Vote Now! - December 2021 Tank of the Month Contest (16 gal and smaller)

[Fishmanic]

POLL IS NOW CLOSED!
Tank of the Month
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PLEASE VOTE!
We have 8 awesome tanks entered in Fishforums' December 2021 Tank of the Month contest featuring tanks sized at 16 gallons and smaller. View all the tanks and descriptions below and then go to top of this thread and click on your choice for TOTM and then click the "Cast" button.

It’s best to view these awesome tanks on a computer screen or a tablet instead of a small phone screen.

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. 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 his 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

This poll will end on December 10th at 5:21 PM ET (US)

Please DO NOT post any comments about specific tanks in this thread...such posts will promptly be deleted. This thread will be cleaned up occasionally for best readability.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

OK, I'll give 'er a shot.
...............click on video below................

Welcome to Badger's Rice-Free Sumatran Rice Paddy Biotope!
I built the tank last winter. Planted it in January and stocked it over the following several months.

Setup:
36" long x 10" deep x 10" high home-made tank.
This is a Walstad-style setup. No filter; no ferts except what nature is kind enough to provide; light stocking; lots of plants; garden soil-under-sand substrate; 3w pump for water circulation running through a tube buried in the sand to a small spray bar on the opposite side. This gives a nice, slow flow through the tank.
Fluval Aquasky light set to a 10 hour on, 14 hour off cycle with about a half hour of dawn and dusk on either side and some cloudy weather around the middle of the day.
100w cheapo heater.
Home-made backdrop. It's supposed to look like a brick levy bordering a rice paddy or ditch. I made it from blue poly foam, Drylok paint, and concrete pigment.
Split bamboo to simulate rice. Because, you know, this is supposed to be a ride paddy, but I can't grow rice to save my life. See below.
The little pot is actually from Thailand, not Sumatra. Next time I get over to Sumatra, though, I plan to pick up the real thing. If the loaches know the difference, they don't seem to mind.

Params:
Temp 78F
Hardness <5 dgh.
pH c. 7.5-8
Nitrates: <10 ppm
No nasty stuff.

Stocking:
I originally wanted this tank to be stocked with licorice gouramis, in hopes of getting a breeding pair. Unfortunately, all of the LGs I could find were wild-caught, and since I am fairly inexperienced at breeding fish, I couldn't justify removing them from the wild.
3 male Betta imbellis, two of which were born in this tank. My female sadly died last summer, and I have decided for now not to replace her.
10 Dwarf rasbora (Boraras Maculatus). Six of them are new and haven't fully colored up yet.
5 Dwarf kuhli loach (Pangio cuneovirgata)
7 Amano shrimp (Caridina multidentata). These don't live in Sumatra, but related species do. Close enough.
More than a couple Malaysian Trumpet Snails (Melanoides tuberculata)
Several Bladder Snails (Physella sp.)
Assorted substrate critters: Blackworms, scuds, daphnia, copepods. I haven't seen any worms since shortly after I added the loaches, and I haven't seen any of the crustaceans since I added the bettas. It's a mystery, that...

Plants:
Paddy herb (Limnophila aromatica).
Crystalwort (Riccia fluitans)
Floating fern (Salvinia natans)
Clover fern (Marsilia crenata)
Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia
Java moss (Taxiphyllum barieri)
And nope, no rice. I am, so far, an utter failure at growing rice. I managed to kill off the latest batch just when it was almost big enough to put in the tank. Rice is not forgiving to those of us who sometimes forget to water our plants. So, for now there is split bamboo. Stay tuned for further rice-growing adventures.

 

[anewbie]

This is my experimental 5; it used to be pail but then i wanted to be able to see into the aquarium. 2 weeks ago it had some borelli but they were getting a bit large for the aquarium so i moved them into a 29 where they seem to be happy. Right now it has 8 kubotai; 4 ember and 1 neon tetra. The kubotai are temporary and should soon be moved to the 40; been asking them to move but so far they have been reluctant.

The aquarium has some interesting plants. On the right the large plant that goes near the top you see a Lagenandra Bleeding Heart and if you look closely you can see a new leaf forming. There is a green greco crypt to the left of it. You can also see a pinto anubia and next to it - a bit green right now is a crypt flamingo. The plant itself is growing and there is actually a second plant that sprouted from the first; but it turned a bit green when i reduced the light for the borelli. Now that the borelli are out i should probably up the intensity and see if i can get some more pink out of it.

The third picture (which will be removed when the voting starts) shows a nurii rosen maiden behind the crypt flamingo which has grown a bit since i first received it.
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The algae you see on the glass is quite old - I had some white substrate in it that was too fine and went anaerobic killing some plants and a couple of neon about 6 months ago; i cleaned off the front when i replaced the substrate but never bothered with the back or sides as i figured i might add some shrimps and they would enjoy it. Maybe yet i will add some shrimps. There are a few other interesting plants if you look carefully at the bottom but they are mostly hidden in the picture.

