Marineland 5 Gal Hex - All in one

s_anthony

s_anthony

Large Fish
#1
Aug 13, 2006
264
0
0
Pittsburgh, PA
#1
I finally broke down and bought another tank.. I'm not a fan of the "all in one" tanks, but this time I decided to get one for my desk.


It's a 5 gal hex. I liked how it looked, but honestly don't have any idea at this point what i'm putting in it.. :)

I thought about a dwarf puffer or one figure 8 puffer, but I don't know if 5 gal is enough..

I really want a blue lobster, but he'd eat all my community tank fish - would 5 gal be big enough for one blue lobster and maybe one companion fish - or am I pushing it on overload?

Suggestions would be appreciated - I could always just move over some fish from my 15 gal community tanks...

Don't you love impulse buying! I absolutely love marineland products - so I hope I won't be disappointed in this tank.
 

s_anthony

s_anthony

Large Fish
#3
Aug 13, 2006
264
0
0
Pittsburgh, PA
#3
tropicalfish said:
A betta tank would be nice!
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I agree, but I've had so many bettas in my life - I want a new fish I guess really...

If I do go betta, I want something other than the typical veil tails that I see everywhere.. When I was a kid I never was without a betta. I had one survive in a round fish bowl for 6 years - and now I can't seem to find any bettas that survive for more than a year. I don't know if it's just how they are bred now or if the ones at all the LFS's are old ...
 

CAPSLOCK

CAPSLOCK

Elite Fish
#4
Jul 19, 2004
3,682
33
48
39
Cape Cod
#4
You could do 1 dwarf puffer (NOT a figure 8... those are brackish and need around 30g each, I believe). I'm not sure if a cray would have enough room with the limited bottom space in a hex.
 

IDunnoWhy

IDunnoWhy

Superstar Fish
#5
Nov 16, 2006
1,058
2
38
52
Deerfield, WI
#5
Well, I assume your talking about a Blue Crayfish, correct? Anyway 5g is more than enough water volume for 1 Cray and a couple small tankmates, however the overall footprint of the tank isn't too big, so there won't be alot of crawling around room, but I still think you could give it a go *thumbsups

As I'm sure you know the potential tankmates may end as food at some point, So if you don't want that, then try to find fish that occupy the "upper waters".

I have 2 of the Marineland 5g Hex tanks, I love em'...but take care when cleaning, they scratch fairly easy, aside from that, they are awesome. *thumbsups
 

Likes: YahooFishKeeper
s_anthony

s_anthony

Large Fish
#6
Aug 13, 2006
264
0
0
Pittsburgh, PA
#6
CAPSLOCK said:
You could do 1 dwarf puffer (NOT a figure 8... those are brackish and need around 30g each, I believe). I'm not sure if a cray would have enough room with the limited bottom space in a hex.
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That's what I figured... funny thing is that the LFS told me that both would be okay in a 5 gal.. I just feel that there wasn't enough room even without researching what they really needed... I'm so glad I had the patience to just bring the tank home to get it set up and cycled. They wanted to send the fish/blue lobster home with me tonight! Soooo tempting, but i wanted to do what was right for the fish and made sure i thought it all through first.

Impulse buying of a tank is a good thing, but fish - I need to teach myself to have patience!
 

s_anthony

s_anthony

Large Fish
#7
Aug 13, 2006
264
0
0
Pittsburgh, PA
#7
IDunnoWhy said:
Well, I assume your talking about a Blue Crayfish, correct? Anyway 5g is more than enough water volume for 1 Cray and a couple small tankmates, however the overall footprint of the tank isn't too big, so there won't be alot of crawling around room, but I still think you could give it a go *thumbsups

As I'm sure you know the potential tankmates may end as food at some point, So if you don't want that, then try to find fish that occupy the "upper waters".

I have 2 of the Marineland 5g Hex tanks, I love em'...but take care when cleaning, they scratch fairly easy, aside from that, they are awesome. *thumbsups
Click to expand...
That was going to be one of my other questions since all my other tanks are glass... how do you clean acrylic tanks without scratching them ?

