# difference in paludarium, riparium?



## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

1. This topic has come up frequently before, and I've already given my .02 on the etymology of those words, so I'm not going to repeat myself here. Just do a quick search, you'll see. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/s...o=1&photoplog_searchquery=riparium+paludarium

2. Immersed and emersed are somewhat antonyms. Opposites. But we don't say "immersed" for plants, we say "submerged." Probably because of how it sounds too similar to "emersed" when spoken aloud. And also because immersed is more of a generic word that doesn't necessarily have to do with being submerged in liquid. You can immerse yourself in culture, or language, etc. But you can't be submerged in Spanish.... You can _say_ submerged in Spanish though: sumergido!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Church said:


> But you can't be submerged in Spanish.... You can _say_ submerged in Spanish though: sumergido!


ROFL @ Church!

Here's a good explanation too: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/general-planted-tank-discussion/98036-whats-difference.html


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Church said:


> But you can't be submerged in Spanish....


ROFL my officemate thinks I'm a total nutjob, i laughed so hard at this! 



lauraleellbp said:


> Here's a good explanation too: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/general-planted-tank-discussion/98036-whats-difference.html


Thanks!  And yeah, check it out in the thread LauraLee linked, I don't feel like typing the whole thing out, I'm lazy :tongue:   :hihi:

but in short.... a riparium doesn't have any real "land" so the only livestock you can really keep are fish....i guess maybe you could keep bugs too?....


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

Just in the interest of completeness, the etymology of each word is as follows:

*_-arium_ means "that which contains, or place of"

Vivarium - Root word _viv_, meaning life, or living, so this is a setup built to contain living things. Obviously, a very generic word.

Terrarium - Root word _terra_, meaning Earth, or land, so this is a setup built to contain land-dwelling plants and animals.

Aquarium - duhhhhhhhh....

Paludarium - Root word _palud_, meaning swamp, or marsh, so this is meant to recreate a swamp environment, which incidentally enough, contains land and water.

Riparium - Root word _ripa_, meaning riverbank (or, possibly, shoreline), so this is meant to recreate a riverside environment, which ALSO contains land and water, but the focus tends to be more on the water side of it all.


It should be noted that all of the above can technically be considered vivariums. It should also be noted that the correct pluralized form of that word is actually _vivaria_, meaning more than one aquarium should correctly be referred to as _aquaria_, but I gave up on that one. No one seems to understand you when you correctly pluralize these words.

And while we're on the subject, the correct singular form of bacteria is _bacterium_. The correct singular form of data is _datum_, and the correct singular form of media is _medium_.

Therefore, I usually cringe when I hear how "the media tells us..." when referring to news, TV, etc. No, the media _tell_ us. Not _tells_.


Did I say all of that out loud?

[/rant]


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Slow day, eh Church? :hihi:


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

Yeah, you could say so, lol. I've been recording all day long and in between takes I've been coming here to the forums for escape.


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## serendipity576 (Oct 3, 2009)

perfect, my questions are answered! thanks to all


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

serendipity576 said:


> perfect, my questions are answered! thanks to all


Yeah, plus more stuff than you ever even dreamed of asking, right? :biggrin:


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

simple answer:

Vivarium is any kind of ecosystem withen a tank

Terrariums are purely land

Paludariums are roughly half land, half water, with a solid soil portion for the land.

Ripariums, as promoted by hydrophote is plants grown on floating foam rafts in half full tanks. Supposedly traditionally they were paludariums with waterfalls/water features of some kind.

Aquariums are fully water.


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## serendipity576 (Oct 3, 2009)

yep, tons of info! lol I have a vivarium now that I have a 2 inch water table with a grid over it and then soil/peat/coconut base, growing bromeliads and etc in there and there used to be dart frogs in there. I'm going to convert it to a riparium/paludarium but do it simply. I think I'm just going to make a couple land masses with rocks and wood rising out of the water, and then also float some plants. The back is coconut with a side of the aquarium with slate mortared on. I'll post some pics of current viv setup and maybe you all can help me with ideas to convert it.


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## serendipity576 (Oct 3, 2009)

ok here are a couple shots of current vivarium, go to photobucket link to see all.

http://s967.photobucket.com/albums/ae153/serendipity576/current vivarium 12-9/

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae153/serendipity576/current vivarium 12-9/vivarium12-09007.jpg


http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae153/serendipity576/current vivarium 12-9/vivarium12-09001.jpg


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## serendipity576 (Oct 3, 2009)




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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

Nice latin Church!


