Proven Riparium Plant Combinations

[hydrophyte]

Proven Riparium Plant Combinations: 3 Winning Layout Ideas

I have heard lots and lots of questions about which kinds of plants to grow in ripariums. Naturally, plant selection is an important first step in planning and developing a healthy and attractive riparium layout. The following list offers three important features of useful above water riparium plants:

1. Adaptability to riparium conditions
2. Appropriate size and shape for aquarium enclosures
3. Visual appeal in combination with other plants.

Point #1 is the most important to consider when choosing a plant. The best riparium plants are those that grow in very moist or wet conditions out in their natural habitats. These might include the edges of streams or rivers, marshy edges of lakes or swampy locations in the forest. Since their roots will be underwater in the riparium display, they must be able to tolerate the much-reduced oxygen levels and other special conditions of saturated soils in the root zone. Succulents and cactuses, which grow in arid environments, and epiphytes (including most kinds of orchids), which grow in the tops of trees, are two large groups that need a well-oxygenated and are poor choices for ripariums. If planted in the water these kinds of plants will probably suffer root death very quickly and expire soon thereafter.

With this important limitation in mind, you can expect to find many suitable riparium candidates among aquarium plants that can grow well in emersed conditions. These include most Cryptocoryne, Anubias, Echinodorus, Microsorum and many kinds of aquarium stem plants, among others. Plants grown in garden ponds include many other promising choices, but as indicated in point #2 above, it is important to keep the proportions of these selections in mind. Many pond plants, such as canna lilies (Canna) and pickerel rush (Pontederia) grow too large to keep in most aquariums aquarium and are much better for growing outside. There are also a number of common houseplants that originate from wet places in tropical forests and are useful riparium choices. These include peace lilies (Spathiphyllum), dumb cane (Dieffenbachia) and pilea (Pilea), along with several others.

Choose a Theme

With so many potential plants to use in a planted riparium layout it can become overwhelming to select a group of plants that will look good together, the point presented as #3 in the list above. I have planned and put together a number of riparium layouts and the strategy that I have found to work best is to choose a theme that combines just a few plants having proportions, colors, textures and shapes that work well to gether for visual appeal. A much less successful kind of planting is one that uses a different kind of plant in every riparium planter. A layout with too many different kinds of plants will just present a confusing display to the viewer--it will not make a visual impact.

Having this important idea in mind, I plan to fill the rest of this thread with descriptions and discussion on three especially successful riparium plant combinations that I have discovered along with other hobbyists:

1. A layout with Cyperus umbrella sedges and carpeting stem plants
2. A layout with Spathiphyllum peace lilies, Pilea and other tropical forest plants
3. A layout with Acorus sweetflag along with other selections as visual accents

For each of these suggested combinations, the first plant mentioned is planted in several riparium planters, fills much of the above water part of the layout and functions as the dominant kind of background foliage. I intend to discuss each layout idea with one or two posts. Please post into this thread if you have any questions or comments.

Naturally, some mention should also be made of underwater plant selections. In general, the underwater plants, hardscape and fish selections should also function in a visually harmonious manner with the above water riparium layout.

 

[chonhzilla]

that is beautiful.

Seriously thinking about doing a little one up.

 

[Burto]

Thanks for doing these fascinating threads.
I'd also be interested if you could discuss plants that can be grown effectively emersed rooted in the substrate.

 

[hydrophyte]

Hey thanks you guys. I have another quick post here ready to go.

 

[hydrophyte]

1. A layout with Cyperus umbrella sedges and carpeting stem plants

Cyperus plants: Plants in the genus Cyperus are known as papyruses or umbrella sedges. Most grow in moist marsh or shoreline situations and the several hundred different species are distributed all over the world. Thus, they can be used to recreate the look of many kinds of riparian habitats in a planted riparium. Although grass-like in appearance, they belong to the sedge family (Cyperaceae). An aquarium Cyperus, C. helferi is one of the few fully aquatic members of the genus. For such a large group fo plants there seem to be relatively few in use in horticulture. Here are the three different ones that I have tried in planted ripariums:

• Cyperus alternifolius var. gracilis
• C. involucratus 'Baby Tut'
• C. albostriatus

These varieties/species are most commonly used as pond marginals, although they also perform well as houseplants in sunny windows and as annual bedding plants in sites with plenty of moisture. This rather dark picture shows C. alternifolius var. gracilis. Notice that the stems are leafless around the base and with a whorl or leaves at the top. This kind of foliage is typical for most kinds of Cyperus.

