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Hexagon aquariums?

19K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  aquariangel 
#1 ·
Question? Hexagon aquariums, do we love them or hate them?

I’m looking to get a 55 gal or bigger for my three angelfish. Is this a good move or should I get something else? I don’t have a lot of room to deal with. My house is kind of small. That is why I am thinking about a tall Hex.

Right now the angelfish are a little bigger than a nickel and they are in a standard 20 gallon. I know they will have to be moves soon.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Bear
 
#2 · (Edited)
I have a friend that has Angelfish. She has 2 pairs in a 30 gal. tank. You have to keep in mind that they do need room to swim around. I bought 1 angelfish that was a nickel in size at Walmart. He is now about 4 1/2" big now from top fin to bottom fin. He is in a 55 gal. tank with a bunch of community fish. If you have 3 I would get about a 55 gal. tank. I bought my tank at Walmart awhile back but replaced the filter with a 75 gal. filter. I resold the unused filter that the tank came with on cragslist.I think that a Hex tank will not provide enough swimming space for 3 Angelfish. Remember that the nickel size angel will grow to be a big one like mine. They will also pair off when they get bigger and you will need to rehome the other one that does not find a mate to keep the peace in the tank. Try Craigslist it's a good place for used tanks. Sometimes you can get a complete set-up with a stand for cheap. Look under Pets and general type in Aquariums.

So you have a small place. You might want to use the tank for a divider between to rooms or if you have a wall to put it up against instead of having pictures it would be a nice feature to your place. I found this site that has really nice aquairum stands:
Pet Furniture, Litter Box Furniture, Dog Car Seats & Dog Beds: Ameriwood Industries 81196 - Altra 55 / 75 Gallon Aquarium Stand in Rubbed Black
Some people use a sofa table that is big enough for a tank. It needs to be sealed for water and can stand the tanks heavy weight with water.
 
#3 ·
Hmmmmm........... I heard that the best fish for a hex is Angelfish because they like to swim up as opposed to back and forth.

I have a 45 gal. hex community. There are some downsides as far as depth. I can barely reach the bottom while replanting etc. And keep in mind that the intake tube on the filter will be at about mid tank. I had a bio-wheel 200 which wasn't cutting it so just upgraded to an Aqua Clear rated for 75 gallons. It comes with extention tubes so I can get the necessary filtration closer to the substrate. My water is now crystal clear.

So IMO, you should be just fine with those things in mind. Good luck and post some pics. when you have them.
 
#4 ·
Don't go by what I said about the Hex tank. I just noticed my Anglefish likes swimming length wise in my tank instead of up-down. Hex does pose a cleaning problem since it is deep. I had a canopy hood that matched my stand for my 55 gal. I had to get rid of it and resale it on craigslist as I could not reach in to clean the tank because it was so deep. In order to clean it I had to stand on a tall chair. It also trapped all the heat from the light fixture. My husband wanted me to buy a fan to keep the inside cool. I just did not want to spend the money for a inside canopy fan. Canopys look nice but it makes cleaning a pain and since I was the one cleaning all my tanks and not my husband I got rid of the Canopy. Just a thought in case you get a complete stand and canopy.
 
#6 ·
Thanks for all of the info.

I took some measurements last night and found that I could actually put something in just a little over 4ft. I can actually go as big as 52 inches long. Depth and height isn’t a problem.

What would be the biggest gallon tank I could purchase to put in that space?

I will post pics of the space tonight when I get home.

Thanks,
Bear
 
#7 ·
I recently purchased a 56 gal column tank (marineland I think) that is taller than my 80 gal and deeper front to back than a 55 gal which is only 12 to 13 inches I believe. My Angel fish loves it and so do I. With the Angelfish are bleeding heart Tetras and a few platys along with a bristlenose.
If you have short arms ,, you may need a stool to vaccum the gravel. I intended to place an Emperor 400 on the 56 gal but center support would not allow it. It is instead filtered with Emperor280 and a HydroV sponge filter. The Emperor filters come with extension that will allow uptake to reach the bottom. With canister filter,it would simply require more hose I would think.
If the tank were for Angelfish primarily, I would opt for column tank or hex. When I kept the Angelfish in 75 gal which was longer,, they spent most of the time in one end of the tank.
 
#8 ·
I like the look of hex tanks myself. We have a 30 gal hex tank that we had a variety of tetras, raspboras, pearl danios, a few yellow shrimp, nerites, and three brigs in. Right now the danios are the sole residents in the tank as we've moved the tetras to the 55 tetra dedicated tank, the brigs were moved to two of our breeding tanks, and the shrimp were moved in with the rest of the colony of yellow shrimp hoping to spark more breeding. Plans are to get a couple of angels for this tank.....idk if he plans to move the danios. Cleaning it hasn't been an issue because the nerites have been doing a great job of keeping up with any algae....and we have a long handled scraper which reaches the bottom of the walls very well.

It was interesting reading all you experiences with the angels though, I think the new additions will do well in the hex tank....
 
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