Aquariums & Aquarium Accessories
Buy and sell aquariums and aquarium accessories in Guatemala.
Most plain glass tanks in Guatemala are cut and siliconed by local workshops and described by their outside measurements, while the filters, heaters and lights that run them arrive boxed from brands such as Boyu, SunSun and Sobo, rated in gallons or litres. Matching one to the other is the decision that matters. New and pre-owned gear sit side by side: a bare workshop tank, a curved-glass kit with its cabinet, the canister a planted tank needs, or the low turtle tank a family has stopped using.
Workshop-built tanks and boxed kits:
one is a bare glass box, the other a working aquarium. A workshop tank is built to order or in the workshop’s usual sizes, from a betta cube to a long cichlid tank, and it arrives with nothing: filter, heater, light and lid are yours to choose. A kit from Sobo or Boyu comes with curved or rimless glass, a built-in filter and LED, and on the larger models a matching cabinet. The built-in filter takes that brand’s cartridges for as long as you own it. Low tanks with a ramp are turtle housing and sit better under reptiles and amphibians. Fish waiting for a new tank are under aquarium fish, and koi for a garden pond under pond fish.
Filters sized to the tank, heaters sized to the town:
work out the volume from the outside measurements and buy a filter rated for more water than you have, never less. A sponge filter on an air pump is gentle enough for fry and small tanks. A hang-on cascade filter covers most living-room tanks. A canister hidden in the cabinet earns its place on large or planted tanks, where it runs quieter and holds more media. A big tank full of water and gravel weighs more than a refrigerator, so it wants a proper cabinet or a welded stand, not a sideboard. The heater depends more on altitude than on the fish. In Quetzaltenango or Totonicapán the nights cool an unheated tank well below what tropical fish tolerate, so a thermostat heater belongs in the first purchase. In Puerto Barrios or Zacapa it rarely switches on and the danger runs the other way: keep the tank out of direct sun and leave the lid open enough for heat to escape.
Canisters, heaters and the value in a used setup:
a thermostat heater costs around Q100 new, cheap enough that buying one second-hand saves a few quetzales and brings the risk of a unit that sticks on. Canisters are a different matter: an unbranded one starts around Q400 and an established brand runs to about Q1,500, so a quiet canister with its hoses and taps, a good LED bar and a solid cabinet are what give a pre-owned setup its worth. The bare glass is the cheapest part to replace, so a used bare tank should be priced as glass, not as the whole rig.
Silicone seams on a used tank:
they fail long before the glass does. Run a finger along every inside corner and look for bubbles, cloudy patches or an edge lifting away. Ask about glass thickness, because local tanks are built and priced by it and a long tank in thin glass bows outward when full. A tank that has stood dry for a long time is the likeliest to weep, so fill it outdoors on level ground and leave it overnight before it comes into the house. Run a used canister before paying, listen for a rattling impeller and check that the hoses, taps and media baskets are all there, because those are what go astray. Test a heater in a bucket against a separate thermometer: one that fails to switch off can cook a tankful of fish in a night.
Listing a tank, its stand and the filter that ran it:
someone weighing up a used tank wants the outside size, the glass thickness and whether it is a workshop build or a branded kit in the opening line. Name the filter by its rating rather than writing “with filter”, and say whether the tank held fresh or salt water. Photograph it filled, lit and running, with the corner seams close up. Drain it completely before anyone lifts it, because glass carried with water inside twists and the seams take the strain. Then say where it is and how it leaves: a long tank in Fraijanes or Santa Catarina Pinula needs a pickup truck, two people and a blanket between the glass and the truck bed.