🐠 TOTM VOTE NOW: February 2026 Tank of the Month Contest (31 US gallons and larger)

[connorlindeman]

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Please Vote Now
We have 5 great tanks entered in Fishforums' February 2026 Tank of the Month contest featuring tanks sized at 31 US gallons or larger! View both 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 February 16 at 6:10 P.M (ET).

 

[connorlindeman]

I'll kick things off with my 40 gallon odessa tank.

I purchased 20 Odessa barbs from Aquahuna early last year and all 20 survived. I have 6 males and the rest females.
For most of my aquariums, I use either Nicrew or Chiheros lights. This time I decided to go all in and purchased the Fluval Plant 3.0. Wow. I was not disappointed. It actually changed the way I see this tank. All the colors pop much more then they did and the ability to control all the color levels is nice. Lights are currently on for 10 hours a day. No algae and the plants are doing great. I have the c02art inline kit and a Fluval 207 canister filter. Inline heater as well. I have the filter input and output mounted on the left side so it creates a circular motion. Pushing and pulling all the debris so it ends up at the filter. Its worked very well. I have the co2 set at 1 bubble per second. The substrate is just Black Diamond blasting sand. No soil. Root tabs added around the root feeders.
For plants I decided to keep it fairly simple:
Rotala Vietnam
Ludwigia Super Red 'Mini'
Rotala Green
Pygmy Chain Sword(I had dwarf sag but it got way too tall)
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Red
Cryptocoryne Spiralis Tiger
Cryptocoryne Costata
Madagascar Lace Plant
I added the lace plant in maybe a month ago and it has nearly tripled in size.
I will be moving in about 6 months so this tank is going to get torn down. Pretty sad about that. Its been developing nicely.

 

[raylove]

This my Juwel 260 litre Vision bow fronted tank.
It was set up 5 years ago though all the fish in it I have had for much longer, apart from a couple of rehoused Cory's from about a year ago. This picture is taken a week after thinning the plants which is why they are a little lower than usual on the left hand side
The fish are:
African Long Finned Tetras (6 years)
Torpedo Barbs (7 years)
Siamese Algae Eater (18 years)

Plants are:
Jungle Vallis
Alternanthera (red)
Lobelia
Rotala 'orange juice'
Hygrophilla green and variegated
Cryptocoryne usteriana (somewhat swamped by the Vallis and hardly visible!)
Various other small crypt (affinis, willisii, wendtii?) popping up in various places)

Lighting is two Juwel Tropical LED tubes for 7 hours a day. Filtration is the standard internal Bio Filter, 1000 lph equipped with a surface skimmer. Media is Seachem Matrix, Phosguard and the usual sponges.
I use TNC Lite for the plants (as my tap water is around 30ppm nitrate)and I add homemade phosphate when needed (I use the Phosguard reduce silicates). I have started to experiment with adding a half dose of Leafzone each week as the Cryptocoryne usteriana might be showing signs of potassium deficiency.
There are a couple of Nerites in there too.
Rockwork is red jasper.
Future plans are to replace the fish with larger shoals of something smaller when the current occupants eventually die off.

 

[gwand]

This is my 60 gallon Lake Tanganyika aquarium. The tank is home to a family of Julidochromis transcriptus Gombe, a colony of Neolamprologus multifasciatus and two dwarf Altolamprologus compressiceps. Plants include swords, anubias and cryptocornye on pool sand. Pothos plants live aquaponically on the rim of the tank. River stones occupy the left side of the tank where the Julies and compressiceps hang out. Driftwood is the border to the Multies’ territory. Filtering is accomplished by an AC110 and an air powered sponge. An Olushy 500 watt heater warms the tank to 78F. This Tankanyikan community tank is amazingly peaceful. There are no dither fish.

 

[Gertrudae]

West Africa – Congo River

I set up this aquarium in October 2024 after my previous aquarium, which I had glued together myself, started leaking after about 20 years. I bought this one second-hand.