 

[Caesar]

This is my... 8? gallon catbox pond I made specifically for the contest to help increase engagement It has a singular bullhead minnow that showed up a few years ago in a bucket I have a willow growing out of, that I've been using as mosquito control since then. It has some parrots feather, willow, and cottonwood growing out of it. There's a nice moss landing for any animals that fall in to climb out. Lots of leaf litter from other various stagnant bodies of water I have hoarded around my yard.

The pH is around 6.6 right now with all the heavy rain we've had. Doesn't have ammonia or nitrite, tested for 10ppm nitrate from moving water from pre-existing water prior to this rain.

I just now realized I forgot to take a picture of the date on a piece of paper, so I'll update with that later tonight when I get home.

 

[Tacocat]

This is my Fluval Spec V which I have a journal on
Tank size: 5 gal
Lighting: whatever came with the setup(on from 8AM to 6PM)
Heating: Fluval 5 gallon heater
Parameters:
pH: 7.8(I will aim to get it lower), Hardness: Water company is extremely vague
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrates: 0 most of the time(Duckweed)
Stocking: Kinda iffy, Juvenile Plakat Betta, 4 rasboras, 1 one-eyed cardinal tetra(It was a pair but the other one died), 2 Cherry shrimp, 3 of some species of Caridina, 3 assassin snails
Plants: Anacharis, Java moss, Duckweed, Ludwigia Palustris Super Red, Bacopa Monnieri

This is my 5 gallon tank. It has gone through several stages, and is now at the point in which I'm trying to grow everything bigger. I know the stocking is a little iffy but if I had my way it would be just the betta and maybe some shrimp and snails(parents don't want to return fish). It has been set up since may, and underwent a fish-in cycle for a bit before it finally settled down. During the summer I was sailing a lot and I lost interest, and underwent a die-off. Now, I've learned from my mistakes and am now trying to get the tank back up and running well again. If in the pictures the fish might not look very well, that's because I just turned on the lights to get a photo.

 

[Fishface1980]

I got 3 sword tails a snail a frog and hillstream loach

 

[Zephyrski]

Hi everyone, this is my perfect cube 6 gallon Betta tank. It's far from finished though.
I've had the tank set up for a month and some weeks or so now, it's super cool to see everything grow in the tank from nothing.

So I bought the tank nearing the end of October and had it for about 3 weeks saying to myself why did I get another tank, I don't have room for this haha. However I did keep, obviously, and I'm really happy with the outcome so far!

I started looking through my supplies, and thankfully I didn't have to purchase a new heater or air pump. On the buy list was literally everything else, as I bought a bare bones tank, sponge filter, thermometer, lighting, substrate, decor, plants, and everything for keeping the water in check.

I will admit it was very frustrating getting everything in and correct and working. Within 3 days the tank had water in it, and after some more research bio booster and some Java ferns. Then came more live rocks, and Java moss, even later then a nerite snail, and finally my Betta.

So a list of everything, top to bottom

Lighting: I forget the brand, but it works very well.
Lid: came with the tank
Heater: auqacon 50w adjustable, stays around 79 to 80F
Filter: sponge, air line, adjustment valve, air pump
Decor: 3 live rock, one artificial log, 2 Java Fern, Java moss attached to lava rock, Java moss attached to log, two floating moss balls weighed down by rock, artificial grass like plants for now, artificial black plant in back
Substrate: black diamond blasting sand
Water products: tetra Betta safe, store brand bio booster, seachem flourish
Parameters;
Nerite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 7.0
Ammonia: 0

I do hope to change it over to all live plants in the future, but for now I'm happy with it

 

[bettafishlover86]

This is my 3.5 gallon fluval evo betta fish tak. The tank has 1 el nino fern, 1 anubias 2 neon tetras, 2 ghost shrimp, and 1 male betta fish. I hope I win

! ( I know the tank is overstocked I am getting a bigger tank soon.)

 

[Kaleidoscope]

Trying this out!

Size: 6 Gallon
Set up: About 6 months ago
Stock: Just one male betta and an otto
Temp: 80
ph: 7.0
Nitrates: 0
Nitrites: 0
Amonia: 0
Lighting: Small LED strip
Filtration: Sponge filter as well as a nano filter with Seachem Matrix
Aeration: Sponge filter
Maintenance: Weekly 25% water changes, occasional top off during the week
Feeding: Omega One Betta Pellets, a few in the morning
Plants: Java Fern, Lily, nano sword plant (?), moss ball, not sure what plant grew on the middle decoration, bamboo in the back

 

[Fishmanic]

Slowly Scroll up as you review the 8 entries, click on your choice and then click the "cast" button.