🐠 TOTM VOTE NOW - March 2024 Tank of the Month Contest (16 gal & smaller)

Please Vote Now
We have 8 awesome tanks entered in Fishforums' March 2024 Tank of the Month contest featuring tanks sized at 16 gallons and smaller. View all the tanks and descriptions below and then go to poll at the top of this thread, click on your choice for TOTM, and then click the "Cast" button.

Please DO NOT post any comments about any specific entry in this thread...such posts will promptly be deleted. You are not allowed to update your entry picture or video once voting has started.

Please Note:
Any attempt to influence competition results, other than by casting your allocated vote, is not permitted and may result in your entry being removed and / or further action being taken. You are not allowed to have friends or family join TFF for the main purpose of voting for you. This is a public poll so source of votes can be viewed.

Winner will be awarded a neat "Tank of the Month Winner" banner in their profile area and will be featured in a "TOTM Winner" thread for all to see and to comment on. Winner will also be added to our TOTM WALL OF FAME

You are allowed to change your vote if you wish.
This poll will end on March 15th at 7:38 PM ET (US).

This is one of my 5 gals. It's been more or less in it's present form for about a year.

Plants are vallis, ludwigia palustris super red, Limnophila sessiliflora, Buce kedagang. The vallis and buce are quite recent additions so are yet to fill out properly.

Critters are one zebra nerite, 10 Sundadanio Axelrodi and unknown number of cherry shrimp.

I have plain sand as substrate with root tabs, liquid ferts are TNC lite.

I use a mix of rain water and tap water in a 3:1 ratio to achieve a gh of 5 and a kh of 3. pH tends to stabilise out at around 6.8.

I have a 150lph mini internal nicrew filter and a hygger led light which i leave on for 8 hours a day. I have sporadic aeration for 15 mins 6 times a day. This is not necessary but i do it to keep the surface of the water nice and clean. there can be a build up of an oily film if I do not aerate at all. I use a Superfish 50 watt heater which i house in a superfish ceramic heater cover. Temp is kept around 23C.

I have a Juwel STR 3D background.

I use catappa leaves and alder cones and oak leaves to help keep the pH down a bit and add a little tint to the water. I feed the fish once a day on either NT labs micro crumb, crushed bug bite spirulina flakes or live bbs or live microworms. the Shrimp get cory pellets or algae wafers. I sometimes make my own shrimp lollies.

I do 50% water changes once a week.

I'm really happy with the setup and everything seems really stable and the fish seem very happy.

i have another 5 gal which I could enter if need be. let me know if one more entry would be desirable/allowed.

This is one of my 5 gallon tanks.

Substrate: Fluval Bio Stratum, Aquarium Gravel Substrate for Aquatic Plant Growth, 4.4 lb
Hardscape: Spider Wood, Rock, Underwater Treasures Log with Hideout Fish Ornament
Plants: Dwarf Sagittaria Subulata, Anubias Barteri (2), Mini Leaf Grass, Hornwort, duckweed, java moss, and a couple plants I'm not sure what they are called.

Tank: Aqueon Black Rimless
Backgroud: AWERT 24x12 inches Aquarium Background Aquatic Plant River Bed & Lake Fish Tank Background Vinyl
Heater: YukiHalu Small Submersible Aquarium Heater
Filter: UPETTOOLS Aquarium Biochemical Sponge Filter
Air pump: Tetra Whisper
Light: NICREW ClassicLED Aquarium Light with dimmer controller
Age: Almost 11 months

Fish: Betta (Alien Male)
Fish Food: BettaMin Worm Shaped bites (once per day)

Shrimp: Red Cherry Shrimp (originally purchase 7 of them about 9 months ago. They have multiplied but not by a whole lot.)
Shrimp Food: Occasional unsalted green beans

Snails: Nerite (1) and a couple pest snails

Water changes done about once a week. Usually around 30% - 50%.
I dose Seachem Flourish twice per week.

This is my Five Gallon Aquarium.
Used as a fry-only tank.

Age: I bought this thing used, so it is at least as 2 and half years old. It has been running for almost 7 months.
Substrate: Carbisea Sand.
Lighting: Built-into-hood Marina LED lights.
Filter: Sponge Filter
Heater: Unknown brand, assuming Marina
Plants: Water Sprite, an army of Common Duckweed.
Inhabitants: Blue Velvet Shrimp, Ramshorn Snails, A mix and K and P Class Endler’s Livebearer fry with the exception of two adults;
One refuses to stay healthy in my aquarium designated for adult fish,
and the second harasses the female fish.
Water changes: I plan to to a 35% water change once a year.

