1.20m South America biotope

[Gert]

I've got also a planted tank but not using Co2 on the tank. RO water is Reverse Osmosis water. With Peat I mean Turf, it will slightly acid the water. The oak leaves I took from the trees in the autumn when they started to become brown.

[Gert]

Update about the tank:
Currently this tank is empty and ready to be moved to my new house. The Hypoptopoma's and the Nannostomus mortenthaleri are now swimming in the 80cm tank.
In my new house I will start up the tank and then when it is ready I will make a Río Tapajós biotope of it. The fishes that are going to swim in it are:
2m 5f Dicrossus maculatus
25/30 Nannostomus limatus or unifasciatus
6 Hypoptopoma

The Apistogrammoides pucallpaensis group that I had swimming in this tank are swimming in a 3m tank at another person home.

Here are some last photo's of the Hypoptopoma's in this tank:

[barmby]

Thanks for sharing. Hypoptopoma look stable

[icefire]

very nice pictures looking forward to more!

[Gert]

The Hypoptopoma is doing very well in the tank. I keep them now for a moment in a 80cm tank because this tank doesn't exist any more.
Instead I got a 1.60m tank which I am working on now. In that tank I want to keep:

2m 5f Dicrossus maculatus
2m 6f Copella arnoldi
25/30 Nannostomus unifasciatus
3 Hypoptopoma sp.
And maybe a Loricariidae like a Sturisoma or a Farlowella or a Loricaria sp.

The tank self is 1.60x0.50x0.50m and the water level will be 30 or 35cm high.
Above the water I have two lianas that will be used to let the Philodendron scandens spp. grow around it.
Under water I will be using 4 Echinodorus radicans in a group, a few Eichhornia diversifolium and a few Hydrocleis nymphoides.

[PierceTan]

so in love with the natural looks of your tank

[mayton]

hi yr biotope is so full of plants, how u manage to get the big sword like plant on the right side of yr tank to grow so tall.
what fertilizer and filtration system u use?

[Gert]

The filtration is being done by a external filter from JBL. I use no fertilizer or what so ever, just let the nature do his own thing.
Even the Oak leaves will stay in the tank when the are starting to rot. In my new tank their will be only 3 different plant species underwater and one plant specie above water. The thing with the Echinodorus bleheri is just to take away the leaves that start to die or grown to large.

[Emokidz]

Awesome scape. And I love the brown pencilfish. I use them in my scapes too.

[Gert]

Here a preview of my new tank:

[stormhawk]

Looking mysterious now. Good job Gert. By the way, what did you feed your fishes with in the 1.2m tank? What about the Apistogrammoides fry? Did they survive in the tank to adulthood?

[Gert]

Thanks stormhawk. The fish were getting life and frozen mosquito larvae, life and frozen Artemia, frozen cyclops and just some dry food.
The fry of the Apistogrammoides pucallpaensis didn't get to adulthood. I think the Hypoptopoma's are responsible for that during the night. A other possibility can be that the adult male was responsible for it.

[stormhawk]

That's a pity. I believe the culprits to be the pencilfishes however. Have you ever wondered that there could be a dragonfly or damselfly nymph in there? I ever stumbled on 2 damselfly nymphs in an indoor tank. They hitchhiked as eggs on my plants I think.

I'm planning a re-scape for my 120cm tank too. Might take a leaf out of your design book.

By the way, did you have any problems with the fine sand? Like the grains getting trapped in the filter, gas build up etc, or do you have different layers for the substrate?

[Gert]

The pencilfishes could be the culprits, however I've seen there behaviour and the were more scared of the A. pucallpaensis then the other fishes. One thing is for sure and that is that I hadn't any dragonfly or damselfly nymphs in that tank. The A. pucallpaensis are now swimming in a three meter tank of a friend of mine.
I never had any problems with the fine sand. Before I had the group Apistogrammoides, I had a group of 10 Corydoras arcuatus and 4 L-numbers that where keeping the substrate clean. On some places where the sand gets a little bit dirty, I will stir with my finger through the substrate to keep it clean. I only use filtersand for all of my tanks.
I will start a new topic/photo album for the 1.60m tank.

[stormhawk]

Thank you for the information Gert. I am thinking of using fine sand in my 120 cm. Will be looking forward to your 1.6m tank topic.

[icefire]

Nannostomus mortenthaleri -> very nice fishes! love the redness!

[v_nod]

Nice photos! May I know what camera and lenses you are using?

[Gert]

@Icefire, the Nannostomus mortenthaleri are indeed one of the most beautiful species.
I'm planning to get a small group in my 80cm tank together with the Apistogramma sp. Nanay that I've got in it.

@V_nod, The camera that I use is a Panasonic DMC-TZ5 compact camera.
You can view the Exif data of the photo's that I have taken, by using a Exif reader.

[hondacivic]

nice setp-up. Your Nannostomus mortenthaleri's colour is nice.

[Peanut8787]

Very outstanding tank. Are you using black water treatment or is it leaked from your driftwood? Why you prefer brown water instead of clear water?