Hey everyone, I hope all is well where ever you are in the world. Today’s project will be a quick one that I personally feel is out-of-this-world! The idea will be to incorporate a sort of sci-fi feel into a small semi-aquatic terrarium. It will make more sense as we go!

If you’re new to the concept of a Bantamarium, I highly recommend checking out the detailed guide I’ve created. In essence, a Bantamarium is a versatile vivarium designed to bring miniature ecosystems to life. It’s a concept I’ve developed to make it easier for anyone—regardless of experience level—to create a thriving, visually stunning vivarium that blends art with nature.

A Space-Themed Paludarium

Even though some of these crazy concepts of mine are challenging to bring to life, I have to admit, I love the creative exploration I get to embark on. A space-themed paludarium has so much potential for cosmic ideas. We will more than likely have an array of extraterrestrial figurines to offer alongside this kit eventually!

Making Moon Rock Mountain Paludarium

It’s always good practice to make sure you have all of the materials needed before starting any project. Luckily for us, this build won’t require more than a handful of things. Let’s start from there and slowly work into assembling the tank:

Materials:

• Mega “Moon” Bantamarium Jar 10″ x 6″
• Classic Moon Rock Mountain Decor | Inner Terrain Decor
• Sheet Moss
• Black Gravel
• Natural Fine-Grain Sand

Tools:

• Aquascaping Tool Kit

The Classic Moon Rock Mountain Decor:

The terrain we are using for this project was inspired by the shrimptopia build we did a few years back. That build is still one of my favorite designs, and I wanted to do something along that same layout style. This piece fits both classic jars as well as Mega jars perfectly.

Assembling The Galactic Fish Tank:

For the start of our galactic build, we will be using a Mega Bantamarium jar with the moon engraved on the back. I was considering our constellation engraved jar for this one as well but decided to save that for another project.

Before placing in the terrain, we will need to first add our first layer of the substrate. I’m using black gravel for this to help contrast the overall color scheme. Since this will be an aquatic tank, we will stick to keeping the substrate simple.

With the layer of substrate down, carefully slide the moon rock terrain down into the jar and press it snugly into the gravel.

I like to add a bit more gravel around the terrain to help secure it into place. This also makes the scene look more natural as the gravel appears more like a sediment fall rather than a whole separate layer.

For the next step, I’m putting down a casual amount of sand to further enhance a more coastal appearance. The bright color also helps with contrasting the darker parts of the tank.

Once you are content with the arrangement of the substrate and terrain, you can add water. The exact height of the water is completely up to you. This could very easily be a fully aquatic setup too!

Now that we’ve added water, this cosmic paludarium is ready for plants. Let’s walk through what I did for that in the next part.

Best Plants For A Cosmic Semi-Aquatic Tank

When it comes to choosing plants for this type of vivarium, there is an endless amount of choices to choose from. Don’t limit yourself to what I choose in this guide. I will more than likely change the foliage as time goes on. This is more of a simple starting point to showcase the potential of stocking a space-themed paludarium with plants.

For the terrestrial area above the water, I went with carpeting moss just to fill the area in. I left space to add figurines later since I think this will be a fun one to explore storytelling-wise. As for aquatic plants, I only had floating plants on hand and decided it wouldn’t hurt to have duckweed in it for the time being until I settled on more appropriate aquatic plants.

I wanted to keep things simple to illustrate how quickly something unique like this could be put together. We will explore more potential ideas for this together on social media since it’s the most interactive way to work on these projects together.

Best Animals For A Moon Rock Mountain Paludarium

There are several micro critters I think would be very fitting for a tank like this. If one wanted to consider something like a shrimp or two, I’d recommend going fully aquatic with this setup and stocking it with a variety of aquatic plants to help keep the water parameters stable.

Moon Rock Paludarium Care

The care requirements for this enclosure will be relatively simple… Since I have a lid on this I won’t have to worry about water evaporation often. I will need to set up an air pump or manually pump air into this tank daily to keep the water oxygenated. I more than likely won’t change the water on this unless I notice unusual odors.

Final Thoughts

We’ve just completed our interstellar aquarium and I can’t wait to explore potential ideas with this one as time goes on. I’d love to hear your thoughts as well as see a unique twist on this if you consider making one. But as always, I’ll see you at the next one!

If you’re interested in seeing updates on how this as well as other enclosures progress follow me on social media. If you’d like to get your tall tweezers on one of these limited edition vivarium decors yourself, check them out in our shop.