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I got a roughly 20 gal hex from a garage sale for $3.00. Couldnt pass it up. Included was the hood, a UGF, 2 airpumps, a 10-20 gal HOB filter, a submersable heater, substrate, and airstones. All works except the actually light fixture. Couldnt pass it up.
Ive got it home, cleaned and boiled everything, filled it and it is currently sitting to make sure Im not going to have leaks in a couple days, but doubt it, as it was inside, and full and running, just no fish....
I know stocking a hex is lighter stocking than a 20 long, or even a 20 high, and its based more on surface area ( but Im not good at math....) so how much lighter??
My thoughts for this tank were:
Stock- 1 pearl gourami
8 harlies
4 + khuli loaches
Is this tooo much for a final stock?
Lighting- The actually light fixture is SHOT, but rest of hood is in good order- thinking of cutting the light fixture out, replacing with piece of plexiglass, and hanging lights over tank. Considering depth of tank, its going to be a low light tank anyway.
Considering javafern, java moss, crypts and anubias. Most attached to a interesting and tall piece of driftwood going up the middle of the tank. ( now to find the right piece of wood)

Hi,
First, here is a link that will help you figure your
problem out:

http://www.howmanyfish.com/hex.htm

I like your choice of plants and the inclusion of the
driftwood. Good idea about the light.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thanks frank. That was a helpful calculator I hadnt found.
According to it, I have a 21 gal hex, and it has a surface area of 210 in sq. or will comfortably hold 17.5 inches of slender bodied fish. So my original stocking is pushing it.
I'm def going with the driftwood and plants.The tank is 23 in tall- so its easier to work with the tank and make it low lite, than against it.
Worked on the hood tonight, the lite fixture is out, replaced with plexiglass, and I used aquarium silicone to help hold "glass" in place. Its curing now.It fits well, but wanted to get it secure. Now its back to being 1 piece, instead of 3.
As for stocking- I still want a school of harlies, and a group of khuli loaches. I'd love to have a centerpiece fish, but the pearl gourami i think will be to much as it isnt going to be heavily planted. Any ideas?

"How do you stock a hex tank?"

Very Conservatively .


The tank itself could be seen as a centerpiece in itself. The unusual shape will bring attention to it. We were just at barnes & nobels in baltimores inner harbor, they've got a 12ish foot tank, I think I measured it once, anyway... they've got a few angels and silver dollars in there as 'centerpiece' fish, but it's not like they are what attract your attention when you're coming up the escalator, it'd be the massive tank ! So, the way I see it, a hex tank does the same thing. Unusual shape draws attention to itself and you should be ok with just the harlies and loaches.

If you're doing an overhaul on the hood of the tank, and have the ability, it might be interesting to have the driftwood coming up and out the top of the tank, there are terrestrial plants that would be able to grown on just the wood. Cant think of the names of them atm, sorry, brain's totally shot


^_^

I've found that the easiest way to stock a hex or other odd-shaped tank is by the footprint/surface area, not the amount of water. That is particularly important for tall hexes rather than the more horizontal layout, as they can hold far less fish than the gallonage would have you believe

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Thanks for the replies!

Will be dropping the gourami as a possibility and just doing the harlies and khuli's.

Would love to be able to bring the driftwood outta the tank, but I've got 2 curious cats,( that arent scared of water and 1 loves to jump into the bathtub) and I dont want a large opening that they could get into. Great idea though!!

Looks like you are will on the way to get a difficult tank started successfully. Because of the size and shape I suggest several pieces of a twiggy/spindly DW. You might be surprised how much space a big piece of DW will take up.
Also being a deep tank you will have to look at low light plants.
The Khuli's do like plenty of plant cover a small clump of Anubias will soon get bigger and excellent for them.
Once the tank is established and has a good natural algae on the Dw a pair if Ottos will also help to keep all the plants clean.

I have had 4 Khuil's in my 45lt for years and just a few days ago I found a dead one on top of the glass. It jumped out of the narrow gap at the back I have for the HOB filter. I dont think they are known as jumpers.