This is my 5 gallon tank, the thing that dragged me back into this hobby

A bit of background: I adopted this tank and its residents back in December from a colleague who was moving. It came with all the things you see here (as well as a lot of cyanobacteria and duckweed...). Things will be changing for this tank soon, as I'm not a fan of the filter or substrate, and will be getting different livestock. But I wanted to enter it in its current form since I'm proud of the all the cleaning and maintenance I've done since acquiring it.

Tank: Top Fin 5gal bowfront (Unsure of exact model)
Light: White LED, built into lid
Filter: Top Fin canister filter
Heater: None, the LEDs keep the tank at ~74°F
Substrate: Painted gravel
Hardscape: Rock cave decor piece
Plants: Anubias, java fern, and an unidentified plant (small Echinodorus?)
Livestock: One neon tetra and many ramshorn snails
Age: Unknown, but at least nine months. Likely over a year. It's been in my care for a little over 2 months now.

Maintenance: Weekly 50% water changes and a weekly dose of a few drops of Seachem Flourish
Water parameters: very soft, ~20ppm GH and KH, pH ~7.2

A note about the livestock: I'm aware that a single neon in a 5gal is inappropriate stocking. The neon in this tank is the last of a small school that was owned by the colleague I adopted the tank from. I have since gotten an appropriately-sized tank with additional neons. The new neons are just now finishing up their 30-day QT, so the neon in this tank will be moved to her new home in a day or two!

This is my 4g custom-made tank. It is 15x8x8in big, I got this a few months ago but I'm unsure when exactly (around the second week of January)

Light: 11w Blue/White LEDS
Filter: Sponge Filter
Air pump: 1w silent airpump
Substrate: Dirt, sand, pebbles
Hardscape: Driftwood, and stones we found during a road trip
Plants: Bolbotis Heteroclita difformis, Anubias Nana Petite, Weeping moss, Cardimine Lyrata, Java fern 'narrow', Nana Vallisneria , Corkscrew Vallisneria, Pearlweed.
Fish and others: Wild guppies that we caught ourselves, Red neocardina shrimp, and assorted snails (Red Ramshorn, MTS, bladder)
Maintainance: Every saturday I do water changes, trim and just regular maintenance

•Tank: UNS 60S 10g
• Dimensions: 23.62x14.17x7.09
•Equipment: AI Prime freshwater, Seachem Tidal 35, Aquael heater 78°f
•Substrate: UNS contrasoil, Seachem flourite sand
•Hardscape: Spiderwood, dragon stone
•Plants: Cryptocoryne lutea, Bucephalandra "brownie", Hydrocotyle tripartita "Japan", Dwarf sag., Anubias sp.?
•Livestock: Female Betta's, Ember tetra's, Oto's, Black Schultzei Cory's, Pink Ramshorn snail's

I've only had this setup for 3-4 months. Water change is done bi-weekly. Animals are fed 3-4 times a week with Fluval bug bites and Hikari frozen foods.

Here is one of my two ten gallon aquariums . There are three Aphyosemion australe Orange / Red Killifish in there - one female , one Orange / Red male and one fry which turned out to be a male but he is the original wild type brown australe . I also have a small number of Ramshorn snails and a good bunch of Java Fern which I allow to grow free and untethered . I have had these plants for ten years now . Lighting is a single tube 15 watt fluorescent strip . The heater is an old style Hagen 50 watt . Filtration is one sponge filter powered by an Aqueon air pump . Substrate is Petsmart black sand . The water is my special reverse osmosis concoction . I like to name my aquariums and I call this one “Fahrenheit 451” .

This is my newest tank (60L)
Substrate; Gravel
Plants; Frogbit, Sessiflora, Java Moss, Crytptocorne, Montecarlo
Species; 10 x Blue Velvet Shrimp, 15 x Cherry Shrimp 5 x Orange Sacura Shrimp, 2 x Crystal Red Shrimp, 1 x Apple Snail, 2 x Red Spotted Snails, Bladder Snails and a fullmoon Betta.
Filter; NO.17 Submersible Aquarium Internal Filter 15W
Heater and Light are just the ones that came with the tank kit.
Water changes once a week of 30%, dosed with Flourish and Prime.
Fed 3 times a week with bloodworms and Damphia.

Gotta say there were several really nice aquariums this month.