It stands in the living room of my disabled daughter, who really enjoys watching the fish and listening to the gentle splashing.

I hope you enjoy it too


Size: 130*50*60 cm / 51*20*23" 390 l / 103 gl

Low tech: Three small flow pumps, no filtration, no CO2
two Hygger submersible lights at the rear, two Boxtech spotlights, one T8 neon tube

Water parameters: soft water from my cistern, at least 22 °C, slightly higher in summer, occasional fertilisation if the plants show signs of deficiency.

Plants: Anubias, Vallisneria, Congo Fern, Egeria, Cryptocoryne.
Terrestial plants: Monstera, Ficus, Spathiphyllum, Ferns, Asparagus, Epipremnum - some of them grow in pots behind the tank, some roots in the water. Hygrolon is planted with moss and ferns on the longitudinal and transverse struts.

I'd like to use only African plants, but there are not that many of them available.

Live stock: 7 Anomalochromis thomasi, 5 Synodontis nigriventris, 1 Phenacogrammus aurantiacus (I bought 11, this is the only survivor, the others died in the first few weeks) and the inevitable neozoons, some Endler guppies ;-)

 

[Panda_Monium]

Here is my 98*50*50cm, 45 gallon crazy Panda/Community tank. After starting off in the hobby doing Everything Wrong, I finally set this up, cycled with Dr Tim's all in one and Ammonia until I got it right, 6 months ago.
It is aquascaped using a combination of white and Nile River sand, artificial plants, a flexible air hose at the back and a round bubble plate at the front. There is a ceramic "shrimp cube' on the left, and a breeding cave on the left, set up for my Kuhli loaches, and two other shelters for the Corydoras further into the left middle section of the tank. Some petrified wood, moss agate and Labrador stones, which they love to play and nuzzle around. Two spawning mops suspended in frames for the pandas, and some beta leaves on the sides of the tab for rest and play.
I'm running a canister filter with a combination of foam and bio mediums, with a 1250L/hour in-tank water pump.
I clean the filter every 6 weeks, depending on when I see more sediment floating in the water column, and perform partial water changes every two weeks, plus topping up the water whenever evaporation drops the water level every couple of days, as it is an open top tank.
Residents are:
11 Panda Corydoras (5 original adults from 2 different gene pools - 1 female & 4 males, about 2 yrs old and 6 of their offspring, between 7-9 months old)
2 LF Panda Corydoras (new additions 1f and 1m, look like they're about the same age as the other juveniles)
6 Peppered Corydoras (about 11 months old, from 2 different gene pools)
4 striped and 2 black Kuhli Loaches (original stock, a couple of years old)
And one Mystery Snail
I feed them smaller amounts at least twice a day, which they seem to prefer and, for variety, I use a combination of Fluval Bug Bites (bottom feeder formula), Hikari sinking wafers, a few Hikari algae wafers, Aqua One micro pellets, Dymax Bottom Feeder Elite sinking mini wafers, home-hatched BBS & frozen BBS, and occasionally, presoaked freeze-dried blood worms.
Water parameters:
PH 7
Ammonia/Nitrite 0
Nitrate under 20ppm
KH 80ppm and GH 180ppm
It has taken a long time, a LOT of mistakes, tears, learning, and endless hand-carted water to create a safe, happy environment for my much-loved, extremely tolerant and resilient little fish.
In fact, they're so happy that Mumma Panda spawns every 4 days (I currently have 4 other aquariums with fry of varying ages!) - the current count of offspring even after re-homing over a hundred, is approximately 200!!
I hope you enjoy seeing what such a little legend, and all my other fish call home!!

 

[connorlindeman]

Please scroll up as you review the five awesome entries, and then in the poll at the top of this thread, click on your choice for Tank of the Month. Be sure to click the CAST button to register your vote. Good luck to all our entrants.

 

[connorlindeman]

Keep the votes coming in!