# Epiphyte 'Tree'



## Andy D (24 Jun 2015)

Hi All!

I'll start with a little bit of background on the idea for this tank. Many of you may well be in the same position as me in that your other half is as interested in aquascaping and/or fish keeping as they are being tortured using some medieval contraption. Therefore you can imagine my surprise one day when my wife mentioned that she liked the Platies I used to have.

Not one to miss an opportunity to visit a LFS I gave her the option to pick a group of fish for the empty tank I would soon have. We went to the LFS and without any intervention from me she settled on Celestial Pearl Danios. I was quite pleased with this choice as I have wanted to keep them for ages. I was also impressed that she did not pick any tank busters!

With the fish chosen this dictated certain aspects of the set-up:
- dense planting to cut down on aggression
- dark substrate to show of their colour
- low flow

Given the requirement for low flow I have decided on a low energy approach with a lot of 'easy' plants. The main feature of the set up would be a tree (tree is really stretching the truth a little bit but I could not get that out of my head as the title for this journal ). Details etc:

EQUIPMENT
Tank - ND aquatics 60cm x 30cm x 36cm with Opti-White front.
Lighting - TMC aquabar with dimmer.
Filtration - Fluval Nano filter
Heater - Rena Smart Heater 100w

SUBSTRATE
Pond soil base layer
Unipac black micro-gravel

HARDSCAPE
Pear tree branches
Seiryu rock

FLORA
Bucephalandra 'Green Velvet'
Vallisneria Nana
Hygrophila Pinnatifida
Sagittaria Sabulata (1-2-3 grow)
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Brown
Cryptocoryne Undulatus Brown
Cryptocoryne Undulatus Green
Microsorum Pteropus 'Windelov'
Bolbitis Heudelotti
Anubias Nana
Pistia Stratiotes

FAUNA
Celestial Pearl Danios (once tank is established)
Red Ramshorn snails

FERTS:
Tropica Specialised

I sorted the substrate and hardscape a few days ago. I tried a few different positions for the rocks and settled on this: (ignore the Anubias and Java Fern - they were just chillin' in the tank.)





I got the plants from AE today (excellent quality and service as always!) and got the various epiphytes onto the wood:




I stuck this in the tank and have to say I was very pleased with how it had come out:




Planted the remaining plants. It still amazes me the amount that comes out of an in-vitro pot:




The end result:




I must also give a special mention to the Bucephalandra. What a stunning plant!


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## Tim Harrison (24 Jun 2015)

...What's she after?...
...by the way nice start so far


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## tim (24 Jun 2015)

Nice layout Andy, will look great when mature, the buce looks lovely nice size portion too.


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## Andy D (24 Jun 2015)

Thanks Troi / Tim!

I am really pleased with it so far. 

'Green Velvet' seems very appropriate for the Buce.


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## John S (24 Jun 2015)

Looking good Andy.


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## scootamum (25 Jun 2015)

It looks gorgeous Andy! 

I'm glad you provided a close up of the Bucephalandra as I was wondering which plant it was.  It's a lovely colour, and really attractive leaves.


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## REDSTEVEO (25 Jun 2015)

Andy D said:


> Many of you may well be in the same position as me in that your other half is as interested in aquascaping and/or fish keeping as they are being tortured using some medieval contraption.



Hi Andy,

Its always great when you can get the other half enthusiastic!

By medieval contraption, do you mean one of these? Scootamum was a bit of a give away





This is my 1971 Italian Lambretta GP 200cc my pride and joy, (next to my aquarium that is.

I have never heard of anyone sticking pear tree branches into their aquarium before, maybe your platies will _pair _off?

Cheers,

Steve

ps sorry for hijacking your thread with something not aquarium related but couldn't resist it!


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## Andy D (25 Jun 2015)

REDSTEVEO said:


> ps sorry for hijacking your thread with something not aquarium related but couldn't resist it!



Never a problem! 

I have a pear tree in my garden and another one in a garden I work at. In Autum/Winter I cut a few branches and leave them to dry out and then see what can be done with them in summer.

Not as good as Manzanita but they are free!


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## REDSTEVEO (25 Jun 2015)

Cheers Andy,

I have tried different bits of wood in the past but they always went soft and mushy after a while with a white fluffly sort of fungus growing on them.

Good luck with the pear tree branches.

Steve.


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## Andy D (5 Jul 2015)

Not a lot (if anything) has changed since planting. 

I had some diatoms on the Pistia and upper leaves of the Bolbitis. I have put this down to leaving the light on too long. I typically start a tank with 5/6 hours but had left this one on for 9. I have now reduced the duration to 7 hours and things seem to be much better.

It seems a requirement of good aquascaping is to have a decent camera and the ability to take great shots. I have neither of these at the moment so another phone shot will have to do!


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## rebel (20 Nov 2015)

Any updates?


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## Andy D (20 Nov 2015)

A few minor things:

1. The plan was for the tank to be home to some CPD's but due to a re-scape of another tank it is now home to Ember Tetras, Chilli Rasbora and Green Neon Tetras. 

2. I added ten yellow cherry shrimp. I am now down to two. I could not work out what the problem was and then one day noticed there were both Hydra and Planaria in the tank. It has since been dosed with Panacur so I will see how things go. On a more positive note I have come across a few red cherry shrimp babies. 

3. The bark was coming off the wood so I took it out and removed as much as I could. I also took the opportunity to remove all of the original bolbitis leaves as I had plenty of much healthier looking newer growth. Despite the newer growth this area now looks quite bare. 
I have added some Java Fern and Cryptocoryne Balansae to the left hand side. 

4. Lighting has been increased to max intensity. The Sag is starting to show some growth and spread now thanks to this. 

With all this being said the tank does not look much different (maybe worse in fact) and it will take an absolute ago (low tech) to grow in. Fortunately with things like this I am a patient man. 

Some shots:












Also wanted to add an overview shot of all the tanks. I have some wonderful aquascape shots on the wall thanks to Viktor Lantos who was very generous in letting me use his images.


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## Tim Harrison (20 Nov 2015)

OMG Andy...you don't mess around. Awesome...


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## Nelson (20 Nov 2015)

Wow .


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## John S (21 Nov 2015)

That room looks fantastic.


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## banthaman.jm (21 Nov 2015)

Lovely Andy, what a fantastic room.
Jim


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## tim (21 Nov 2015)

Superb Andy.


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## Smells Fishy (21 Nov 2015)

Your pictures have woken me up a bit more! Another tank in the middle would look amazing. Food for thought.


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## James O (21 Nov 2015)

Oh how I miss having high ceilings and a huge fireplace......just a little bit envious 

Lovely tank room Andy 

Fireplace is solid brick as are walls, so stick 3 shelves in each side and move from tank room to FISH HOUSE


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## LondonDragon (21 Nov 2015)

Nice collection of tanks Andy


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## Andy D (21 Nov 2015)

Smells Fishy said:


> Your pictures have woken me up a bit more! Another tank in the middle would look amazing. Food for thought.



Oh I have thought about it! I could get a 4ft tank in there. 

Unfortunately we need the space for my Son's toys.


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## Smells Fishy (21 Nov 2015)

Ah I know what you mean Andy. Got a baby boy coming my way in March. So we are moving gaff in 2 weeks time, going to be hectic with 4 fish tanks on the go at the mo. Think I'm going to have to say good bye to my community tank and trade the fish in.


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## Andy D (21 Nov 2015)

Smells Fishy said:


> Think I'm going to have to say good bye to my community tank and trade the fish in.



Maybe just put it in storage for a while?

My boy is 2 1/2 now but for the first year I did find it hard to keep on top of the maintenance for the 4/5 tanks I was running so I downsized to just 2 tanks. 

Now I'm back up to 5.


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## Andy D (21 Nov 2015)

James O said:


> Fireplace is solid brick as are walls, so stick 3 shelves in each side and move from tank room to FISH HOUSE



I have considered popping a shelf each side and adding some small tanks and if I owned the place I definitely would!


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## Smells Fishy (21 Nov 2015)

I'll definitely keep the tank because its a 100L, and see what the future holds.

I might have to down size to 2 tanks for the first year aswell. I mean I know one guy who actually gave up fish keeping for his new born and sold his brand new tank he recently got. He said he didn't have time to do water changes. Its not that hard as long as I've already got the water made up.


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## Greenfinger2 (12 Dec 2015)

Hi Andy, Missed this  Great Start to the new Scape  The Room  Stunning I would go dizzy looking at them Going from one stunner to the next and back again.


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## rebel (14 Dec 2015)

Wow envious of that awesome room!


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## flygja (14 Dec 2015)

That room is awesome! Scape is pretty nice too...


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## faizal (14 Dec 2015)

I wish i had a room like that for myself....


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## MossMan (14 Dec 2015)

Very nice tank and room!


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## Andy D (7 Sep 2016)

Hi!

I'm gonna be repeating myself on three separate journals but this tank has now been taken down. 

In fact all 4 tanks in this room have been taken down and sold. No further pics I'm afraid.  

They have been / will be replaced with 2 Dennerle Scapers tanks and two Do! Aqua plant glass 'cubes' for Wabi-Kusa. 

New journals will be up in the near future. 

Andy


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## Manisha (8 Sep 2016)

All your tanks have been stunning Andy  look forward to updates


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## Cactusface (10 Oct 2017)

Hi Andy,
              Just want to add my "WOW" too, wish I could manage something like that! 
Mel.


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