To give the tank a bit more interest you can consider painting the back and the two rear sides with a flat black paint.

I have done this to my Bay Window desk top tank.


Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith


Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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As far as drift wood- Im not wanting a large piece, but a tall thin interesting one, more like a twisty branch....
I do like the idea of several twiggy like ones too....Ill see what I can find!

how many ottos would be safe for this tank...

If you wanted a gourami, you should look at one of the dwarf varietys,

Ottos can be difficult fish, I'd suggest waiting till the tanks about a year old before adding them. By then you should have it fully stabilized, plus you'll know all the little ins and outs of your tank.
Ottos are schooling, as a minimum you'd want 3 or 4 but it does depend on what you chose as your final stocking, and how often you keep up with water changes ect.


^_^

Tank is still cycling- still looking for the right wood.... want to get the planting and wood while its cycling, and prefish... as its not really easy to move things around in this tank, as I found when planting the crypts I planted in here.

I do 25-30 % water changes weekly. I try to keep 2 heaters, and 2 filters per tank ( If one goes- there is a back up so temp doesnt fluctuate to much, and I dont loose all bacteria) Which is why Im running the HOB and UGF on the hex... The 10 is running only 1 filter, but theres only 1 betta in the tank.But I have 2 sponge filters that could be put in anytime.

Only time will tell final stocking on an individual tank- Just looking for rough ball park estimates.

Ottos- I remebered they likes groups- couldnt remember if it was 2-4. 4-6....

Taking stocking slow...

options

1) Give the kids this tank to stock- they did their research and want either platies or guppies. Well i think that they would probably "use" the space better in this tank, than the harlies would- as livebearers are EVERYWHERE, and the harlies would prob spend more time going in a circle around the tank......
I would start with 1m/3f- let them finish stocking. Drawbacks would be overcrowding with fry. Plans for this would be 1- giving away, 2- culling, 3- putting some in the 10 g with the F betta( snack?)

This would give me the 20 gal bow- which has more options.( not alot, but more) and then this tank would be the harlie/khuli/ 1 dwarf gourami tank- and heavily planted.

Option 2
Stock this like I wanted to stock my 10 gal before I found out my lil betta is very predatory.

6+ pygmy cory
8+ micro rasbora OR ember tetras
cherry and B Bee shrimp

considering all of these are 1" or under- I think they'd do well given the limits of tank room. And the cories I know would be all over. Ive read past threads about pygmy cories in tall tanks, and someone has a 125g with pygmys, and they do fine in it so I dont beleive the tallness would be a drawback for them.

Now to decide- Lil fish or livebearers??

Opinions appreciated...

Ooooh, I'm a fan of your Pygmy Cory/Microrasbora idea. Not too far off from my attempt at Pygmy Cory/Celestial Pearl Danios. Unfortunately the pygmy corys might have been a bad stock, so I've mostly just got the CPD's left. I moved the remaining pygmy corys to my 55 gallon tank and they are doing all right in a tank of that height, so it is indeed no problem. What kind of Microrasbora are you looking at?

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Pygmy rasbora- Boraras maculatus - 3/4 inch each.

and either- Corydoras pygmaeus, or hasbrous depending on which i find first.

Yeah this is my first choice...After trying to plant, and such in there... I think it would be perfect for lil bitty fish,and shrimp and not much else.

Ah. I was thrown off because "Microrasbora" is an actual genus that doesn't just mean small rasboras. Boraras are pretty cool too, though!

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Well i called them that because the only few places Ive seen them called them micro's....

Ah, pet store misinformation, gotta love it.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Well, I don't know if you're planning to do the kuhlii loaches or not, but they're definitely interesting. They do tend to spook easy though. One of mine is fairly stable, but the other one gets a bit flighty. He doesn't try to jump or anything, but he does flip around a lot when spooked and "flies around the tank to find cover.

Good luck with your stocking!