# Wabi kusa/paladium low humidity for Vampire Crabs.



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

*Wabi-kusa Is not a Paludarium.*

Wabi-kusa is basically a plant ball sold by ADA. Google Image search for Wabi-kusa in japanese.

Wabi-kusa in english has come to mean a style of tank characterized by one or two 'islands' of plants in a low shallow tank or dish surrounded by light colored sand as popularized by Steven chong.

They are not the same thing as a Paludarium.


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

Thanks Dollface, I'm fully aware they're not the same thing I merely wanted to merge the 2 styles, the aesthetics of wabikusa and the technical side of a paladium with the heating and segragation of the tank as well as high sides to prevent the crabs escaping. 
Also,since they're both emerse and both deal with plants grown above the water. 
Not to be too jarring, thanks for the links! There are some Really good starting points. Especially Stevens.


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

_Also,since they're both emerse and both deal with plants grown above the water_

IMO that's the only thing they have in common.
Its kind of like saying you want to do a dutch iwagumi because they both involve plants.
"Wabi Kusa is just another word for Paludarium!" is my pet aquascape peeve, I don't want to see it perpetuated. 

It sounds from the main post that you want to have the entire side of the tank (unless you're planning to bend this glass divider) as terrestrial, wich is more like a continent than an island. 

if you want to do somthing more in line with wabi-kusa aesthetics, just stack some large river rocks around a terracotta pot filled with soil for the terrestrial plants. 

as to filtering and heating of the tank, a mini canister filter like the Zoo med would work for small volumes of water, and depending on the vampire crabs needs, you could heat the water, wich would produce slightly more humid conditions in the tank even with an open top.
Or you could get a humidifier for your room.


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

I remember reading the translated articles in aqua journal about wabi kusa and it's not so much that it's an island in a tray this is merely a variant of it but it's the imperfection and mixed chaos of a non thought out plant ball that makes something wabi kusa, it's the "purer" wild nature of it. It's an abstract concept like many aspects of aquascaping it's open to interpritation and variation, notice how every scape on here disccribes itself as an iwagumi if there's no wood present, they hardly conform to the original idiologies that make an iwagumi and iwagumi, yet like everything they fall under an umbrella term that describes them from their key aesthetic principle. 

Surely this aesthetic can be applied to a paludarium? That's my aesthetic aim. 

Regarding heating I was told an internal heater isn't going to work as even with a guard on the crabs will sit on it and burn them selves. Would a paludarium heatmat work and what wattage would I need?
Filtering I'm thinking I'll probably do internally using a tiny powerfilter something I can hide with in the aquascape, I've got a eden 501 but it's in need of some TLC to get it working again. 
I think humidifying the room is going to be too costly to consider.


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Iwagumis still have basic guidelines to the style, even if it's been corrupted to mean any scape with just rocks now. Traditionally there are set 'styles' such as Sanzon Iwagumi, and one could argue that most scapes out there calling themselves 'iwagumi' are technically not, as they don't follow basic rules or principles, they just throw rocks in willynilly.

But no matter how perfectly you follow the traditional rules of an iwagumi, if you stick a giant piece of driftwood in there, it's not going to be an iwagumi anymore. 

I'm not saying you can't use some wabi-kusa principles in a paludarium, but what you're describing is not a wabi-kusa. 

I'm not familiar with paludarium heating pads, I think a better place to ask would be a paludarium dedicated forum.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

iwagumi is two important things. first the layout method and process of the hardscape. specifically using rocks to create certain impressions. second it has no wood ever. as doll face said it just because aomeone calls it an iwagumi doesnt make it one. its almost better to think of iwagumi as the layout process. a malawi cichlid tank using all rocks fir example can never qualify as iwagumi if its just the cave rock wall.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

i read that article about vampire crabs in TFH. they sound cool. i don't know that _wabi-kusa_, paludarium, whatever you want to call it setup with lots of water and just a little terrestrial feature would be enough land area for them. from what i remember they like to crawl around in the leaf litter.


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

Yeah they're fascinating, apparently they need an even ratio of land to water. I've got my cube drained and waiting to be scaped. I'll be using the whole rocks mosses terrestrial plant basic outlay as outlined in steven chongs post. I've also found a heat mat and thermostat combo.I just need to find a suitable tiny filter and I'm all set! Oh, except that I need some new wood, I've got some sumatra and some redmoore but neither are suitable.


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## kid creole (Dec 25, 2008)

hydrophyte said:


> i read that article about vampire crabs in TFH. they sound cool. i don't know that _wabi-kusa_, paludarium, whatever you want to call it setup with lots of water and just a little terrestrial feature would be enough land area for them. from what i remember they like to crawl around in the leaf litter.


Well he certainly couldn't call it a wabi-kusa palurdarium, because the be-all end-all of wabi-kusa-police would shut him down and make every other post in his thread a defense of the sanctity of a translated word for an art form, until he changed it, or the moderators moved it to a forum devoted to the blasphemously titularly incorrect.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

well be sure to post some pictures and updates. i have looked around some and have only found just one US supplier. i might try to research some more on DendroBoard i am sure that those people would know about them.

i am always interested to find out about tiny little new plant & animal options, because i live in a tiny little house and if i put one more enclosure in here it will burst.


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## Zezmo (Jan 11, 2006)

Even though my Paludarium is evenly land and water, the Vampire Crabs (G. sp "Carnival" and G. sp "Blue") spend all thier time on the land side. Most of them have tug burrows, or have found a nook under some wood.

The breeder I bought them from had told me the biggest thing to watch out for is drafts. For that reason I believe the tank needs to be covered.


My Paludarium:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05Q9Qv6cUGM

As for the "scape" of the Paludarium, I was inspired while fishing at a local pond. I tried to recreate the ponds edge where a tree's roots were growing into it.

Inspiration:
http://www.wgwguild.com/images/pal/pal-00.jpg


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## OoNickoC (Jul 29, 2009)

kid creole said:


> Well he certainly couldn't call it a wabi-kusa palurdarium, because the be-all end-all of wabi-kusa-police would shut him down and make every other post in his thread a defense of the sanctity of a translated word for an art form, until he changed it, or the moderators moved it to a forum devoted to the blasphemously titularly incorrect.


Amen to that. ^^^^^
Thief after doing some reading I totally understand what you are getting at. Some folks unfortunatley must always inject thier opinion rather than simply express it. That said, if Im envisioning it correctly at all it sounds like a sweet setup.


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## thief (Jan 12, 2008)

Well I hoep this helps! Really great photo gallery to what you might what to do! http://picasaweb.google.com/fishbon3/Crabitat#


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

Thanks all, I've been playing with scapes recently, expect a picture soom I'deally I'd like a filter and heater but I'm still at a loss so I won't be doing anything untill I have these as I percieve them to be vitals.


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## paulrw (Apr 14, 2009)

sorry to jump in so late but... i'm pretty sure wabi-kasu is a made up word i think
wabi means something like "beauty is in the imperfections" so right of the bat you can't go wrong! lets see it!


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

You'd be right in thinking that, The BBC did a documentary not so long ago called "in seach of wabi-sabi" and it turns out that even in Japan it's entirely subjective. Thought the words mean something they mean something different to everyone. 
A very thought provoking program and extremely inspirational. 
No pictures today, tomorrow maybe I pulled everything apart to clean the tank and give it all a really good scrub.


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