Hey! I was wondering if it would be possible to start an Aquarium/Paludarium/Vivarium/terrarium forum? The name is a little long, but I feel like there are many people on the site who can contribute to these topics... It could be for peoples' setups, plants/animals they keep in them, and other generalized questions about them.

I too, would love to have a specific forum for Terrariums/Paludariums. I've been planting terrariums off and on for many years and I know we have a few members here who tend both Terrariums and Paludariums but there has to be enough interest (more than just a few members) to warrant a specific forum.

Since we are a gardening website, an Aquarium Forum isn't applicable but if enough members show interest in Terrariums/Paludariums I'm sure management would consider creating a specific Forum. There have been threads on the house plant forum with discussion on planting/growing terrariums. I did a site search for Terrarium and came up with these listings for articles and old threads regarding terrariums: https://garden.org/search/inde...

So we have 2 Yes votes so far!

plantladylin said:

Since we are a gardening website, an Aquarium Forum isn't applicable

I think Aquarium could still be applicable since many people do "Planted tanks" which include many aquatic plant species that many people don't know about.

But usually Aquariums are about the fish. I really doubt an Aquarium Forum would get any attention on a gardening website.

I understand what you are saying. I have talked to a few different people (in real life AND on this site) who are almost as fascinated with keeping house plants as they are keeping aquatic species in their tanks. I have one friend who has a 150-gallon aquarium where the main point isn't the small fish, but the hundreds of plant species he keeps...

We do have a specific forum for Ponds and Water Gardening here: https://garden.org/forums/view... I think that forum stays fairly active because many people are interested in aquatic plants and bog gardening.

We used to keep fresh water fish many years ago and had numerous tanks with fish and plants but back in the early 1980's my husband became interested in marine (salt water) aquariums and we haven't had fresh water aquaria in years. We currently have a 125 gal tank with only 3 small fish, lots of snails and little hermit crabs, live corals and live rock. I never think of the aquarium as "gardening" like one possibly would with fresh water plants.

I've always wanted to go into saltwater, but it is so expensive!!

Yes, even the tiniest marine fish are quite costly. We had some very large fish in the tank for many years but lost them in a hurricane in 2016 when we'd evacuated to South Carolina. The hurricane hit at night and my brother in law got here just after daybreak the next morning to get the generator going but upon arrival, he found that all the fish, crabs and snails had died, only the Corals survived and if they had died, I think my husband would have sold the tank and equipment and gotten out of the hobby. He ended up purchasing two tiny clown fish and another small cardinal fish and they are still small. I think he's reluctant to spend money on more fish due to the fact that hurricanes could cause us to lose them again.

I would love to see a terrarium/vivarium/paludarium forum

Perhaps start a thread in the Ponds forum specific to terrariums etc. and see how much traffic you get.

I forget how many years ago this was suggested and the most active part was the aquarium plants but not enough to keep going long. Many of the plants you would use in a Paludarium are the same as you would use in a fish tank since what is really is is a half filled tank. Hope it works out since I love planted tanks.

I don't grow and immersed plants but grow a lot of emerged ones. Its a lot of fun. Building the tanks is pretty awesome too

I'm interested! "Planted Tanks & Terrariums" might work as a name... I'm trying to figure out where to start a thread about the topic so we can judge the amount of interest (difficult to judge by this thread). Houseplants, maybe?

@ccampbell would likely be interested. Amazing at growing aquarium plants.

Anyone who hasn't seen planted tanks, check for aquascaping contests. Here is one....
https://showcase.aquatic-garde...

I have posted mine over on Houseplants before no real interest from anyone else doing the same

I think I recall awhile ago, that Site Talk is the correct place for requesting new forums so that admin. can see how many members are showing an interest. I submitted a proposal to change the title of this thread to: New Forum Request: Terrarium, Vivarium, Paludarium but a lot of members may not watch this Site Talk Forum so we may not get many more than the 6 or 7 who've already commented, showing an interest.

I would love to see this kind of forum. I agree with @Jayce_KalFUNski13 that aquariums fit in with all the others. I have seen some beautiful planted tanks that focused primarily on plants. They are all just different forms of the same things. With aquariums that are purely aquatic on one end and terrariums which are purely terrestrial on the other end, with vivariums and paludariums in between.

I would watch and read this if a forum were started. I would love to make something along this line(s) but right now I have a lot of other pots in the fire keeping me busy. It would be great if some of you already have made something as I am a very visual person, love photos.

One of these days I will make something, probably a paludarium. They are so cool!

Well here are some photos from one of mine. I call them my houseplant habitats, because I don't keep houseplants. This is a planted 75 gal tank, set up like a vivarium sans animals. Has a water feature. Plants include miniature orchids, jewel orchids, Marcgravias, Rhaphidophoras, bromeliads, jewel alocasias, anthuriums, epiphytic cacti, Scindapsus and a whole lot more!

I don't currently have any Terrariums but I plan on getting around to planting up another one soon. I was "thrifting" with a friend a few days ago and one thrift shop had three 10gal aquariums for sale and I I wish I'd bought one but I got sidetracked and forgot about it. I might have to go back this coming week and see if they've all been sold. I still have a 45gal hexagon tank that I had planted as a terrarium for a few years but during one of our moves, it got totally neglected (for months) and all of the plants died. I need to clean it out and rebuild/plant it up!

These are old photos of some of the enclosed glass containers I've done over the years: