# Tamed jungle, 120p Takashi Amano inspired tribute.



## Robert H. Tavera (5 Jan 2017)

On January 1st I took down my last tank, this jungle aquascape 





I keep all my plants but grow the tank to a 120p 120x45x45. And this was the result. 



I made this tank inspired by allot of aquascapes made by Mr Amano, almost the entire book "nature aquarium complete works" was used as inspiration. I try to create a "nonchalantly" apearience as mentioned in p.18 of the book. 

It's just 4 days old, need to grow and develop. I'll keep you posted!


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## Berlioz (5 Jan 2017)

Fantastic job! 

What wood have you used?


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## mikehookipa (5 Jan 2017)

Looks incredible. You inspired me to do my next tank as jungle style.


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## Costa (5 Jan 2017)

Looks fantastic! Well done


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## Neil Blowfield (5 Jan 2017)

Wow, looks beautiful!

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## -serok- (5 Jan 2017)

Hi there!

Great job! The new setup looks much more like an aquascape than the old one. I like that! Keep it going!


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## Tim Harrison (5 Jan 2017)

Both stunning aquascapes. The jungle scape is awesome tho'.


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## salava8 (5 Jan 2017)

Wonderful work. Subscribed Thread.


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## Ryan Thang To (5 Jan 2017)

Robert H. Tavera said:


> On January 1st I took down my last tank, this jungle aquascape View attachment 96705
> 
> 
> I keep all my plants but grow the tank to a 120p 120x45x45. And this was the result. View attachment 96706
> ...


Really nice. So natural looking

Cheers
Ryan


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## MrHidley (5 Jan 2017)

Superb scapes.


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## Robert H. Tavera (5 Jan 2017)

Berlioz said:


> Fantastic job!
> 
> What wood have you used?



It's manzanita wood. Manzanita grows wild where I live so I collected the wood directly from nature. 


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## Robert H. Tavera (5 Jan 2017)

-serok- said:


> Hi there!
> 
> Great job! The new setup looks much more like an aquascape than the old one. I like that! Keep it going!



Yeah that's the idea that's why I called it "tamed jungle" the old one was the untamed version of this one, same stuff but with some order. Tthe old tank was just 30cm wide so it was really hard to aquascape it, the new one allows me to use cosmetic sand and try a triangular composition. 


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## Robert H. Tavera (5 Jan 2017)

Tim Harrison said:


> Both stunning aquascapes. The jungle scape is awesome tho'.



I really enjoyed it, but the fish were lacking of swimming space 


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## Robert H. Tavera (8 Jan 2017)

Week one and everything is thriving:

Im performing 50% water changes each other day as well as keeping the light and  feeding a little down for the moment.

acuario by Robert H., en Flickr

aquarium  caracteristics:
Tank: 120p clear glass 120x45x45cm.
Substrate: diy substate and cosmetic sand.
Lighting: 2x20w t8 6500k led lamps manufactured locally.... the lamp has tree tubes but I´m running just two this first weeks. 
Filter: boyu sp 604e  750lph... hided by the jungle val , twinstar 2 nano. 
CO2: yeast diy, running day and night aprox: 3 b/s
Hardsace: dragon stones and manzanita dristwood.
Plant list: vallisneria asiatica, vallisneria americana, bolbitis heudelotii, cryptocoryne mioya, cryptocoryne beckettii petchii, sagitaria subulata, sagitaria pusilla, anubias nana petite, anubias nana gold, hygrophila polysperma, hygrophila corymbosa stricta blueechinodorus tenellus, hydrocotyle tripartita.
Fish/shrimp: paracheirodon axelrodi, hemigrammus bleheri, hyphessobrycon amandae, hasemania nana, pristella maxilaris, thayeria boehlkei, crossocheilus siamensis , red cherry shrimp.


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## CooKieS (8 Jan 2017)

I'M Loving it! Could stay hours watching this tank live!


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## Million (9 Jan 2017)

Lovely, Amano would be proud


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## Robert H. Tavera (9 Jan 2017)

Million said:


> Lovely, Amano would be proud


Really kind words, thank you.

I want to add some moss here and there, but the last time i added moss the SAE get rid of it. It was weeping moss, maybe I´m trying christmas this time not sure yet.


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## Robert H. Tavera (13 Jan 2017)

This week my fish got ich, not new fish, I think it was the movement. I started treating with just metronidazole and raising the temp to 27, but that was not working and I knew that I needed to raise the temperature a bit more, so I took out the bolbitis and raise the temperature to 30c. I was not expecting this but, lets face it, I'm hopping all my fish survive this cause some of them have been 2+ years with me. this is not cool. 

But moving into a more motivating topic I took this pictures while setting the tank, here you can see the hardscape from different angles and the amount of plants I used for this scape. 

As you can see without plants the hardscape doesn't look very effective, but as Amano suggested I created a balanced layout, considering just the tips of the wood in a not too complicated way. The whole hardscape was made in about 15 minutes and I was very pleased whit it. View attachment 101700

View attachment 101706View attachment 101714 View attachment 101719

And here the dry one vs the planted one... View attachment 101723View attachment 101726

Cheers, RH.


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## alex08 (15 Jan 2017)

Such fine works!


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## Nuno M. (15 Jan 2017)

Lovely work Robert,

As for the hardscape sometimes, less is more , you did an amazing work with the plants, really a nice a peaceful canvas to look at


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## themodernchap (15 Jan 2017)

Amazing looking tank. I really love the texture of the plants on the hill. The rockwork looks great too


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## Robert H. Tavera (29 Jan 2017)

Thank you all guys!! 

The past two weeks were just ick treatment with heat at 30c and metronidazole in the fish food. Today I finally see all my fish ick free, most of them were ick free in 8-10 days but cardinals took a little longer. 

This weeks I had some cryp melting as expected, not big deal. My SAE jumped out from the tank, that's a shame because it was over two years old but... now I can add moss because he eat all my weeping moss. I relly like weeping but maybe I'll give Christmas a try. 

Now the plan is to keep the temperature high for two or tree more days, and then put bolbitis back in the tank. 

Here a quick iPhone pic of my healthy fish! 





Cheers RH. 


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## Robert H. Tavera (6 Feb 2017)

Time for an update: 
The tank is now one month old, I added Christmas moss to some branches and more anubias petite in the lower parts of the scape. 

It's a really slow growing tank but I'm enjoying the way fish behave in this new aquascape with open swimming space and a densely planted area. 

Loving the contrast of different textures and shades of green provided by the different shade plants and the pop of color from the fish against the green canvas. 

Here a nice iphone picture I took today!! 





I made this small video for you guys, hope you like it!! 



Cheers RH.


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## jns (7 Feb 2017)

Wow, great tank!  You clearly have a talent for plant and hardscape layout and I like the wood slab table top you have as the stand.


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## Eduard18 (8 Feb 2017)

great tank


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## Robert H. Tavera (16 Feb 2017)

Thank you for your kind words guys !!! 



jns said:


> Wow, great tank!  You clearly have a talent for plant and hardscape layout and I like the wood slab table top you have as the stand.


Yeah !! It's a very thick and heavy raw wood slab !! My place has a very industrial feel so it fits the room. 

Here's another pic of the tank from another angle!! 




Cheers guys !! 
RH 




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## Stuart Deavy (17 Feb 2017)

Both look great


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## jagillham (19 Feb 2017)

Fantastic tanks, I actually preferred the first one at first sight... but your new one is growing on me. I think I'd have some kind of carpet type plants over the exposed substrate - but that's me.

Great inspiration, I'm starting to do my tank again.


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## Robert H. Tavera (20 Feb 2017)

jagillham said:


> Fantastic tanks, I actually preferred the first one at first sight... but your new one is growing on me. I think I'd have some kind of carpet type plants over the exposed substrate - but that's me.
> 
> Great inspiration, I'm starting to do my tank again.


The jungle aquascape was a lot of fun, an not hard to mantain. Unfortunately my old tank started leaking, so I changed the tank and the whole idea, inpired by Mr. Amano´s aquariums. The cosmetic sand in the front is tricky, looks very good and bright, but its harder to mantain clean than a carpet of plants.


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## Robert H. Tavera (11 Mar 2017)

The tank it's now over two months old. Not a lot to report, the tank looks almost the same. I'm adding seachem fluorish and potassium nitrate now. Plants, are growing fast and greens are really intense. I'm considering to add another tetra specie. Any suggestions? I was considering diamond tetras, black phantom tetras, golden tetras or emperor tetras. Just want to add another fish group. 

Here some pics of the tank. I love the fish colors against the green canvas. 







Cheers 
RH 


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## Daveslaney (11 Mar 2017)

I think emperors would look great in your scape.


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## Robert H. Tavera (23 Apr 2017)

Hello guys, I ended adding a group of 12 black emperor tetras to the aquascape too weeks ago. The layout itself looks almost the same. That's the cool thing about shade plants. Not too much maintenance, like an hour each too weeks or so... so here a pic of the new fish. I need get a good camera for better pics. If I can get a nice shot maybe I can enter this year IAPLC.... maybe 








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## Robbie X (23 Apr 2017)

Looking great. Never seen black tetras before.


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## Robert H. Tavera (27 Apr 2017)

Robbie X said:


> Looking great. Never seen black tetras before.



Me neither, but they're extremely beautiful. They pop out against all the colorful fish in the tank.  


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## Robert H. Tavera (14 May 2017)

Sometimes you just need to let it grow, and let Mother Nature do what she does masterfully !! 




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## alex08 (14 May 2017)

Brings such a peaceful view and feeling.


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## Tim Harrison (15 May 2017)

Verdant and healthy plant growth...I think you're right about letting Mother Nature do what she does best.


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## Robert H. Tavera (15 Oct 2017)

I’ve been away from the aquarium forums for the past few months, but the aquarium stills here running and evolving gracefully. Here are two pics I took a few minutes ago. Just want to share them with you. 

Close up nature aquarium day 288. 


I’m loving the way shade plants evolve and show the passage of time. 

Here’s how the aquarium fits in my small space. 




Hope you like it. Cheers ! 
Robert.


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## Tim Harrison (15 Oct 2017)

Still looking great Robert


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## Daveslaney (15 Oct 2017)

Love it. Really nice indead.


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## Kitalexander (16 Oct 2017)

Love the sewing machine stand. Looks brilliant with the beautiful set up


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## Robert H. Tavera (14 Dec 2017)

Just another pic from today... day 347. Im making some moss trimming next week, the moss its overgrowing the stones, but is a very usefull breading place for shrimps, specially in this tank with that amounth of fish. Hope you like it.

Robert.




Tamed jungle day 347 by Robert H., en Flickr


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## Dantrasy (14 Dec 2017)

Extraordinary! Moss over the rocks gives it a lovely aged look.


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## Daveslaney (14 Dec 2017)

Lovely.


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## doylecolmdoyle (14 Dec 2017)

Amazing, I love the moss covering the rocks, so natural and lush! Well done!


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## rebel (14 Dec 2017)

I wont state the obvious but all this with DIY CO2, DIY substrate etc is truly extraordinary!

Will you be submitting to competitions?


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## Alexander Belchenko (14 Dec 2017)

Very nice picture, it's matured nicely.very pleasing to see.
But a little bit overgrown though.


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## Guiller (15 Dec 2017)

Beautiful tank. I like how minimal equipment is on this one. How do you manage water flow and surface bio film, are these not an issue?


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## Costa (15 Dec 2017)

Oh this is a beautiful tank! Pisses me off.


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## Robert H. Tavera (17 Dec 2017)

Thank you all guys for your nice feedback, I really appreciate it.



rebel said:


> I wont state the obvious but all this with DIY CO2, DIY substrate etc is truly extraordinary!
> 
> Will you be submitting to competitions?



With shade plants, less is more... co2 was used the first months to increase plant growth, but now its running without co2 and has been without it for the last 6 months. No liquid carbon is used. On the other hand, the amount of potassium nitrate and seachem fluorish needed has increased dramatically.

maybe i´ll submit it to a contest butfirst it´ll need a good trimming. 



Alexander Belchenko said:


> Very nice picture, it's matured nicely.very pleasing to see.
> But a little bit overgrown though.



yes, the moss and the huge amounth of hungle val are begging for a trimming. Its hard to imagine the amounth of jungle val y take out each maintenance session, usualy each two to three weeks. 




Guiller said:


> Beautiful tank. I like how minimal equipment is on this one. How do you manage water flow and surface bio film, are these not an issue?



there´s no bio film, it was an issue the first month and i took it out manually, but know that the tank has established itself with regular 50% water changes each two to three weeks is enough. Im very carefull with feeding the fish... overfeeding is a big issue in nature aquariums, this aquarium hosts over 120 fish of 10 different species. but they´re feed just once a day and what they need. 

I´ll make an uptade about fish and plant species, fertilization and maintenance routine, and maybe a nice one year aniversary video.

cheers guys !! 

Robert.


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## Guiller (20 Jan 2018)

Hi Robert, how are things coming along with the tank, would you have any updates? I think I am too going with a jungle and tetra salad look for my next tank, yours is an inspiration. Thanks!


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## Robert H. Tavera (25 Jan 2018)

Hello guys I made this video a few days ago.. hope you like it. 

Day 385.



Cheers 


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## Tim Harrison (25 Jan 2018)

Wow, that looks great, I'm sure Takashi would have approved


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## Andrew Butler (17 Feb 2018)

I love the first one


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