Help for a friend

[Fish]

Hi a friend of mine wants to buy a Biorb Life 8 gallon (square one) for their living room. Now I know everyone hates these things as they are not the best for fish but they want it as a kind of show piece. What kind of fish would you recommend? I was thinking Tetras, Rasboras that kind of thing

Thanks

[Timberwolf]

In an 8 gallon tank I'd start with a betta splendens and maybe a protocinclus jumbo. These are fish that will stay small, have great personalities (the betta, especially), and will get along well. The betta, in spite of the fact that you see them in 6 ounce cups in the LFS, really thrive when they actually have room to swim and some territory to patrol. The pitbull/goby pleco stays small and I can't imagine a better algea eater.

[Carp37]

8 gallons? If I was being facetious I'd suggest a nice shoal of Daphnia

Timberwolf's suggestion of a betta isn't a bad suggestion, except that they're pretty dull fish- but with anything active the problem is keeping the water quality within "good" parameters as the volume is so low. Maybe endlers? I've got a similar-sized tank I bought for fry rearing, but endlers are the only fish I risk in it.

[2wheelsx2]

8 gallons is a great tank size for freshwater shrimp in a nice low tech planted tank. That's what I would do.

[Fish]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll pass them on and see what he says

[corybrummie2010]

what about a shoal of 6 -8 of celestial pearl danios(DANIO MARGARITATUS),they look absolutely beautiful and easy to look after.They can tolerate ph of 6 - 8 and temperature from 68F to 77F.They eat dry foods as well as live and frozen foods.They are also easy to breed and they only grow to 1 ince max.you can also add 1 or 2 of the dwarf sucker oto(octocinclus vittatas) too ,as they grow to about 1.3 inch only to help with the algae in your tank.

celestial pearl danio.

galaxy1[1].jpg (26.98 KiB) Viewed 3026 times

[Richard B]

a small group of Cory Habrosus & some black chinned livebearers

or some ember tetras & a trio of Hara

there are some posibilities to explore but shrimps would be good as previously indicated

[Timberwolf]

Timberwolf's suggestion of a betta isn't a bad suggestion, except that they're pretty dull fish

Carp 37 is halfway right. As long as bettas are kept in little bowls with no room to swim, they are nothing but ornaments. Give them a little room to swim around, though, and they become completely different fish that will stay active and interact with their keepers. As long as their tank isn't too deep, the bigger, the better. 8 gallons is what I would consider a minimum tank size for them.

[nj2tou]

I agree - I've always kept my bettas in 6 gallon Eclipse tanks and they're usually all over the place. They definitely interact with their keepers too. Here's a video of one of my bettas. He was over 4 and went to the big fishbowl in the sky a few months ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i2FWPPwxAk

And here's another in a different tank

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xe8TaPbOp8

I love bettas! Only problem is that SOME of them can be aggressive to other fish. They should not be kept with very colorful, active fish that they can mistake for other bettas (things like guppies with their flashy tails) D'azzi had to be kept by himself, as he ATE the oto I put in with him! (he might have been better with bigger catfish, but I didn't want to take the chance) Captain Scarlet was fine with other fish, as is my big boy Fiero, who is super big and super mellow. And some other fish can be aggressive with bettas and make them miserable, so be careful there as well. Danios seem to be fine for the most part.

I put Fiero in my new set up - so for right now he has 15 gallons all to himself, (he was in with the pandas), but I'll be slowly adding my cories, as I cycle the tank. I'm hoping the Dr Tim's stuff works as well as it did last time with cycling.

Timberwolf's suggestion of a betta isn't a bad suggestion, except that they're pretty dull fish

Carp 37 is halfway right. As long as bettas are kept in little bowls with no room to swim, they are nothing but ornaments. Give them a little room to swim around, though, and they become completely different fish that will stay active and interact with their keepers. As long as their tank isn't too deep, the bigger, the better. 8 gallons is what I would consider a minimum tank size for them.

[Fish]

Wow that blue one in the first video looks awesome! Makes me want one for my own tank

I'll pass the suggestions on and see if they want a few small fish or something like 1 betta with some ground dwellers like the pit bull plecos or something

[DJ-don]

wow celestial pearl danios go for about $40 a fish in australia-even though people in our canberra district aquarists society managed to breed these fish 14 days-21days after they got them
i wouldnt reccomend celestial danios in a 8 gallon orb. they will act very dull in such a thing
maybe some cherry shrimp or chameleon shrimp?
i find cherry shrimp very esyto keep and breed!
just put them in a tank with some java moss etc and you can even see eggs being fanned in the females swimlets!!

[nj2tou]

Would cherry shrimp be ok with my cories and betta? My betta is a pretty mellow fellow and has never bothered my otos, unlike my other betta who ATE the one I had in with him. I'd like to put something like those in my tank. Thanks!

[2wheelsx2]

Nope. The betta will clean out your cherry shrimp population.

[DJ-don]

bettas will demolish your cherry shrimp-but i keep cherry shrimp with my breeding bronze cories.

[nj2tou]

ok, never mind! LOL!

[Timberwolf]

Fish started this with:

Hi a friend of mine wants to buy a Biorb Life 8 gallon (square one) for their living room. Now I know everyone hates these things as they are not the best for fish but they want it as a kind of show piece.

