Aquariums & Aquarium Accessories
Buy and sell aquariums and aquarium accessories in Panama.
A betta tank for a desk and a 75-gallon on its own cabinet both belong here, new or pre-owned, along with the filters, heaters, lights and air pumps that keep them running. Most of the equipment comes out of the American aquarium trade, so Aqueon, Tetra and Marineland are the names on most filters and spare cartridges. When IDAAN takes a treatment plant offline after heavy rain and the taps in Arraiján or La Chorrera run dry, a battery air pump and a jug of treated water are what keep a tank alive, and both are worth having before the first cut.
Betta tanks, starter kits and bare glass tanks:
the difference is mostly what comes in the box. A betta or nano tank of a few gallons suits one fish or a small planted display, and forgives very little. A starter kit bundles the glass with a hood, an LED light and a hang-on filter, the usual first tank. Bigger tanks usually come as bare glass, equipped piece by piece, and that is where reef setups with a sump and protein skimmer start. The fish themselves are rehomed under aquarium fish, and koi and goldfish for a garden pond under pond fish.
Filters, lights and the cabinet under a big tank:
the footprint matters more than the gallons on the label. A long, low tank gives fish more room to swim and more surface for oxygen than a tall one of the same volume. A filled 55 needs a cabinet built for it and standing level, not a sideboard or a bookcase. Pick a filter rated for more water than the tank holds. A hang-on filter is cheap and easy to service; a Fluval or Eheim canister hides inside the cabinet, holds far more media and earns its keep on bigger tanks. Read the label on anything ordered from Asia, since some pumps arrive built for 220 V.
Water cuts, blackouts and the battery air pump:
heavy rain clouds the rivers that feed the treatment plants, and when IDAAN takes one offline the taps in La Chorrera, Arraiján or the capital can stay dry for a day or more, just when a water change is due. A blackout stops the filter and air pump together, and a national one has taken the Chilibre plant down with it. A battery air pump that switches itself on keeps fish breathing for hours, and a closed container of tap water already treated with conditioner lets the change wait until the supply returns.
Starter kits against a full setup with its cabinet:
a boxed 20-gallon starter kit with hood, light and filter is around $150 to $170 new, and a small betta tank stays well under $30. At that size a used one saves little, and the one thing a photo cannot show you is whether the seams will hold. The saving is in big setups: a 55 or 75 with cabinet, canister and light is awkward to move and slow to find a taker, so owners breaking one down often ask a fraction of what the pieces cost separately.
Silicone seams, rim and heater on a second-hand tank:
run your eye along every seam for peeling, bubbles or gaps, then look at the plastic rim, whose corners and centre brace stop the long panels bowing. Many standard tanks have a tempered bottom that cannot be drilled, so ask before buying one for a sump. Fill it outdoors and leave it overnight before it comes inside. Listen for a rattling impeller in the filter and make sure cartridges for that model are still sold. Be wary of a used heater: they tend to fail stuck on and can cook a tank overnight, and a new one costs little next to the fish.
Draining and moving a 55 on its cabinet:
photograph it full and running, with the corners close up. Give the gallons and outside measurements, the brand, whether the bottom is drilled and whether it ran fresh or salt water, and list each piece included with the filter’s rating. It takes two people and a pickup, so say whether the cabinet comes apart and where it is collected, in Chitré or wherever it stands. If fish are going too, they travel bagged in their own water, never left in the tank. Agree the collection day first and drain it that morning, so the bacteria in the filter media are still alive when it reaches its next home.