# Tankism (tank racism?)



## calebjimz (Aug 10, 2009)

Hey there. Im caleb and a new member to the forum. My wanting for an aquarium led me to someone who was selling a 55 gallon hexagonal tank on craigslist and after meeting with him(a member of the forum also, not sure his name) he showed me his garrage that had a seperate room full of newly hatched fry and some of the most beautiful fish i had seen im my life. I never knew that aquariums could be such a great hobby, and now i can say that i am obsessed. He then told me about the forum and how much help there is on this site. so i joined and started reading
One thing i noticed immediately after looking at some pictures of tanks is that in no picture do i see any hexagonal tank setups, or even many tall tank setups. Everyone's tank was the ellongated horizontal look. Whats the deal? I have set up my hexagon tank with various tang cichlids and some nice tall plants and rocks and i think it looks amazing(pictures coming soon). Is there some kind of tankism going on that i dont know about? and if so, why? please let me know.


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## venustus19 (Aug 30, 2007)

lol... i like that, tankism... 

i don't think people have hate towards tall tanks, i just think that tall and skinny tanks are harder to make work, as most cichlids get big and like lots of room to swim... tall and skinny tanks make that hard to do... that's all.


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## Hthundar (Apr 10, 2009)

I agree. Taller tanks are much harder to clean and maintain.

Another issue is many of the fish are bottom dwellers. Meaning that most of their activity takes place on or near the aquarium floor. So. it is possible that some of your higher tank space may not be used very much. except during feeding if your using a floating pellet or flakes.


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## CharlieTuna (May 20, 2006)

Hi Caleb

When I started out i had a 35gal hex because I started with Tropical fish then moved to cichlids. I liked the hex because I was in an apartment and it looked good between my two couches set up "L" shaped. Soon though I found out that africans don't appreciate being lumped together in such a small footprint. Stress was very evident and all my fish did was hide because they were afraid of the dominant fish. The prob with hex and tall tanks is 1) they are a pain to vacuum as they are deep and I am not 7ft tall with long arms and 2) the fish need the length of a long tank to get away from agressors. having a longer tank also provides more room for different rock formations. even if you pile high the most aggressive fish will claim the whole pile in such a small area, so many smaller piles would do justice to your fish as opposed to one large pile of rocks. Also the fish prefer to swim right to left then up and down to get away. my next tank was a 55gal long and that to was eventually to small as my peacocks got into the 4"-5" range. So after 5 years of trial an error I have decided that when I do get back into the hobby my next tank will be a 125g minimum which most are 6ft long. When it comes to this hobby I have found that at $30 a fish for show quality peacocks it's best to just give then their space. now if you were to do Tang shelldwellers a hex might work if you keep it to 5-6 fish and follow the guides in the library section of cichlid forum.

g/l


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

> Everyone's tank was the ellongated horizontal look. Whats the deal?


Welcome Caleb,
As no one else mentioned it, the main reason for a large "footprint" tank, is all about the fish. 
Two 55g tanks, one tall, one lower. Both holding the same volume of water..the tank with the most surface area can support more fish. 
First reason it can do this is amount of area available for "air exchange". The whole out with the bad air, in with the good. Larger the surface area, the easier to exchange. 
Second, with the bulk of cichlids spending their lives in the bottom 1/3rd of the tank..well, the more bottom you got, the more fish you can keep. 
Third, hex tanks generally cost more per gallon, even used. 
I have seen quite a few, really well done hex tanks. When yours is done, would like to see some pics.


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## Demasonian (Oct 23, 2005)

I agree with all the points stated above. When it comes to most Africans, good oxygenation and a large footprint are important. Expanding a bit on KaiserSousay's comment, there is more territory in a rectangular tank and since many cichlids that we keep are very territorial, its advantageous to have more real estate for them to live in. We all know what happens when there isn't enough territory to go around...

That said, there are species that would work well in there...You mentioned Tanganyikans -- what kind are you keeping? A brichardi complex species tank would be awesome...


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## RayAllen (Dec 19, 2008)

Simple Answer

Longer is better, Cichlids prefer to swim left to horizontally. Hexagon tank IMO are really only suitable for dwarf cichlid species.


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

It think *all* fish like to swim, not just cichlids. With a tall, vertical tank, even a school of tiny little tetras spends their time going up and down.

-Ryan


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## calebjimz (Aug 10, 2009)

Thanks to all your replies they helped alot. My list of fish include: 2 gold sheldwellers, 3 albino eurekas, 2 cylindricus, 3 leloupi(spelling?), and a couple of others. i have set up a tall rock stack with lots of places to hide and some nice tall onion plants and shorter plants. do u guys think thats enough or should i be looking to go to a longer tank? if so whats the easiest way to go about that.


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## Tshethar (Jul 20, 2009)

The only other potential negative to watch out for with used Hex. tanks in particular is the simple fact that they have more seams, which means more potential places from which to leak. Back in the day when I worked for the LFS, if my boss was resealing a tank for someone, it was almost always a hex. Sounds like you got it from a hobbyist who would have kept an eye on this and that it's holding water just fine, but for anyone thinking about buying a used one, I'd check the seams carefully first.

In your case, you might want to be especially sure that yours is level and shim the stand if necessary so you don't stress any of the joints.

As for the stock list, from the reading I've been doing recently on the Tanganyikan forum I think you may run into problems (e.g., shellies and leleupi together can end badly for the shellies, and most folks don't advocate "mixing lakes" by adding peacocks), but you may be better off posting over there and letting folks who are keeping/have kept those species comment.

Good luck! :thumb: No reason this setup can't be a really nice tank--just resist the temptation to do too much with it for the reasons mentioned upthread. Besides, it sounds like you'll have a whole collection of other tanks pretty soon for the various fish you like! :lol:


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## cichlidfeesh (Apr 6, 2009)

I've posted some picture and have asked for some help on this forum about my 30 gallon hex, I think it is doing an excellent job housing my angels, tetras, yo-yo loaches, and German blue ram.


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## Bootz0913 (Aug 19, 2009)

Hey im new here but am not new to the fish keeping world. My picture here is of my 44 pentagon that is taller than it is wide. I think that even though it is a reef, tall tanks can pulled off, only if the height is used throughly. I have had this tank set up as a tanganyikan tank for a few years and everything went well with 6 cyps, 6 marliers and 4 occies. All thrived and grew. I am going back to my roots and am in the works of setting up a 75 gallon tanganyikan, which i think is much better suited for cichlids than my 44 pent.


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