Hex/Rectangle/Bowfront

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Kwenbee

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Nov 7, 2003
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163
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Delaware
I posted this under another thread, but I think it got lost....

We are heading to Petsmart tomorrow with the intention of coming home with a 29/30 gallon tank. I was originally planning on a rectangular because I understood they were the best choice...but....

We have a hexagon fish stand sitting in our garage holding junk. It will fit in the corner of my family room rather nicely.

I have decided to move the guppy into the five gallon tank and add one or two more guppies with him. It is going to be the quarantine/hospital tank eventually, but I want it to stay cycled. I may leave the current cory in there and add one more, and get four corys to go in each side of the newly divided 10 gallon.

Here is my concern. I've heard that some fish do not do well in hex tanks because of the lack of water surface and heaviness of the water in the bottom of the tank.

Will our guys (three -- will be five -- neons; two zebra danios; three blackfin tetras; three or four corys) manage okay in a 29/30 gallon hex tank? Is that a good load for a tank that size or do I need more fish?

I'm buying this thing tomorrow, so I need some advice pretty quick!
 
Kwenbee...

The biggest problem with hex tanks is that, because they're relatively tall in proportion, there isn't as much surface area (where oxygen is being absorbed) per gallon of water as you would have in a standard rectangular or bow-front aquarium. There also isn't as much horizontal swimming space for active fish. The 'heaviness' of the water in the bottom of the tank is NOT an issue!

Your hex tank will be just fine with the fish you mentioned. The danios are really the only very active swimmers in your list and they stay small enough that a 29/30 gallon hex will give them enough room. You could even add a larger school of Neons....say up to 10 of them total.

If you're deciding whether to BUY another tank...then I'd recommend a rectangular or bow-front tank over a hex. The first two give you a bit more flexibility in planting (should you choose to do that), decorating, and fish choices.
 
They would fit nicely. There's one problem tho, tetras and danios like being in large groups. Two or three is not a big enough of group for all those fish. If you could get them up to groups of 5-8, I'm sure they'd be happy.
 
I'd nevertheless say that cories may not appreciate a high tower of water. They prefer shallow waters. As you may know they "like" to ingest some fresh air by going to the surface. If it is too far for them, and the water is not well oxygenated, they may die. Make sure you have a bubble dispenser
 
Endgame318: it's fun to see that you recommend more than 2 tetras while your 25gal tank only contains... 2 Serpae Tetras! :twisted:
 
We went with the 20 gallon rectangle. The bowfront they had was way out of my budget. The hex would not have looked good on the stand we had. They had a 30 gallon cube that I liked, that would have fit on the hex stand, but my husband didn't think it would look right. So, traditional we go! Had to buy a stand (a prefab one that we put together ALL DAY today).

Petsmart was swamped, so I didn't buy anymore danios. They were completely out of neons as well, so they'll have to wait. I'm planning on going back this week because one of the catfish we bought yesterday was dead this morning.

Right now we have three neons (want to add three more); two zebra danios (want to add two or three more); three blackfinned tetras (who right now HATE the brighter light in the new tank); and two platys (one of which is an eating machine!). It took pics of the tank and will try to post them soon. Swimmy the Guppy now lives in the five gallon with his new friends - Spot and Laura. Petsmart insisted that I had to buy them in a male/female pair, which doesn't please me...they said they wouldn't fight over the one female...was that right...or should I get a few more females. We ARE NOT raising guppy babies, so if I do nothing, they'll eat the eggs and there won't be a zillion guppies in the five gallon tank, right?

I didn't go with real plants yet...I'm still learning to keep fish alive, not sure I want to tackle plants yet!
 
if you don't want guppy fry, take NO female. Return Laura. Petsmart is wrong since the males will harass the single female! We generally keep 2-3 females per male so that the latter can have his "attention" distracted.

Add you fishes slowly at a time.
 
You know...the female seems to be kind of hovering near the top and just seems stressed. The males are hanging around her, but don't seem to be fighting over her.

I can't take her back...my daughter will have a fit. Can I just move her out of the tank and into the 20 gallon and leave Swimmy and Spot (the male guppies) alone in there? I probably don't have enough room to add a couple more females, do I? It's a five gallon hex tank. The guppies are only about 1/2 inch from nose to end of tail fin...probably 1/4" from nose to end of body. Since we have the 20 gallon I have the space to move them to a different tank if they get too big.
 
There should be no problem moving her. Generally 'in the corner' means they've already beat her around and she's trying to stay away from them and out of their territory.
 
[sigh] Jeez Louise....another fish move...I swear, my entire life seems to revolve around fish movement.

