Panama Update #2

Yesterday I spent some time on an island where I haven't been working much recently, Isla Solarte.  The island is small and very charming.  There's a number of houses of varying sizes surrounding the coast, and the interior still has some nice forest.  

The name of this location is hospital point, a reminder of the past use of the land.  

The forest here is very wet with a small stream and some marshy area.  Large trees still remain and bright orange frogs are abundant.  

As I've mentioned before, I'm very fond of Marcgravia species.  I really love how they grow flat, hugging the tree.  They also have a nice textured leaf, and look great combined with moss.  Here's a fantastic example of how they look in the wild when grown in thick.

I also saw some very interesting beetles that I haven't seen in some time.  These are giant harlequin beetles, Acrocinus longimanus, that I saw on a tree.  

Enjoy.

Native plants of Panama and why terraria 'aren't natural'

Greetings from Panama.  We've been busy setting up new projects and finding new field sites.  Long days and early morning of work have kept us busy, but along with this comes new places and new sights.  It's refreshing to be back working in the forests as it constantly provides new inspiration for future designs.  I have very little time, so this will have to be a quick update. 

One thing I mention often is that my terrarium designs are not 'natural' but rather a stylized representation of what nature looks like.  In nature, plants do not grow as clumped and diverse as how we make terraria.  The dimensions are different and the scope is much larger.  We also typically only grow juvenile growth of many plants such as aroids.  

This is not to say there's anything wrong with scaping and designing these planted glass boxes, it's just a point I wanted to make and illustrate with some images of forests.

For the past year I've also been developing an affinity for Calathea, and this summer I've found two types that I really like so far.

These images are all from lowland forests, in the coming months I'll also take a trip to higher elevations and photograph the impressive diversity there as well, in places where mosses dominate.

From time to time, we also run into some wildlife.

And for any marine lovers, my affinity for zoanthids continues to grow year after year.  These two images were taken just off the dock at the Smithsonian.

Aquarium projects: planted and bare

The majority of the projects I have done over the past year and a half have been terrestrially-focused planted terraria.  Some years ago, back when I was living in North Carolina, I became interested in keeping some wild type guppies in a planted aquarium.  I enjoyed them for some time and then began playing more with growing plants in aquariums.  The previous post has some images of those first aquariums.

I had a 20 gallon long aquarium sitting around the 'man cave' that deserved to serve a higher purpose.  After watching a short clip from the Aquarium Design Group of their hardscape-only aquarium, I got motivated to work on this new project. 

I thought about what may be fun to put in this aquarium and as I often do, I started thinking about Apistogramma.  The inspiration for this aquarium came from the natural habitat of these South American dwarf cichlids.

Because of the flooding of the Mississippi River, all my normal driftwood locations were covered by 10 feet of water or more.  I always maintain a small supply in my back yard though, just for a rainy day occasion such as this.  What I wanted to create was the look of a heavily oxidized clay river bank with a sandy bottom.  I sprayed the back of the aquarium with spray foam and placed the driftwood pieces together to create some depth and dimension. 

It was a bit of a struggle as the positioning the wood in a non resting position but I liked the way it sat after several permutations.  The background I made out of a concrete patch kit and some concrete dye.  I sculpted the foam to make some overhangs and texture to it and smoothed on the concrete. 

 The background is much more dynamic in person than in the photographs and I'm happy with the result.  It was a quick, cheap and fun project to work on for the weekend.  I didn't anticipate the concrete raising the pH quite as much as it did, but after several water changes (including just before these photos...) it is back to neutral.

I then added a few Magnolia leaves from the yard and a few stones.  When the water lowers more I'll collect a few more stones and maybe some more leaves, but overall the layout is complete.  

I didn't think with all my planted projects I'd keep an aquarium so bare, but I think it's an interesting and fun concept and take on an aquarium.

Just to keep with my theme and the name of the blog, I've also been developing this 'high tech' planted aquarium for the past month or so.  I had some severe battles with diatoms, and some brushes with algae, but it's coming along.  I just gave the plants a haircut in an attempt to last and not be too leggy while I'm gone, so it's a little less lush than normal.

I also lost many of the ground cover plants with the diatom issue, but I'll keep plugging away at it and get this baby sorted out.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I'll be back in Panama next week doing research. 

I'll leave you with an in situ photo of Dendrobates pumilio that I took last summer.

