# Living Room Cayo Nancy Viv



## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

Finished planting this tank yesterday. Cayo Nancy pair coming in on Wednesday. 18x18x24 zoo med. 



Plants:
Neo. code talker
Neo. little jewel
Neo. olens vulcan 
Neo. chiquita linda
Neo. lilliputiana x treasure chest
Ficus lanceleaf
Philodendron wend imbe
Colysis wrightii
Lemmaphylum microphyllum(normal and mini)
Microgramma heterophyla 
Restrepia brachypus
Pleurothallis grobyi
Masdevallia jelly belly
Haraella retrocalla x sib
Encyclia tampense
Bulbophyllum tingabarinum
Peperomia prostrata


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

That looks awesome. Nice work!


Loading bowls and building vivs! Braaap!
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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)




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## FroggyKnight (Mar 14, 2013)

That wood is amazing! The tank looks great right now, but it's going to look even better once it grows in. I'm subscribed.

John

Edit: Any reason for adding the water to the false bottom first?


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

Good job on cutting and meshing that tree fern panel together for your background. That will look awsome if you get moss growing on it. Lots of misting. Tank looks great.


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

FroggyKnight said:


> That wood is amazing! The tank looks great right now, but it's going to look even better once it grows in. I'm subscribed.
> 
> John
> 
> Edit: Any reason for adding the water to the false bottom first?


The water was just a quick leak test. Just looking out for my newly refinished hardwood floors!
I was really happy how the wood turned out those are all separate ghostwood pieces


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

pdfCrazy said:


> Good job on cutting and meshing that tree fern panel together for your background. That will look awsome if you get moss growing on it. Lots of misting. Tank looks great.


Thanks, I saw someone's post about using the dust and pieces of cut tree fern panels to fill the gaps between the slabs. Best little tip I've come across in a bit. Hoping moss and the ficus take it over with time.


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## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

That looks nice!!! Great job on the hardscape and planting.


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## hun73r (Jul 1, 2013)

Great job planting that out. Looks really good and the frogs should do great in there.


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## FroggyKnight (Mar 14, 2013)

naidahl said:


> Thanks, I saw someone's post about using the dust and pieces of cut tree fern panels to fill the gaps between the slabs. Best little tip I've come across in a bit. Hoping moss and the ficus take it over with time.


That is a great tip! I'll keep that in mind for my next tree fern background.

John


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## smoosh (Oct 25, 2014)

Tank looks awesome


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## Luke-O-Melas (Dec 20, 2014)

Absolutely phenomenal! Love the simplistic look, with a handful of plants being the focus. The frogs will stand out nicely and love their habitat.

Great job!


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

Wow.......nice!!!


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

Thanks all! The hard scape and background has been done since October. It was a long cold WI winter trying to track plants down. I lucked out and got most the mini ferns from someone in state. Had a lucky shipping window in December for a few broms, scored a few orchids from a local nursery. I capped it all off at NARBC this past week with more of everything from Mike @ Glass Box Tropicals. It's been a bit of a wait but Im really happy how this display viv came together.


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## jbbond007 (Sep 23, 2014)

Wow! That's beautiful. I love the way that the central piece of wood looks with all the epiphytes.


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## RobertN (Apr 15, 2006)

awesome display viv!


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

RobertN said:


> awesome display viv!


Thanks Robert. Looking forward to getting those frogs from you, they should look great in the viv.


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## Polypodium (Jan 3, 2011)

Nice looking tank. Good job! I like the tree fern background. My next display tank is going to be tree fern as well.

I'd be interested in hearing how well the Masdevallia jelly belly does in this set up after a few weeks.

Enjoy!

Gary


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

Polypodium said:


> Nice looking tank. Good job! I like the tree fern background. My next display tank is going to be tree fern as well.
> 
> I'd be interested in hearing how well the Masdevallia jelly belly does in this set up after a few weeks.
> 
> ...


The masdevallia has been in the tank for 2 months. Started with 10 leaves and no spikes. Now it's at 15-20 leaves with the fourth spike about to open up. It's roots are wrapped in spaghnum and planted in a nut pod.


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## Polypodium (Jan 3, 2011)

naidahl said:


> The masdevallia has been in the tank for 2 months. Started with 10 leaves and no spikes. Now it's at 15-20 leaves with the fourth spike about to open up. It's roots are wrapped in spaghnum and planted in a nut pod.


Very cool! Where did you get it if you don't mind asking? I'm a bit of a Masdevallia fan and am currently looking for some other sources and viv friendly plants. I am growing atropurpea, floribunda "purple", auropurpurea, hiritzii and anfracta. All seem to be vivarium friendly thus far and have come from Andy's and Ecuagenera.


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

Polypodium said:


> Very cool! Where did you get it if you don't mind asking? I'm a bit of a Masdevallia fan and am currently looking for some other sources and viv friendly plants. I am growing atropurpea, floribunda "purple", auropurpurea, hiritzii and anfracta. All seem to be vivarium friendly thus far and have come from Andy's and Ecuagenera.


