🐠 TOTM VOTE NOW - September 2024 Tank of the Month Contest (16 Gal and smaller)

Please Vote Now
We have 10 awesome tanks entered in Fishforums' September 2024 Tank of the Month contest featuring tanks sized at 16 US 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 September 12th at 1:15 AM (ET)

This is one of my two ten gallon aquariums . I have my female Betta and an Amazon Swordplant in here along with a small growth of Vesicularia dubyana Java Moss . Filtration is with an air driven sponge filter and it’s heated to 78 degrees Fahrenheit with a Penn Plax Cascade 25 watt submersible heater . Gravel substrate is mostly natural but with just a sprinkle of a multi-color blend . I have a nice piece of light colored petrified wood and a pretty marble in there . This aquarium is about as basic as it gets . All my aquarium’s are bare bones . Not much in the way of aquascaping but the water is clean , pure and healthy . This aquarium has been sitting here for two years . No lighting . It is in a north facing window but I put a piece of brown paper behind it for this picture to reduce the glare . Gaze upon simplicity !

Here’s a quick picture of my 10 gallon:
Aqua Clear HOB
Fluval M 50 heater
LED hood
Black gravel
Live Plants:
Java Moss
Java Fern
Anubis
Some plastic plants for now
Fish:
2 Mickey Mouse Platys
4 Blue Platys
3 Neon Tetras
2 Rasboras
Tank established July 2022
Been doing this Great Hobby since 1978.

This is a 5 gallon



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: 1 year 4 months

Fish: Endler/Guppy Hybrid (7)
Fish Food: Tropical fish flakes once per day / frozen brine shrimp once per week.

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 once per week.

Video:
Here's my very first entry into any online contest

Been almost two decades since I last had an aquarium of any kind but wanted something to bond with a very inquisitive elementary school daughter so decided to try aquascaping, which has taken off in a really big way where I'm at. Didn't enjoy it so defaulted back to more traditional fish keeping!

This is the simple 60L in my WFH office with a fluval c4 sans heater as I'm in the tropics which was set up about six months ago. Recently changed the substrate from gravel to sand (Rio Lab Amazon M) to better suit the corys. There's 5 Venezuelan orange corys, 3 panda corys, 3 ottos and 5 guppies in there together with an assassin snail plus the occasional surviving guppy fry that I didn't managed to transfer to a 25l grow out tank in time. Might add some more ottos when I next visit the LFS to get 2 more panda corys to even up the numbers but I've had poor success with ottos - initially had 6, half died within a week of being introduced.

The fishes get fed twice daily with a mix of commercially available fish foods (mostly Hikari and some Taiwanese stuff) plus frozen bloodworms and brine shrimps. The java ferns and anubias get a squirt of APT 1 fertiliser twice a week and I usually do a quick gravel vac once a month on top of small water top ups as the nitrates never seems to go above 5ppm.

Here's my new 10 gallon which I set up following the disaster in my 30 gallon which I've documented on here recently. It's from superfish, comes with inbuilt light and filter, I haven't used the inbuilt filter as mine was cycled already so I've kept that as an emergency spare. Currently using a tiger lily branded filter rated for 150 litres but flow has been restricted.

Main plants are elodea, java fern, some crypts and a red tiger lotus which I've sadly had to cut right back as it was too big when I first put it in. Lots of water lettuce too. There's a couple of others in there who's names I've forgotten.

Occupants are 3 ADF's and one nerite snail added last week. If you zoom in to the bottom left you can just make out one of the ADF's sitting under a plant.

Ten gallon with Atlantis Aqua filter
6 cloud mountain minnows
1 orange Mexican dwarf crayfish
Anubias, Amazon swords, Anarchis elodea egeria
Cholla wood, rocks, moss ball, caves and gravel

This is my 60L Paludarium (30L aquatic section).

It was set up on May 11th, 2024 as a home for my then 3x Sawbwa. It now is home to my Daisy's ricefish which are a great little fish. I feed once a day with flake and algae wafer which all fish eat. 10L Water changes are done on a weekly basis depending on my work schedule. Plant trimming is usually done every month as the peace lily and ferns grow quickly.
This was my first attempt at a DIY Paludarium. Overall it's been ok.. A few flaws in my design have started to emerge such as the build-up of mulm from the spider wood and a small gap into the filtration compartment which clogs easily if not maintained. I have enjoyed watching this Paludarium grow especially the houseplants and moss. In the long term this setup will not last IMO it has caused more problems than I thought it would have.

Fauna- ​

Daisy's Blue Ricefish - 5X
Otocinclus affinis - 3X (one missing and presumed dead at this time)
Zebra Nerite snail - 1X
Ramshorns Snail - 7X
Amano Shrimp - 1X

Aquatic Flora-​

Anubias bateri var. 'Coffeifolia'
Bucephalandra pygmea Bukit Kelam 'Wavy Green'
Bucephalandra biblis
Bolbitis heudelotii
Hydrocotyle tripartita
Pistia stratiotes
Ceratophyllum demersum
Cryptocoryne parva
Schismatoglottis prietoi

Equipment-​

Eheim Compact Pump 600
Generic 50W heater
10W Flood light
Mini Sponge filter for warmer temps

My entry is my newest project.



About this setup:
Congo River biotope
Measurements: 18 inches long 7 inches tall 6.5 inches deep
Volume: approx 4 gallons
pH 7
GH 5°
KH 3°
Temperature 76-78F
Filtration: air powered jar filter buried in the substrate to maximize space.
Heater: unheated in summer months, mini heater during winter months.

Stock: 2 African dwarf frogs

Plants: anubias sp, aponogeton sp, bolbitis heudelotii, nymphaea sp.

Botanicals: baby coconut heads for caves, rooibos tea for tannins.

Substrate: natural style pool filter sand

Other decor: round river rocks and driftwood (piece of elm root)




Validation pic:

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, rotala “orange juice”, Egeria densa and two types of mini Anubias attached to bog wood.

Critters are one horned nerite, 10 chilli rasboras, 2 Pygmy corys that are the remnants of a larger group, and an unknown number of blue 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 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.

A quarantine tank
- Approximate dimensions 44cm x 42cm x 32cm high.
- It has been running continuously for around 18 months, mostly with no fish or only one fish to keep it cycled.

Current Stocking:
- 6 of 5 banded barbs. Will soon join another 6 in the community tank.
- 11 Rasboras, which were a bit skittish until they had the company of the tank-patrolling betta.
- 1 female betta. It cleaned the tank of every single snails after a few days.

Plants:
- Hair grass and banana lily, plus surplus plants of unknown species.
- Occasional root taps.

Tank:
- Overhead 6W LED light, about 9 hours a day.
- A sponge and a small internal filter, but only one is running at a time for 16 hours a day. Turn off at night.
- 50W Eheim heater.
- Temp 23C, pH 6.8, dGH 3