She'll be okay as the lone guppy in the big tank, right? Or should I just move ALL the guppies from the 5 gallon and put something else in the 5 gallon...maybe mollies or a school of tetras?
 
I'm not sure what guppies require for.. er.. happiness. They're not EXACTLY schooling fish.. I had a couple for a while, ended up with a 10 gallon full of 25-30+ fry. They somehow got in the oscar tank though :twisted:

I don't think mollies would be good for a 5 gallon, believe they get a bit large for that, but you could easily do 6-8 neon tetras in such a tank.
 
yup, you can move her. And don't worry you'll soon have her company: fry. Take no mollies, they are too large for a 5gal as ferret said. School of tetras or rasboras (heteramorpha) should be fine.
 
I don't think it's going to matter much...Laura seems to be having some problems. It never fails that when I buy new fish, at least one doesn't survive for more than a few days. The new additions from Petsmart have already been dwindled by a catfish who is heading back to the store for replacement this weekend. If Laura the guppy succumbs, she'll be heading back for a refund, but I will not buy a female. I'll risk a Walmart trip to get a guppy if I have to so I can just have males.

Anyway, she seems to be surface hovering and my daughter seems to think she's lying on her side a lot. I don't know...the others seem absolutely fine in the tank and the water levels are okay. I did throw in some salt today because I know guppies like salt.

Now, any suggestions on reducing the brightness of the light in the 20 gallon. It is VERY bright! Plants, I guess?
 
hmm, guppies do *not* like salt, wrong idea, I am sorry. It won't hurt too much on the short term though. I think you should forget about adding salt. Unless you have brackish water fishes, that should not be necessary to have salt unless you really want to treat a fish.

If she's lying on her side it might be a swim bladder problem, probably due to some secondary infection enhanced by stress (of travel and of harassment).

Reduce brightness: buy a smaller wattage for your new fluorescent tube! Plants will not reduce brightness (unless you buy a lot of surface plants), but they will love the brightness.
 
Well, I moved Laura into the 20 gallon last night, but it was apparently too late. She was dead this morning. Since she was new, I assumed she had issues before she arrived at our house. As bad as it sounds, I am kind of glad since I really didn't want a female guppy anyway. We're taking her back to Petsmart (along with the short-lived catfish) to get our money back this weekend. Nothing like having little baggies of dead fish on top of your refrigerator until you can get to the store :roll:

As far as the salt goes, whenever Swimmy, or original guppy seemed to be hovering near the surface a little more often, usually after water changes, I added salt to the 10 gallon aquarium. That usually got him back in the "swim" of things. I had read online (I've read so much about fish online couldn't tell you where) that guppies and mollies prefer a little salt in the water and have always added salt to the tanks if we had either of these fish.

I do know that tetras do not like salt, which is one of the reasons I separated the tetras from the guppies. Oh well, too late to change it now...guess the water changes will have to dilute the salt!

I am thinking of some surface plants. I kind of like the brightness of the new aquarium, it's very cheery. But the blackfins REALLY don't like it...they used to be all over the tank in the 10 gallon, but now they hover under the plants all the time. They used to literally jump out of the water at feeding time, but now they just dart out as the food drops, grab it and swim back under the plant really fast, so I guess I need to reduce the wattage in the bulb.
 
Just one more thing...I did a water check on the 20 gallon this morning. I used gravel from the cycled 10 gallon and squeezed some gunk from the medium in the 10 gallon filter into the new filter when I started it up before moving the fish in.

Yesterday and Sunday's test revealed no ammonia and no nitrites. Today's test revealed no ammonia but a rather high nitrite level (about 1.5). I did a small water change (probably about 10%).

Is it possible my tank cycle is already past the ammonia spike and now I just need the nitrite spike to drop and we'll be cycled? I have no idea if I put enough gunk from the 10 into the 20...I did realize that part of my problem with the 10 is that I had far too little gravel, but since the only thing in there now is our two bettas and some catfish, gravel isn't as important.

I am considering buying another small filter for the 10 (the divider seems to be affecting the water flow a little) and once I get it running, I was considering removing the medium from the old filter on the 10 and sticking the whole thing in the 20 to push the cycle.

So, am I looking at some daily water changes for a few days?
 
Sorry you lost the Guppy, for future reference this is the basic guidelines for guppies in tanks...

all females or
all males or
at LEAST two females to every male if you mix them

"So, am I looking at some daily water changes for a few days?"

Likely, keep checking the water and doing the water changes as needed.

As far as the salt goes, I use 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water. This is well under the "reccomended" dosage but it seems to work fine.
 
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