# Fallen Tree



## Nuno M. (17 Apr 2014)

Hi everyone,

This time we had to dismantle our 180l tank Rain Forest, to be the home of our Pterophyllum Scalare sp. '' Rio Nanay''

It will be another biotope layout inspired by a Rio Nanay drainage .

Here are some thoughts and concepts involved in this layout assembly...

The main intention of this layout was to give scale to the scalare , while trying to create space for them and areas that could delimit territories ...

This did not work with previous wood pieces, had to be something more imposing and at the same time freed space around for the fish to swim freely.

Again we try to create here a plausible situation that could recreate their natural habitat (Rio Nanay drainage Peru), the idea is to imagine these wood pieces as a bit of tree that cracked and as fallen to the bottom of a riverbed, this creates a darker and more sinister scenario that works for me because of the size and gracefulness of this strain of Pterphyllum scalare ...

Also present are the school of Nannostomus Marginatus who came from our previously setup Rain Forest, as well as a fabulous couple of Apistogrammas Eremnopyge , found in some tributaries of this river in the Iquitos / Loreto area.

Now lacking in this assembly plants that seems particularly suited Pistia Stratiotes lettuces and / or Eichhornia Crassipes ( more inclined towards the first ) since they are the ones that are found in this habitat.

Tank:
180L (90x45x45 10mm glass by Vidromoldura)

Lighting:
Hailea 2x39w T5 HO
1x Osram 840, 1x Radium 865

Filtering:
1x JBL e901 greenline

Heating:
TMC V2 Therm Digital Heater 200w

Other Equipment:
TMC V2 Pure 50 Advanced RO System

Hardscape:
ADA Colorado Sand, 5 pieces of Hornwood, Oak and Terminalia Catappa Leaves

Fertilization:
We only had dry salts on water change day do assure the fish and plants have the essential minerals to thrive . (CaSO4, MgSO4, K2SO4 TNC Trace)

Fauna:
5x Pterophyllum Scalare sp. ''Rio Nanay''
2x Apistogramma Eremnopyge sp. ‘Fresa’
30x Nannostomus Marginatus

And some photos 


























Hope you all have the time to follow


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## Lee Sweeting (17 Apr 2014)

Its looking great Nuno, beautiful fish.


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## James D (17 Apr 2014)

Superb, I bet it looks awesome in-situ.


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## Edvet (17 Apr 2014)

Looks good, you need some floaters indeed, See if you like Ceratopteris pteroides, also can be found there. You will need space between lights and surface for them. If you have little room Phyllantus or Limnobium could work.


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## Martin in Holland (17 Apr 2014)

Open mouth gasping.....simply beautiful


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## Dan Crawford (17 Apr 2014)

That is a cracker! Excellent choice of fish and hardscape and very well composed, a huge round of applause from me


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## Nuno M. (17 Apr 2014)

Thank you guys for your words and likes 



Edvet said:


> Looks good, you need some floaters indeed, See if you like Ceratopteris pteroides, also can be found there. You will need space between lights and surface for them. If you have little room Phyllantus or Limnobium could work.



Edvet we've got stunned with the Phyllanthus fluitans, it's very beautiful and we did not know it until now, do you have any kind of literature that specifically says that it's present in ''Rio Nanay'' drainage system ...

I think it's very suited for this scape, just the doubt remains if it's native, the red root system is superb ... And other thing is to get hold of it here in Portugal only have access to Tropica's plants sometimes Anubias and Aquaflora maybe someone from UK can send me some of it 



Dan Crawford said:


> That is a cracker! Excellent choice of fish and hardscape and very well composed, a huge round of applause from me




Thank you Dan , this words coming from you means a lot to us 

It's a pleasure sharing our tanks here at UKAPS with all of you ...


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## Nuno M. (18 Apr 2014)

Some more shoots from today 

It's wonderful seeing the fish behavior in this kind of scape ...


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## Hari Sankar (18 Apr 2014)

Great..!!


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## Edvet (18 Apr 2014)

Nuno M. said:


> do you have any kind of literature that specifically says that it's present in ''Rio Nanay'' drainage system ...


 
Kasselman mentions Peru at the Ceratopteris and the Phyllanthus. Usualy it´s hard to get real biotope data about a location, but since these are floaters i wouldn´t hesitate to use them in a Nanay biotope. ( i guess you know this site: http://apisto.sites.no/page.aspx?pageid=117, Rio Tigre is near Rio Nanay)


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## Nuno M. (18 Apr 2014)

Edvet said:


> Kasselman mentions Peru at the Ceratopteris and the Phyllanthus. Usualy it´s hard to get real biotope data about a location, but since these are floaters i wouldn´t hesitate to use them in a Nanay biotope. ( i guess you know this site: http://apisto.sites.no/page.aspx?pageid=117, Rio Tigre is near Rio Nanay)




Thank you Edvet for your input 

Martin & Tom Christoffersen site is like a bible to me when speaking of apistos . it was my reference for the my AGA 2013 Biotope entry, along with some PM's to Mike Wise 

I've asked my LFS to get hold of some Phyllanthus Fluitans, from Aquaflora nurseries (Holland), do you now if it's leaves are as big as Limnobium Laevigatum ?? 