Aside from being more or less representative of many kinds of water-associated habitats, Cyperus plants have a number of other compelling features. The ones that I have tried have all grown very well under fluorescent lighting and they do not seem to demand careful fertilization. They grow into nice, sturdy plants that add vertical dimension to the riparium layout. Significantly, a mature Cyperus has many fine grass-like leaves, so it will fill a good deal of space without throwing a lot shade. An especially appealing way to use these plants is in combination with sprawling emersed aquatic stem plants--even with the Cyperus growing as tall background subjects there can still be plenty of light left over to support a dense "lawn" of stem plants. This picture shows C. involucratus 'Baby Tut" along with a few other tall plants in a 120-gallon riparium and with a dense growth of Bacopa sp. covering much of the water's surface.

Here you can see a similar effect in a 50-gallon riparium layout with Cyperus alternifolius var. gracilis and various stems growing beneath.

Cyperus have extensive root systems and are best planted into a riaprium hanging planter with a fine clay gravel substrate. They will really appreciate root feeding with a root tab fertilizer, such as the RootMedic Complete-Original capsule.

The only major drawback of using umbrella sedges in ripariums is that there is a limited availability of shorter-statured varieties. Of the ones that I listed above, the shortest is C. albostriatus, which grows to about 14" tall. Cyperus alternifolius var. gracilis can reach to 30" tall, a height that requires hanging the aquarium lighting pretty high above the tank. When I have seen it growing outdoors C. involucratus 'Baby Tut' develops as a compact plants about 20" tall, but under fluorescent lights it eventually grows to more than 36". It only looked very good in the 120-gallon setup shown above because the water level in that tank is lowered to about 40% of the total depth.

Cyperus albostriatus is apparently less tolerant of fully-saturated soils than mainy of its relatives. I have had the best luck growing this plant in ripariums by raising the planter cup up so that its top rim is about 1" above the water's surface. Here is a picture of this plant used pretty well in a 15-gallon riparium.

Carpeting emersed aquatic stem plants: Here is a preferred way to plant carpeting stem plants for this kind of layout. These Bacopa sp. stems are planted into a hanging planter and will be trained to grow across the attached ripariumtrellis raft.

As they begin growth the stems will quickly start to grow across the foam trellis raft. You can encourage a dense, thick carpet that will hide the foam and plastic parts be pruning the growing tips of the stems as they reach beyond the raft. This next shot shows that same kind of Bacopa after it has grown into a dense carpeting lawn of foliage.

All of the emersed aquarium stem plants that I have tried have also done best with a rich, fine clay gravel substrate.

I occurs to me that I have not mentioned specific ideas for stem plants to use with this kind of layout. This post has run long, so I will return with another shorter entry and some additional notes one stems.

 

[hydrophyte]

(continued) 1. A layout with Cyperus umbrella sedges and carpeting stem plants)

(continued) Carpeting emersed aquatic stem plants: To summarize what I have observed for potential carpeting emersed stems in a riparium I would just say that there are many possibilities. It seems that there are constantly new stem plant species and varieties becoming available in the hobby and most of them can be grown emersed. Of the ones that I have tried the Bacopa shown above has performed the best. It develops a strong root system in the planter cup and with some pruning and fertilization it quickly covers the riparium trellis rafts and planters with a dense carpet of foliage. I still don't know which species it is(?). It looks a lot like like Bacopa monnieri, but the leaves are a lighter green color and about twice as large. B. monnieri also works well as a carpeting stem, but this other NOID Bacopa grows about twice as fast.

