A 30 gallon Hexagonal aquarium?

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Kestryl

Medium Fish
#1
Feb 4, 2004
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I have a Powder Blue Cichlid.....I have been looking for a bigger tank for him, and found an ad for a 30 gallon hexagon w/ accessories. Is this sutable? (I was told, 20g minimum, what I realy want to know is would he prefer a rectangle aquarium over a hexagonal one...)

The Hexagon would be ideal for me, as it wouldnt take nearly the space that a rectangle would, but I dont know if it would work for my Blue. I don't want him to be unhappy..

Please answer quickly, there is this one, and a few 20 gallon's in the paper, and I want to snatch one up as soon as I know which would be most sutible.
 

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Kestryl

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#3
Feb 4, 2004
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Hmm, mabey one of the 20g then (or more waiting)....with a 20 g, can I get him a little company? He is supposed to grow between 4-6 inches. Would I dare get anyone else to put in there (id like a pleco,...someoen else said Blue would probably like a few other blues.) Or just stick with him? or wait for a regular 30 gallon to show up?
 

C

Cichlid-Man

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Jul 9, 2003
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I wouldn't do a Hex. To much trouble IMO.

Go for a Rectanglular or a bow front.

Personally i'd wait for a reg 30+ gal to show up. Or go get one from the LFS or w/e. I'm sure it would like some company. Really any other type of Mbuna would go with him, but i would only do 2 Mbuna in a 30gal. And then 2 isn't a great number for Mbunas. If you keep 2 i'd make sure one is a female and the other is a male. Or both females.

I personally like Aficans like this is big groups, requiring a 55gal+ tank to really acheive. I have 1 Orange Zebra in my 29gal that i'm trying to get rid of. I'm wasting his beauty having him all alone in a 29gal tank. :(

My opinion
 

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Kestryl

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#6
Feb 4, 2004
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I don't even know how to tell if the one I have is male or female, let alone, if I bought another. Im assuming Blue is male, because he acts pretty aggressive, though most of what I have read says he is supposed to be resonably calm.

If anyone knows a good way to tell, I would be glad to hear it (all the litureture I have read says simply that the egg spots on his one fin would be more distinct...he has two little ones, but I have nothing to compare them to) If there is anyother way to tell, I would love to hear it.

I realy didnt intend to get him a mate...I wouldnt have anything I could do with baby fish.

Would he be happy with a little algea eater? I know I would like to get a little pleco or something, if I can.

I dont have room for anything larger then a 30gallon, not unless I put it somewhere out into the house proper (someplace other then my room) which I don't realy want to do, because my roommates arent animal people, and the one has parties, and it would be just my luck to have some drunk fool pour beer into my fishtank. *long suffering sigh* I can't wait till college is over, I have a real job, and I can live in a place of my own.
 

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Kestryl

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#8
Feb 4, 2004
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Well, You may be luckey...end up with good housemates. In all I like mine, they just arent animal people....thats why I wont get a cat....poor thing would probably get let out into the snow.

Blue is somewhere between 2 and 3 inches long, but he won't sit still for me to measure him propperly...call him 2.5........so yeah, he's still a baby as far as cichlids go, at least to my understanding (he's my first) Im learning a lot, but I desteratly need to get him a bigger tank, or he won't grow at all. (you can read my whole story on my post in the begginer's forum....the one with the very long title)


*wistfull sigh* there is now a 55 gallon in the paper.... $100. I realy wish I had room for it...*ponders the effect of moving all her furniture around....*
 

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C

Cichlid-Man

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#9
Jul 9, 2003
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#9
A 55gal is great for cichlids. As long as you have room for it.

It is POSSIBLE to have 2 Africans in a 30gal. But i personally don't recommend it. But it can be done.

Yeah he is still small so you could introduce new fish with no problem.

Go to www.cichlid-forum.com and click Your Tanks on the right navigation bar. Just look through some of those. A lot of people keep 30gals. And you can get ideas as well as see their stock list for the tanks. :)
 

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Kestryl

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#10
Feb 4, 2004
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*sigh* I cant find a blasted thing on that site....its set up for someone who is just browsing, not someoen who wants specifics. Most of them are over 50g, many over 100g. I would have to wade through all of them to get any idea of what type of fish to have. To top it off, most of them insist on useing the latin names of the fish, so I have absolutly no idea what sort of fish they are talking about anyway. I found out befor I came to this Fish tank, that that forum is not terribly user frindly in set up....got told many times to "look at this such and such a page" went to look, and couldnt find what they were talking about.
Take thier fish index....its wonderfull if you know what type of fish you have, but if you have a fish that is unidentified, you have to look at every single picture. I would have set it up to either A) show thumbnails of each fish, or B) list the fish by collor, and show a picture list on the next page.



Sorry, im ranting....Its getting late here, and I have been nose deep in a good book for the past few hours. Anyway, I dont mean to be offensiv C-man. If you have any suggestions off the top of your head, that would be great. If you know of a more user-freindly cichlid site, that would be even better.

Im going to go poke my nose around the fish tank's cichlid forum and see what I can find....or mabey ill just burry myself in my book again.

g'night all.
 

K

Kestryl

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#12
Feb 4, 2004
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Iv read those, and about 15 others....Im going by this one mostly: http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/socolofi.htm
Because it lists KH and GH. But none of the profiles tell me what other types of fish will get along with them. I don't realy want to get another cichlid, they will just beat each other up and I don't want to see that happen. I want some other other fish that will get along OK with him, not get too beat up.



On another note: Blue is camera shy, which is odd....He never seems to mind if I am over by the tank, I evern brush my hair there, but whenn I got out my camera (no flash, its just a crapy little thing pretending to be digital) he darted for his rock and wouldnt come out, or if he did come out, it was to sit in the corner behind one of his plants. Anyway, how do you guys get pictures of your fish, because I would love to post one to get a positive ID. Blue is SUPPOSED to be a powder blue cichlid....but he hasnt been properly blue in all the time I have had him...he is more white then anything. He has blue in his eyes, and a couple of iredecent scales near his gills, but he is mostly so pale as to be white. I dont THINK he is anything other then a powder blue but I would like to get a picture up to make a positive ID.
 

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