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## serendipity576 (Oct 3, 2009)

after taking everything out except the sideground and background and redoing it, here is what I have now. Let me know what you think.


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## serendipity576 (Oct 3, 2009)

oh, and there's a few tetras in there I added from other main tank, mostly bromeliads, frogbit, a few land vines on cork background. I'll try to get a better picture showing diff parts later today.


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## venya (Apr 4, 2018)

The links arent working anymore. I have just made something... dont know if i should call paludarium or vivarium.
Water about 1/3rd with sand pit in middle that holds the lilly and a branch with white moss . Under water contains some moss like plants which I am not sure will grow under water. Also contains marimo moss balls.
cork above and then sponge (natural. With moss on it) and planted some moisture loving plants like maranta, white spath lilly.
What is that called?


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## Bantam.Earth (Jul 20, 2018)

venya said:


> The links arent working anymore. I have just made something... dont know if i should call paludarium or vivarium.
> Water about 1/3rd with sand pit in middle that holds the lilly and a branch with white moss . Under water contains some moss like plants which I am not sure will grow under water. Also contains marimo moss balls.
> cork above and then sponge (natural. With moss on it) and planted some moisture loving plants like maranta, white spath lilly.
> What is that called?
> View attachment 842713


I think that would fall under the terrarium category because there doesn't appear to be anything living within it besides the plants. if you find that there are in fact inhabitants living in there (like maybe spring-tails on the ground part or scuds floating around in the water than it becomes a paludarium or maybe even a riparium since there isn't much land for even the spring tails to establish on.. vivariums are enclosures with some type of animals living within it so a paludarium would pretty much be a type of vivarium..

I linked to some of the articles describing the difference between the enclosures.. i hope it helps!


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

venya said:


> The links arent working anymore. I have just made something... dont know if i should call paludarium or vivarium.
> Water about 1/3rd with sand pit in middle that holds the lilly and a branch with white moss . Under water contains some moss like plants which I am not sure will grow under water. Also contains marimo moss balls.
> cork above and then sponge (natural. With moss on it) and planted some moisture loving plants like maranta, white spath lilly.
> What is that called?
> View attachment 842713


It's both a paludarium and a vivarium. Vivarium is a very wide category that contains all the others. Kind of like saying, "Is it a Ford or a car?" Car and vivarium are the wide categories that contain Ford, Chevy, Dodge and terrarium, paludarium, riparium etc.

Here are some good definitions from Wikipedia:


"There are various forms of vivarium, including:

Aquarium, simulating a water habitat; for instance a river, lake or sea; but only the submerged area of these natural habitats. Plants in the water will use some nitrogen present within the system, and will provide areas for organisms to hide and forage.
Oceanarium, containing larger ocean-dwelling fish and mammals, such as sharks or dolphins.
Insectarium, containing insects, arachnids, and other similar arthropods.
Formicarium, with species of ants.
Terrarium, simulating a dry habitat, for instance desert or savannah. A terrarium can also be formed to create a temperate woodland habitat, and even a jungle-like habitat. This can be created with pebbles, leaf litter and soil. By misting the terrarium, a natural water cycle occurs within the environment by condensation forming on the lid causing precipitation. Many kinds of plants are suitable for these habitats, including bromeliads, African violets and Crassulaceae. Animals commonly held for observation include reptiles, amphibians, insects, spiders, scorpions and small birds.
Paludarium, a semi-aquatic enclosure simulating a rain forest, swamp or other wetland environment. It also can be seen as an aquarium interconnected with a terrarium, having both the underwater area as well as the shore.
Penguinarium, containing penguins.
Riparium, a new kind of planted aquarium system that recreates the wet habitats found along the edges of lakes, rivers, ponds and streams. This zone hosts marginal plants, which are rooted in the saturated soil at the edge of the water, but hold their leaves up in the air. Unlike a paludarium however, ripariums do not have a significant land portion, making them unsuitable for most amphibians. Instead, they utilize specialized planters which either hang onto the sides of the tank or float on the water's surface.
Herpetarium, containing various species of reptiles and amphibians. Herpetariums may fall under another category of vivariums, depending on the natural habitat of the species being kept."


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