Valmayor reservoir, stony shallow water, Madrid
103rd place in Biotope Aquarium Design Contest 2017
Russia. Danila Bryunetkin
Volume: 40 litres
Dimensions: 45x30x30 cm
List of fishes: Pleurodeles waltl, Lymnaeidae
List of plants: N/A
Description of decorations: sand is similar to the sand that is in the biotope, stones of the same kind as in the biotope
Description of equipment: Internal filter Sea-star 500 lph
Water parameters: Temperature 22-24°C
Description of the area surrounding the biotope: Valmayor reservoir is located to the northwest of the community of Madrid in Spain. It belongs to the Gwadarram basin, although it is built on Aulencia, the main tributary of this river. This is the second reservoir in terms of the amount of stored water (with a capacity of 124.4 thousand m3), after the El Atazar reservoir (425.3 thousand m3) in the Lozoya river basin. It is governed by the Isabel II channel. The Valmayor dam is located in the municipality of Valdemurillo. The reservoir, which lasts for twelve kilometers, also floods the municipalities of El Escorial and Colmenarejo and covers an area of 755 hectares.
Description of the underwater landscape of the biotope: The biotope is rocky with sand, the plants are completely absent.
Description of the parameters of the habitat: The water is unclear, the temperature is 20-26°C.
List of fishes: Pleurodeles waltl, Lymnaeidae.
List of plants: N/A.
Sources of information: Wikipedia, videos on YouTube.
Comments of the members of the jury of Biotope Aquarium Design Contest 2017
Although it represents a much unknown habitat, the information given about habitat is very inadequate. I wish your aquarium volume to be higher for these species. You need to fall a little bit above design.
There should be more effort put in building this tank. Although biotope correct, the size of the aquarium is too small and decor is too simple.
I’m not sure if this tank is not too small for these large salamanders. There could be more decorations, which would provide both hiding places for the animals and more interesting look for the viewers.
90% of the success is the artistic part and complexity in the design. Everybody perfectly sees that for some biotopes their author spent weeks and even months, while others “set up” for 20-30 minutes. By the way, the newt needs dry land. This species periodically goes ashore. It is better to keep it in an aquaterrarium.
The design of the entry is difficult to be called design – unfortunately, it is rather faceless and indefinable as a part of a biotope.