Cheers


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## BigTom (18 Apr 2014)

Nuno M. said:


> I've asked my LFS to get hold of some Phyllanthus Fluitans, from Aquaflora nurseries (Holland), do you now if it's leaves are as big as Limnobium Laevigatum ??



Considerably smaller. P.f. leaves are ~15mm across.

The two growing together in one of my nanos -


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## Nuno M. (18 Apr 2014)

Hi BigTom

Awesome picture the color mix it's fantastic .

It's the perfect mix, I think we will also use both on this layout


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## BigTom (18 Apr 2014)

Yeah it's a lovely combo. The Phyllanthus seems to need quite high light to go red though, it's more green in my lower light tank.


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## Nuno M. (18 Apr 2014)

Light isn't a problem here I really need floaters to dim it, as I'm using 2x39w T5 lamps in a plant less scape 

 I'm only turning them on for 4h a day to avoid algae problems  so I think the Phyllanthus Fluitans will turn red quite nicely ...


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## Edvet (18 Apr 2014)

couldnt resist showing of an old setup:
39891049_00005534JPEGof by Edvet, on Flickr
Phyllanthus,Limnobium and Ceratophyllum


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## Nuno M. (18 Apr 2014)

Thank you Edvet,

Beautiful floating composition ...

I've taken a sneak peak on your flicker gallery, those P. Altums wore stunning, absolutely breath taking


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## Edvet (18 Apr 2014)

Yeah they where nice, just going with a Peru theme on my tank now, so i have peru angels.


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## Nuno M. (8 Jul 2014)

Some photos of the current inhabitants  




Nannostomus Marginatus by clairerm, on Flickr




Nannostomus Marginatus by clairerm, on Flickr




Pterophyllum Scalare sp. Rio Nanay by clairerm, on Flickr




Pterophyllum Scalare sp. Rio Nanay by clairerm, on Flickr




Pterophyllum Scalare sp. Rio Nanay by clairerm, on Flickr


Apistogramma Allpahuayo sp. Black Chin by clairerm, on Flickr


Enviado do meu iPhone usando o Tapatalk


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## Nuno M. (8 Jul 2014)

And a panorama ...



Geral - Day 83 by clairerm, on Flickr



Enviado do meu iPhone usando o Tapatalk


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## Martin in Holland (8 Jul 2014)

Beautiful...looks very natural


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## Lee Sweeting (8 Jul 2014)

Its looking great, very nice indeed.


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## James D (8 Jul 2014)

Agreed, I'd love to try something like this one day. Fantastic!


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## Alexander Belchenko (13 Aug 2014)

Spectacular!


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## Nuno M. (8 Nov 2014)

Hi guys,

After we took the 11º place in JBL BADC in the South American Category, this time and has it was last year we are in AGA2014 TOP10 

Here are the photos we sent to the contests, hope you all like them 


Fallen Tree JBL BADC 2014 & AGA 2014 


Pt. Scalare sp. Rio Nanay BADC 2014 & AGA 2014 


Ap. Allpahuayo (M) BADC 2014 & AGA 2014


Ap. Allpahuayo (F) BADC 2014 & AGA 2014


N. Marginatus BADC 2014 & AGA 2014


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## Edvet (9 Nov 2014)

can't see pics


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## Edvet (9 Nov 2014)

Now i can, looking good!


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## Nuno M. (16 Nov 2014)

Thank you Edvet


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## KarthikC (18 Nov 2014)

Loved your tank and the updates.. One of the best angel fish tanks I've seen. Great photography as well.  

Cheers,

Karthik


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## Nuno M. (21 Nov 2014)

Thank you fot your words KarthikC

And do guys want to know more about this tank ??

Here it is our mini Ptherophyllum sp. ''Rio Nanay''



 
We have more than 100 tiny ones swimming 



 

How cool is this ?? liver, swim bladder, stomach and brain all in transparency


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## X3NiTH (21 Nov 2014)

Excellent!


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## Martin in Holland (22 Nov 2014)

Indeed very cool


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## Nuno M. (11 Dec 2014)

Here it goes,  update of the little  fry 

STRIPES MODE IS ON 


Pterophyllum Scalare sp. Rio Nanay Fry 


Pterophyllum Scalare sp. Rio Nanay Fry


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## Martin in Holland (11 Dec 2014)

They are doing really well...good job


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## Nuno M. (11 Dec 2014)

Martin in China said:


> They are doing really well...good job



Hi Martin,

At this stage is really simple to make them grow, just give them live food (grindal and brine shrimp), frequent water changes, check on temperature and they are good to go 

They are now starting to pick on smashed Hikari Bio Gold granulate so is going really  nice indeed 

Thank you for following


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## Vinkenoog1977 (11 Dec 2014)

Hey Nuno,

Wonderfu looking tank and congrats on the fry! Was just wondering how the adult angelfish are doing, any signs of stunted growth or anything? The reason I ask is because you usually read about a minimum 120 cm. wide/ 60 cm. high tank for maybe a breeding pair, but it looks like you have half a dozen of them in a 90 cm. and they look amazing! Any signs of stress or bad health, or are they doing as well as they show in the pics? And no fear of them outgrowing the tank, seeing as they can reach about 30 cm. in height, or will they be relocated in due time? Am asking because I have always loved angels, but never had the space for them.