There are a few additional specific plant selections that I should mention. I had very good luck with the Limnophila aromatica that I grew in a 50-gallon riparium layout. This plant was rather slow-growing as emersed foliage, but had such a nice effect.

It also bloomed for me.

In addition to Bacopa and Limnophila, other kinds of aquarium plants that you might try growing as carpeting emersed riparium stem include the following:

• Alternanthera
• Ammania
• Hemianthus
• Hygrophila
• Hydrocotyle
• Ludwigia
• Lysimachia
• Proserpinaca

Some of these groups include sizable numbers of species and varieties. There are doubtless a number of other groups with selections that will work with this kind of riparium culture.

It 's not actually an emersed aquatic--it can't grow underwater--but Wedelia trilobata is another plant that I have grown rooted in a riparium hanging planter, and trained to grow across a trellis raft. In nature it inhabits wet areas such as swamps and riverbanks where it grows as a sprawling vine covering the moist ground. It will bloom in a riparium with these bright yellow sunflowers.

Wedelia trilobata is a large, coarse plant that should be planted in a roomy riparium. I had some going in a 120-gallon riparium some time ago.

A few additional cultural notes on growing emersed riparium stems come to mind. It is my impression that they are best grown in open-top ripariums with pretty good air circulation, rather than high-humidity setups. Once adapted to emersed growth most stem plants should grow well in moderate air humidities. I suspect that if grown in a high-humidity setup many stems would just become too leggy and flimsy to create a good effect. As mentioned earlier, carpeting riparium stems also need to have pretty bright light. If shaded too much from above they will just reach out into the tank midground and have a thin, spindly appearance. For this reason again they are excellent matches for Cyperus umbrella sedges because the open foliage of those plants allows plenty of light to penetrate.

Remember also the importance of pruning the growing tips of the plant stems. I try to prune stems when they grow to beyond about 1" from the edge of the trellis raft. This encourages stem branching and the development of a dense green carpet very similar to the kind of streamside vegetation often seen in the wild. The next picture shows some Bacopa stems shortly after planting. The leaves of this plant shoudl eventually form a dense carpet that will completely hide the trellis raft and hanging planter from view.

To wrap up this thread I include a shot here that shows some more of the variety of stem plants that can potentially grow in a riparium. I had these little arrangent growing in a 15-gallon riparium setup.

 

[Noto]

Thanks for posting this, Hydrophyte!

I would like to mention that most Cyperus do not have the "umbrella" look and are more grass-like in appearance, which may be why they are not cultivated. There are lots of other Cyperus that would probably do great in a riparium. I'm going to set up a 65 gallon riparium soon; I'll tuck a few of my local Cyperus in and see how they do.

 

[hydrophyte]

But don't most Cyperus have that whorl of leaves around the flowerhead?

I agree that there must be some other good Cyperus out there for growing in ripariums and in ponds. I remember looking at a guide to Florida marsh plants and there were pages and pages of Cyperus. For ripariums it would be nice to find more shorter-statured Cyperus.

 

[Noto]

They usually do have the whorl around the flowerhead, but also have large basal leaves. Most species that I see around here are in the 12-24" high range, but there are both smaller and larger species. One species I commonly see on reservoir mudflats is only 3-4" high, but has broad leaves and a somewhat plantain-like habit, giving it a much different look from other small graminoids like Eleocharis acicularis. That's one I definitely want to try in the new tank.

The sedge genera Carex and Rhynchospora, among others, also have some really neat species. The whitetop sedges, which are part of Rhynchospora, are a particularly attractive group somewhat similar to the umbrella sedges but with white-centered leaf whorls around the small inflorescence. Here's R. colorata.

 

[hydrophyte]

I'd love to try some of those too if you might ever have any extra. I could trade for stuff I have here.

I have some Dichromena going and they do great in ripariums.

They are easy to grow. With plenty of light and ferts they bloom all the time too.