PENN-PLAX Water-World Vertex Desktop Nano Aquarium Kit – Perfect for Shrimp and Small Fish – 2.7 Gallon Tank

I really like this little tank. It was actually a move up in size for my little gold fish. And yeah, I realize there are people who will insist that goldfish "can't" live in a tank this size. Mine have been living perfectly fine in a 2.5 gallon tank for the past 9 months (and about a third of that volume was taken by the internal pump). This tank is their new and improved home, and they love it. I replaced my previous acrylic aquaponic tank (which cost twice as much as this one) because I kept having leakage problems with it.I have all live plants, 2 small goldfish, and one very small plecostomus who keeps the algae away.The filter is very quiet (unless you don't have the top on it quite right and it vibrates). It seems to be doing an adequate job. I also turned the flow to low so that my fish could swim through the flow-zone. I've had no problems with it running, and no leaking problems. I haven't tried to buy replacement cartridges yet, hopefully they are obtainable.I received the correct top hinges, which at first I didn't think I'd use, because I thought they would obnoxiously stand out too much as being big and black. But they aren't bad at all, and without them, the top that comes with the aquarium will fall through. I slid the lid forward so that it overlaps the front of the tank (to me this isn't annoyingly noticeable) so that I could place a light bar across the back of the tank (I purchased an inexpensive 7" LED light bar off Amazon). If I placed my light on top of the lid, the light was reflected off the lid. This also allows enough space so you can lift the lid to feed or do water changes. Yes, condensation does build up on the lid. Of course it does - this is a cube of glass with water in it! You would see this in any open system of this style. If seeing condensation on the clear top of your tank will bother you, you should get a closed system with an opaque top (I personally really like the look of the clear top). I also don't find the lid to have "cloudy" issues as other reviews stated. Yes, it's rather thin plexiglass, but it's sturdy enough, and plenty clear other than the condensation. Maybe they didn't realize it comes with a protective sheeting that you have to remove!I wasn't sure how I would fee about the curved front edges, as they do visually distort (see my picture), but I've adjusted to seeing it, and I think the nice clean looking lines are well worth the distortion.If you are looking for a nice, small glass table top aquarium, this is a great value, and looks quite nice. I don't think you'll be disappointed!

This is an absolutely wonderful fish tank, it's exactly what I needed and wanted. It arrived extremely well packaged (in total- 4 boxes) and came with everything listed.I already own a small heater and a light fixture for my Betta fish, so I was very pleased to find this glass fish tank with just the missing piece I needed (a filter.) The filter is very quiet and arrived with a single carbon cartridge (I honestly wasn't sure if one was included, I did buy replacements too.) It was very easy to set up and it looks sleek and smooth. The filter does have an adjustable setting for the water flow but my Betta is having fun swimming against the flow when he feels like it. The tank is deep enough for him to sink to the bottom and simply relax. With the aid of the long silk plants I have he's able to anchor himself and rest on the surface easily. I do turn off the filter when I'm feeding him because the flow is too strong and throws his food around (you could easily decrease the flow issues by placing plants or something else in front of it.) The plastic lid is fine for me, it's nice to have it in order to keep the heat in, it's also helpful that the filter and heater are able to hang off the tank without any issues. The only issue I'm having with the lid is water clinging to it. All in all this was the perfect fish tank for me, I'm happy with the fact that it's not too big or too small. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat, I'm happy with the quality and the price. 😊UPDATE-- It's been 6 months and I'm still in love with my fish tank. I keep looking and reading reviews for another tank set up but I keep coming back to this one. I love that it's glass and there's NO reflective glare! The cost for a small heater and light on top of buying this tank is still worth the price (in my opinion.) I now have a small male Betta (RIP Jester) and African dwarf frog and the filter hasn't been bothersome for her. Now I just need to find room for another tank! 😆UPDATE********It's now been over a year and my fish tank is still awesome! I can't stress this enough, there is NO reflective glare, the filter is quite and I have room to put in my own filter media. My next tank will definitely be a Penn Plax, I purchased a 5 gallon Penn Plax from a different seller and it arrived broken, so I decided to try the 5.5 gallon Aqueon Glow fish tank and I HATE the reflective glare.

The pros: Great 5 gallon aquarium, very solid. The HOB filter that comes with it is fine. You can make some slight modifications with filter floss and bio media to improve its function. The lid is a simple rectangular glass piece that sits on two plastic ledges. It has a large enough space to allow the HOB filter and other items such as a clip on light (sold seperately).Cons: I wish the glass lid had a more formed fit with two rounded corners to fit snuggly in the front, but that is a small complaint. The largest con was how this product was shipped. They placed extremely strong addhessive patches on the filter box and stuck it to the inside bottom of the aquarium. It took me around 40 mins to scrape this off the glass. I chose not to use chemicals to remove it, which shouldn't be necessary if they'd use some common courtesy in shipping procedures. This was not needed. The box was small and no way could damage glass during shipping. But mashing a glue patch with the strength of 1000 gods certainly can hurt the glass. I still feel like there is some residual adhesive sitting down at the bottom under the gravel.All in all, product is good, shipping procedure is a disaster. I recommend a sponge filter along with this HOB filter. Must buy your own light and heater. Good for fry if do it right.