ASM 2011/Upcoming posts and news

As I ready to depart for Panama next week I just wanted to give a few quick updates.  First off, our first commercial project was shown this past week at ASM 2011 in the New Orleans Convention Center, many thanks to Pall Life Science for allowing us to scape the terrarium.  I hope this is just the beginning of this type of work.

In further aquarium news, I'll be posting in the coming days a fairly simple, yet effective hardscape design I did for a 20 gallon long aquarium.  It features some dyed concrete work to simulate an Amazonian river bank.  I'll also be posting the update to the 'Micro Mega Terrarium' which will bring it up to date.

The next updates after that will take place in Panama where I'll be posting some inspirational shots.  Upon my return in August expect bigger and better things.  I'll be ramping up designs for terraria and aquaria and gearing up for some art exhibitions.

Here I leave you with some old aquariums, my first trials into planted aquaria.

10 gallon desk aquarium to grow out plants, and house some beautiful Boraras brigittae

And here my first iteration of the 75 gallon Peru/Colombia themed aquarium, soon after setting it up.  This housed several species of Apistogramma, Nannostomus and various tetras.

The rising waters/where the driftwood comes from

I didn't live in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.  It was a few years later that I moved here and ever since I've very much considered it my home.  I'm sure you've heard of the rising waters and flooding in the news.

The funny thing about all the flooding is that we haven't really had any significant rain in weeks and weeks.  It's one thing to think about your house potentially flooding when it's raining heavy and frequently, but here it's not the case.

A few weeks ago I was going for a 'driftwood walk' around the levee to see if there was any nice pieces there.  You can never have enough nice driftwood, even if it just sits in a pile in the back of your house.  I noticed the water was significantly higher than normal and many of my favorite spots were inundated.  

That was well before the news started reporting it.  I blew it off and just figured it would go back down shortly.  Frankly, when ever the water is high I usually get excited about new wood depositions.  

In the photo above is traditionally a good spot for wood.  Now the trees, around which I walk to get pieces, are submerged by perhaps 10 feet plus of water.  These photos are a day after the Morganza Spillway was partially opened and the water is lower than days before.  The peak of the flooding won't be for several days.  

By all accounts, New Orleans will be alright in this flooding.  All measures have been taken to ensure it. It makes me very uncomfortable though that this safety has come with enormous costs to people in the paths of the spillways.  Even though we're not assured safety of our homes and belongings, others have been assured that their houses will be lost.  

When I first moved here I wasn't really sure what a levee even was, aside from raised ground.  It was a word that prior to Katrina, I never really heard used much.  These photos are all from an area called 'The Fly' a park area on the levee where people often have parties and grill.  

The people here are among the friendliest and most diverse and fun in the world.  Just walking around with a big camera gets you lots of shouts and invites to share some food and drink with the parties on the levee.   

I thought a few photos would make this a little more personal for those not in the area.

A few terrarium orchids that seem happy.

I don't recall when my interest in orchids started, though for the longest time I viewed them as unapproachable, something best left to others.  I had mild success growing an orchid or two as a child, though nothing bloomed.  One turning point was when Mike Shrom took me to an orchid show at Parkside  Orchids.  

Scaphosepalum rapax (please feel free to zoom in on this one, I'm quite fond of the flower)

Their impressive selection and the likes of orchid growers like Lynn O'Shaughnessy helped solidify my interest.  I still didn't think I was ready to attempt growing them, but I knew at some point in the future I would like to try.  

I'm very pleased with how orchids have been doing in my terraria (I've been corrected from previously using 'terrariums')-- and I attribute some success to the combination of misting and high air flow.  I've been playing with different misting strategies to maximize evaporative cooling and drying between sprayings, and I think it's helping.  If anyone wants more detail to the closed circuit air circulation (computer fans) or misting, comment below.

Platystele sp.

The other day I was working at home and I stopped for a minute to see how things were doing in the 'Micro Mega Terrarium' and I noticed a few buds and blooms.  One thing I love about miniature orchids is that you have to look to see them, so surprises are frequent.  

Some Lepanthes coming soon:...

In other news, I have a 20 gallon long aquarium that I've been breeding some Rivulus ornatus that were kindly given to me by Ian Hiler.  I believe I'll be doing a bit of a biotope project on that rescape this weekend.  Stay tuned.

Any help spreading the word to others who may enjoy this blog would be appreciated.  I'm not doing any active advertising so I hope word-of-mouth will work.