Now I have a question to demonstrate just how far behind the curve I really am:

Other than the glorified-fish-bowl size, what, if any are the problems with the BiOrbs and BioCubes? I have been lusting after a 29 gallon one of these since I first saw them.

[wrasse]

what, if any are the problems with the BiOrbs and BioCubes?

My view is that there are 3 issues.

1. The substrate supplied is a sharp volcanic-type rock. Its great for colonizing with bacteria but not good for any fish that lives on or feeds off the bottom.

2. And I might be out-of-date with this - the heater-stat supplied for tropicals is stuck to the inside of the bowl. Its an ugly afterthought and seems like the designers forgot to incorporate it. I remember there was talk of a new model with the heater built in to the base.

3. The light isn't adequate for most plants, although java moss/ fern is ok.

A few years ago I set a bi-orb on the counter of a shop, but with 20-25ml gravel instead of the supplied substrate. Occupied by a pair of badis badis and about 8 leopard danios. Plants were frequently replaced for a 'fresh' look. The male badis was stunning. Typically, when the tank looked really good, the idiot shop manager changed it all.

I reckon if you kept shrimp only, the supplied substrate would be fine.

[DJ-don]

trust me on this
this tank would look amazing with a species only shrimp tank like chameleon or cherry schrimp

put a decent amount of java moss then addd about 10 shrimp-in a few weeks they will be 50 shrimp in the tank-i have alot of shrimp in my commonbn and bronze cory breeding tank
they are the perfect left over cleaners

[Fish]

1 Problem....they want fish not shrimp

They seem to like the idea of a betta with some kind of ground dweller or 'cleaners'

(BTW they are completely new to fish )

[Timberwolf]

With the betta, live plants will do wonders as far as bringing out the fish's personality, but one of the first things I would do would be to scrap the substrate material that comes with the tank and set it up with something of better quality. I am getting ready to set up my Eclipse 37 using the smooth gravel (3.5-5 mm, epoxy coated) for (the planted) half of it and silica sand ("silver sand") for the rest of it. There are lots of good high quality substrate materials available. Another material that would probably be really good in this tank (and quite reasonable to use in a tank this small) is flourite. Generally fine enough for bottom dwellers and still really good for live plants, which, in addition to giving the fish a nicer place to live, do a nice job of buffering the water chemistry (especially nitrates). Remember; the smaller the tank, the less stable it is and the more maintenance it will require. Live plants will mitigate this to some extent. They also (in my opinion) make a much nicer and more satisfying and enjoyable.

Don't forget the most important part:

Have fun and enjoy!

[Fish]

I think the Biorb uses a gravel filter so are they not limited with substrate choice?

[DJ-don]

personally i think your friend should actually not get a biorb and instead get a small tank with in built lighting
a juwel tanks come in very varied sizes so i would reccomend those
dont buy australian brand tanks like aquaone-they are not that good and salt crysalization happens at the bottom of the tank

[racoll]

(BTW they are completely new to fish )

In my opinion these BiOrbs are certainly not for beginners.

In experienced hands, you could pull off a nice display, but someone new to the hobby will definitely run into multiple problems. The equipment is simply not designed to keep fish correctly. Sad, but true.

If you are unable to talk them around, all I can really recommend for the BiOrb is a shoal of Tanichthys albonubes and a few shrimp.

Having said that, if they decorated that well, it could actually be a pretty nice tank.

[libsonluv]

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[Richard B]

In my opinion these BiOrbs are certainly not for beginners.

I would agree

[2wheelsx2]

I think any tank under 20 gallons is not for a beginner. Just too many things to go wrong too quickly. But unfortunately, the cost of entry is low for them and the spouse approval factor is high on small tanks.

[MatsP]

But BiOrb are not low-cost tanks... I'm sure for the same money, you can get a 60-80 liter kit from one of the larger shop chains [this without looking any prices up]. And which makes somewhere around 15-20 US gallons, and thus a more stable environment for the fishes.

--
Mats

[2wheelsx2]

But BiOrb are not low-cost tanks... I'm sure for the same money, you can get a 60-80 liter kit from one of the larger shop chains [this without looking any prices up]. And which makes somewhere around 15-20 US gallons, and thus a more stable environment for the fishes.

--
Mats

True, but the spouse acceptance factor is high on those things. And not everyone has a fish room.

[MatsP]

But BiOrb are not low-cost tanks... I'm sure for the same money, you can get a 60-80 liter kit from one of the larger shop chains [this without looking any prices up]. And which makes somewhere around 15-20 US gallons, and thus a more stable environment for the fishes.

--
Mats

True, but the spouse acceptance factor is high on those things. And not everyone has a fish room.

No? You must be kidding. Most of the fishkeepers I know have...

But I'm not talking of some ugly thing with very basic functional design. They have pretty good looks, and works well too - BiOrb scores highly on looks, but fails the "works well" part quite badly. I'm not saying they don't work at all, but they are not great for function.

--
Mats

[2wheelsx2]

I totally agree with you Mats. But we both know that's not how it works. If that's the case, no one would ride a 1098 on the street. They'd be all on Vstroms, if function ruled over form all the time.