birds of paradise in a CWD vive?

Athen · #1 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 05:44 PM

i wanted to put some birds of paradise in my CWD vive i know for a fact that they are indeed a tropical plant when i was in Guam they were everywhere out there so i know they would be able to handle the enviroment in the tank but my question is would the plant be bad for the CWD? or my vive?

Green Ghost · #2 (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 08:47 PM

Not a plant expert but I don't see a problem other than the plant flowers quite high, no?

Does your viv have room?

Maybe someone else can jump in here an give more help too....

taipan · #3 (**permalink**) 06-18-2008, 12:34 AM

Hi
Even though the bird of paradise ( Strelitzia ) is a nice looking plant it is not really suitable for a vivarium or terrarium. The plant itself can get to about 4ft + in height & also the plants not only have a massive root ball but the root's themselves are very thick & could cause problems for the substrate. Personally I feel they should be left in a garden.

Athen · #4 (**permalink**) 06-18-2008, 11:53 AM

well as far as the height goes it might not be too much of a problem some pruning everyonce in a while it would be going into a custom built vive that will be 72"L x 30"D 48"H having about a 1ft waterline and about 6in of substrate so it would give it about 2.5ft vertical space then again now that i look at it if it is a 4 ft plant it may be a bit tight... is pruning an option with those? and the large roots may be a problem with the substrate

Green Ghost · #5 (**permalink**) 06-18-2008, 05:14 PM

Wow nice size tank. My take is that you never want to put big plants in your viv. The way things will grow out, if you put large plants in there they will completely take over the viv and the leaves will just cover and kill off all the other plants.

The other way to look at it is that it's YOUR viv and you can decide to try whatever you want. Unless someone has done it before and can tell you firsthand then it's really up to you to experiment. Try putting one in there for a year or so and see what happens. Just be prepared to accept that you may (or may not?) end up having to do a little extra work with your substrate and remove it from your viv. In this hobby most of it is experimentation anyway. After that you'll be the one with firsthand knowledge of putting bird of paradise in a viv.

Pavel · #6 (**permalink**) 07-19-2008, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Athen

well as far as the height goes it might not be too much of a problem some pruning everyonce in a while it would be going into a custom built vive that will be 72"L x 30"D 48"H having about a 1ft waterline and about 6in of substrate so it would give it about 2.5ft vertical space then again now that i look at it if it is a 4 ft plant it may be a bit tight... is pruning an option with those? and the large roots may be a problem with the substrate

BoP are HUGE plants. If you had a greenhouse I'd say go for it. But in a terr? No. Pruning is not really an option unless you're fond of looking at stems and no leaves. These plants also develop quite a large spread. Unfortunately, I don't think there are any "mini" varieties.