 I bought mine from hauserman orchids in IL. I bought them in person but they do have a decent website, I do feel though they had more masdies then the site lists. It might be worth an email for true inventory. I bought a "jelly belly" and "maui gold" since the hybrids are a bit more warm tolerant. If you look in the picture of the plants before planting there is a tray full of the "maui gold which I divided up because it grew so fast, none of which went back into the final tank. If you wanted to try a bit of each I could send you a division of each in maybe 3 or 4 weeks when the Wi weather is stable enough.


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## Derek Benson (Feb 19, 2004)

Great build, it reminds me of the minimalist bonsai aquascapes in marine reef aquariums. I really like that you will be utilizing the entire footprint for microfaunal growth instead of filling that space with hardscape or bulky plants. I believe I saw the frogs on Facebook classifieds and they are pretty incredible! It's refreshing to see amazing vivariums for spectacular frogs.


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## Igofastr (Jan 16, 2015)

Very nice!

I'm an orchid fan too, but haven't had much luck getting them to grow in vivs. Do you have a fan for air circulation?

Mine always seemed to rot out eventually. They lost the battle with my constant "rain" trying to keep the humidity up. I didn't have much in the way of air circulation, and am afraid that that's what did them in.

Ron


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## FroggyKnight (Mar 14, 2013)

What species have you tried, Ron? How high was the humidity? I've had excellent luck with growing orchids in vivaria and I haven't rotted one yet.

John


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

Derek Benson said:


> Great build, it reminds me of the minimalist bonsai aquascapes in marine reef aquariums. I really like that you will be utilizing the entire footprint for microfaunal growth instead of filling that space with hardscape or bulky plants. I believe I saw the frogs on Facebook classifieds and they are pretty incredible! It's refreshing to see amazing vivariums for spectacular frogs.


Thanks! I felt in my prior years of frogging I ended up doing too much in some of my tanks. I really tried to keep it simplistic this time. The wood and plants have so much opportunistic depth for the frogs to inhabit that I wanted to create a nice forage base underneath. Very happy with how it turned out. Those are the frogs you're thinking of, after seeing them I knew where they belonged. I'll update with some pics after their arrival.


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

Igofastr said:


> Very nice!
> 
> I'm an orchid fan too, but haven't had much luck getting them to grow in vivs. Do you have a fan for air circulation?
> 
> ...


I have no fans in the tank. My circulation consists of the stock vent on the front of the tank and the typical DIY window screen vent in the front of the tank cover. All my orchids besides one pleurothallis are in the front half ofthe tank close to the airflow. I do suspect my lighting helps my circulation as well, I use a 96w CFL flood light which puts out a decent of heat, which as it rises pulls a good amount of air through the vents


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

Quick snap of one of the frogs that came in this morning. All 3 are pretty much hidden in the leaf litter. I'll get some better pics when they're a bit acclimated in the coming days.


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## Igofastr (Jan 16, 2015)

Froggy,

I can't recall what they were, other than a couple of Masdevllia. Most were some very small epiphytes (I don't think I have the tags anymore).

Naidahl,

96W...wow. Thats a lot. Maybe I need more light too.

I'm surprised that the stock vents alone were able to produce enough airflow. Then again, I was trying to get some vents to breed, and was keeping it pretty wet in there.

I'm finishing a 18 x 18 x 24 Exo terra for some Mantellas. Since I won't have to keep the humidity quite as high, I may give the orchids another try. 

I really like how you mounted the wood, are you using GS to support it?

Ron


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

Igofastr said:


> Froggy,
> 
> I can't recall what they were, other than a couple of Masdevllia. Most were some very small epiphytes (I don't think I have the tags anymore).
> 
> ...


I'd like to give you a recommendation about light but to honest I don't know. Setups like mine were popular years ago before LEDs starting coming out. It's just an old light I had laying around. When the bulb burns out I plan on going LED. Right now I mist once in the morning heavy, enough where there is condensation on the sides but the front pane is always clear. I do avoid spraying orchids though depending on the look of how wet their roots are. The wood is supported by GS, I did a 3x3 tree fern tile background but left the center tile out. I put the wood in that opening and used GS to fill any open area and hold the wood in place.

Ian


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

Female checking out the new surroundings this morning


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## Drewbacca (Apr 5, 2014)

Very nice layout with this build. Also, great orchid selection as well! 

-Drew


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

Great tank and great choice of frogs: Cayo Nancy are always my favorite. Congrats


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## SaFFyR (Jun 23, 2014)

Thanx for sharing this tank. Did the plants grow in nicely?


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

Here's a quick head on shot after a heavy morning misting. I'll try to get some more side and plant shots later today.


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

Gorgeous viv! I would put Masdevallia higher, closer to the light (just my 2 cents). For the rest, very nice!


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## LobCityLA (Nov 5, 2014)

Looks very nice!


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## KJM (Feb 28, 2015)

Really like the setup. Nice job!


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