You can not use Surfaces as containers for other surfaces. You need to collect all your surfaces in a View, RenderNode, or ContainerSurface object.
https://github.com/Famous/core/blob/master/View.js https://github.com/Famous/core/blob/master/RenderNode.js https://github.com/Famous/surfaces/blob/master/ContainerSurface.js
Remember that the way that Famo.us lays out content is in the style of a render tree. With a tree analogy, the Surface would be a leaf, where the aforementioned Objects would act more like branches.
Here is everything you need to know about the Famo.us RenderTree:
https://github.com/Famous/guides/blob/master/dev/2014-04-09-render-tree.md
Also, take a look at the examples for each of the Objects mentioned as well. You can find the one that fits your use case best..
https://github.com/Famous/examples/blob/master/src/examples/core/View/example.js https://github.com/Famous/examples/blob/master/src/examples/surfaces/ContainerSurface/example.js
Hope this helps!