Thanks, and kudos once more on a wonderful tank!


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## BigTom (11 Dec 2014)

Looks lovely Nuno. Are you using flash for your photographs or are the tank lights bright enough?

Edit - flickr gave me my answer! I need more light over my tank - you're getting about 4 stops more light than me.


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## Nuno M. (11 Dec 2014)

Vinkenoog1977 said:


> Hey Nuno,
> 
> Wonderfu looking tank and congrats on the fry! Was just wondering how the adult angelfish are doing, any signs of stunted growth or anything? The reason I ask is because you usually read about a minimum 120 cm. wide/ 60 cm. high tank for maybe a breeding pair, but it looks like you have half a dozen of them in a 90 cm. and they look amazing! Any signs of stress or bad health, or are they doing as well as they show in the pics? And no fear of them outgrowing the tank, seeing as they can reach about 30 cm. in height, or will they be relocated in due time? Am asking because I have always loved angels, but never had the space for them.
> 
> Thanks, and kudos once more on a wonderful tank!



Hi Vinkenoog,

I have to admit they would be better on a larger tank, but they are doing really nice in here, really nice color, no stress, feeding good and as matter a fact I have 2 confirmed females laying eggs and the big  male is  dominant all over the aquarium, the larger female lays eggs on the right piece of wood and the smaller one on the thermo placed on the left 

This layout was 100% thought for them, the big chunk of wood on the right side delimits the breeding dominant pair territory and the other two don't mess around with them. Other aspect is that I only used a really thin layer of decorative sand to give them as much water depth as this tank could offer and with no background slope.. The pieces of wood placed in vertical frees good space around for them to swim freely, also the floating plants cover all the water surface, so very little light coming in and less stress for them. Also using turf on the cannister (a full basket of it), to give a closer feel on their natural habitat, and I think they really appreciate the pH drob caused by the humic acids, dark water is the cherry on top of the cake that I know many people don't really like, but when you see this kind of fish in this kind of setup there's no turning back.

I also maintain a 300L planted tank so I have the best of the 2 worlds, biotopes dedicated to my Scalare and Apistos and planted thanks, cant live without them both. 

As for good tank measures I say that 100cm wide and 50cm high for Pterophyllum Scalare is a good measures for like 6-7 of them but if you go to Pterophyllum Altums than I would advice not less than 120cm wide and 70cm high , have in mind that this is for biotope like tank, if you go for a planted tank than they would need a lot more space.

The little fry are in a 60x30x36 breeding tank that I have for breeding apistogrammas 

Thanks for following


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## Nuno M. (11 Dec 2014)

BigTom said:


> Looks lovely Nuno. Are you using flash for your photographs or are the tank lights bright enough?
> 
> Edit - flickr gave me my answer! I need more light over my tank - you're getting about 4 stops more light than me.



The Fallen Tree photos for BADC and AGA 2014 wore with my 4x54w fixture plus it's 2x39W on top, is really hard to take pictures on this tank because of the water color, so a lot of light is needed to reduce the ISO to 1600 and that's how low I can go , a little grain is aspected on the final result as you can clearly see on the pics 

The fry photos are only with a 60cm Beamswork LED Double Hi-Lumen 6500K fixture, but with clear water is easier, the only problem is that they are really tiny (less than 1cm) zoom and catch them steady is a pain in the ass


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## Nuno M. (11 Dec 2014)

And some more photos of my 1 year old Biateniata sp. "Shishita" fry on other of my breeding tanks 

Really have to let them go now, getting to big and already spawning their one offspring 


Ap. Bitaeniata sp. Shishita (M)


Ap. Bitaeniata sp. Shishita (M)


Ap. Bitaeniata sp. Shishita (F)

And snappy video look closer to the sand 

Big error on the video text, but to lazy to correct


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## Vinkenoog1977 (11 Dec 2014)

Thank you for your reply Nuno, will give all of this a little think, and see how this may effect my plans. And it's always been about the Scalare for me. The most beautiful and impressive freshwater aquarium fish around IMHO!


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## Nuno M. (12 Feb 2015)

Been a while since the last update, 

The fry is growing real nice, perfect replicas of their parents

Some pics 


Pterophyllum Scalare sp. Rio Nanay


Pterophyllum Scalare sp. Rio Nanay


Pterophyllum Scalare sp. Rio Nanay


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