in the wrong place and will cause rot.

Probably one of the easier ones would be Epidendrum porpax.

I have killifish in mine and they seem to love it.

Check out the Terrarium Gardening forums here also, there is alot of good info in there.

And for further information over load, check out Orchids that do well in terrariums.