The "blue lobster" I assumed was a crayfish of some sort, but they have them marked as lobsters :confused:
 

IDunnoWhy

IDunnoWhy

Superstar Fish
#8
Nov 16, 2006
1,058
2
38
52
Deerfield, WI
#8
s_anthony said:
That was going to be one of my other questions since all my other tanks are glass... how do you clean acrylic tanks without scratching them ?
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I bought a 2 sided "tank cleaner" from my LFS (basically a sponge on a stick) it has a soft sponge on 1 side (for acrylic) and a more aggressive one on the other (for glass), works great....Just make sure the label says something like "For use in acrylic tanks"

s_anthony said:
The "blue lobster" I assumed was a crayfish of some sort, but they have them marked as lobsters :confused:
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Did it look like this?

This is a P.Alleni Crayfish

 

s_anthony

s_anthony

Large Fish
#9
Aug 13, 2006
264
0
0
Pittsburgh, PA
#9
It's EXACTLY the same..

I assumed since it was FW that there was no real way it was a lobster..

but they look pretty cool I think :)

If I get one, once I move my tiger barbs/Green barbs into the 30 gallon tank, then the 15 gallon will become the new home for whatever is in this hex...

choices, choices, choices....
 

A

Agreeive?fish

Small Fish
#13
Nov 24, 2006
26
0
0
#13
If you want to put the blue "lobster" crayfish in the 5 gallon hex...try putting a branchy thing in the tank (like a cleaned boiled tree limb)...that would give him more crawling room and places to explore and hide in...mine loves his branches that are in his tank
 

Big Vine

Big Vine

Elite Fish
#14
Feb 7, 2006
3,895
9
0
47
Florida
#14
s_anthony said:
That was going to be one of my other questions since all my other tanks are glass... how do you clean acrylic tanks without scratching them ?
Click to expand...
Like IDunnoWhy said, make sure it says 'made for acrylic' or something to that effect. In my experience, the white ones are for acrylic and the green ones are for glass.

BV
 

VirgoWolf

VirgoWolf

Superstar Fish
#15
Feb 16, 2006
1,933
4
0
Michigan
#15
I say go for the blue crey, they are awesome, just try to get a small one. I personally thing the 5hex (I have one too) is too small for a full grown crey, but a 15gal is perfect! So get him and a fish or 3 and let them have the 5gal untill he/she gets too big, move him/her to the 15gal. :D
 

s_anthony

s_anthony

Large Fish
#16
Aug 13, 2006
264
0
0
Pittsburgh, PA
#16
After doing a lot of reading, I am leaning more towards getting a dwarf puffer..

With my snail population issue that should be something that could feed the puffer, they just look like there a lot more work than my community tanks put together ...

Still reading about both, and once I decide I'll post :)
 

s_anthony

s_anthony

Large Fish
#17
Aug 13, 2006
264
0
0
Pittsburgh, PA
#17
I think the dwarf puffer is it... I read that the blue lobster / cray gets up to 7" in size. I'd rather wait and have a tank ready for one in the future than to have to move him around I guess..

So I'll be heading back to the LFS today for some more plants and possibly the puffer.. I got a few plants in last night, but I need some more ...

more to come :)
 

s_anthony

s_anthony

Large Fish
#19
Aug 13, 2006
264
0
0
Pittsburgh, PA
#19
And the finalist in tonight's broadcast of "What fish is it?" is ..... (drumroll please.....)


DWARF PUFFER


Of course I'll post pics - if you guys give me some suggestions on what kinda plants I can put in the tank :) All I have is Frill and Java Fern in there cause I don't know much else other than brazillian waterweed...
 

s_anthony

s_anthony

Large Fish
#20
Aug 13, 2006
264
0
0
Pittsburgh, PA
#20
Ok... so after floating him and acclimating him to the water in the tank - the little guy does NOT seem happ.. I guess I'll have to giv e him some time to adjust, I just figured he'd be much more active out of the bag than he is :(
 

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