30 Litre Biorb Tank

[gillyjw]

Good morning guys,

Just joined this forum, so cut me some slack if I'm a bit slow!

I've bought my first tank, a 30Litre BiOrb tank (see pic), with a 50W Delta Therm heater.

The tank was left and cycled for 3 days, temperature is at 25 degrees and now has 3 residents to start off with:

2 x Cory Panda
1 x Pakistani Loach.

I have a couple of questions that I hope you guys can help me with.

How soon can I add new fish to the tank?

Any recommendations for cool/interesting fish for a community tank?

Thanks!

 

[Prime Ordeal]

You are now doing what's known as a 'fish-in cycle'. That is, you are establishing a bacteria colony in your filter from the ammonia produced by the fish. The problem is that ammonia is toxic and it takes anything up to two months to establish the bacteria which will remove it for you. Until then you have to do water changes to keep the toxins diluted. To do this you need a liquid test kit, something like the API freshwater master test kit, which is cheapest from eBay. With this you measure ammmonia and nitrite and make a water change whenever the levels get to 0.25ppm.

Don't buy any more fish until the cycle is complete.

Also a 50W heater may not be sufficient if your room is cold.

 

[abbiebrown]

Hi there, I'm no expert but I think your corys will suffer in the orb, I assume you have the Bio orb media in the bottom? it will damage their barbs, they really need sand or smooth gravel... you could modify the orb so you can put sand or gravel in, it's very easy to do

 

[soybean]

Welcome to the forum.

You're probably not going to like many of the responses you get but they are all done from the point of view of welfare for the fish, nothing else.

Tanks don't cycle in three days, this is something shops seem to tell people and I'll never really understand why. I think it's so people keep coming back for either bottles of stuff to 'help' the tank in some way, or more fish when their first ones die from ammonia poisoning. Cycling takes many weeks and is the process of maturing the filter with bacteria that consume and convert harmful ammonia into equally as harmful nitrite, and then into less harmful nitrate which is controlled by you via water changes.

The best thing you can do now is click the link in my sig which takes you to the beginners centre and explains fully the cycling processes.

You have two options:

Fish in cycle, which you are doing now, which involves daily water changes of nearly all the water to remove all the harmful ammonia. Ammonia poisons fish and seriously affects them in many ways. Choosing fish in cycle is a commitment to these daily water changes and daily testing with a liquid test kit.

Fishless cycling, favoured by many as it is the way of avoiding all harm to fish, is where you add a source of ammonia to a tank with no fish in it, maturing the filter without having to do all the water changes, preparing it for fish without exposing them to the damage their own waste can do.

In your position, learning this, I would return the fish (neither type is suitable for a biorb anyway I'm afraid) and buy a bottle of ordinary household ammonia and a liquid testing kit, and start from scratch, following the information in the beginners resource centre.

If you search the forum for fishless cycling you will find dozens of threads on it which will help too.

Once cycled, you can then decide on stocking. You are limited with a biorb to be honest but it's not impossible to stock it!

 

[CezzaXV]

I agree with everything soybean said.

Biorbs aren't really very good tanks, there are so many problems.

I'm not that familiar with Pakistani loaches, but I know cories (my favourite fish!) are schooling fish that need to be in groups of at least 6. The trouble is, a biorb just isn't suitable for six cories, because the capacity is too small and the substrate will likely damage their barbels. Unfortunately, because the biorb uses undergravel filtration, you can't really change the substrate either.

 

[beechey]

I Disagree I love my biorb tank and has made me a lot of money what ever I put in the tank breeds lol and all my plants grow in there

 

[soybean]

I Disagree I love my biorb tank and has made me a lot of money what ever I put in the tank breeds lol and all my plants grow in there

Anything that ISN'T livebearers?

 

[BETTY BOO]

I Disagree I love my biorb tank and has made me a lot of money what ever I put in the tank breeds lol and all my plants grow in there

i agree i loved my biorb but they are not for corys

 

[Akasha72]

agreeing with Soybean too. She helped me massively when I got myself into a fish in cycle and then the new tank syndrome that followed.

I know nothing about biorbs but I just wanted to say that there is an alternative to sand that cory will live happily on. Look for a round soft pebble like substrate. Roll it between your fingers if you can. If there are no sharp bits the cories will be okay on it. Having said that a 30 litre tank really isn't big enough for cories. They like to be in groups and they like plenty of floor space. If you really want cories (and why not they are gorgeous little guys) I'd look for a larger tank that you can move them into when they grow - I'm presuming the two you have are tiny little things about 1 and a half cm? ... they will grow to about 7cm in no time at all.

Good luck with your new tank. All the info here will seem daunting at first but once you get to grips with it you'll wonder why it seemed so complicated in the beginning

 

[beechey]

Great for my shrimps and brisslenose babys and blue japannese guppy fry

 

[soybean]

Great for my shrimps and brisslenose babys and blue japannese guppy fry

I'm sure it is. With respect, this isn't regular stocking is it? Shrimp are small enough for the tank and many species breed readily, but they're not fish. Bristlenose fry are precisely that, babies, and one adult would be too big for it. Guppies will breed in anything, and fry are tiny. There isn't really any common comparison between your stocking and the two corys and Pakistani loach gilly has added.

Biorbs CAN be sensibly stocked but the choices are restricted. On balance, they aren't the best tanks for a person new to fish keeping.

 

[pablothebetta]

I think you will already have established from the other posters that those cories and the loaches won't be suitable for your tank - not only is the volume too small, but the substrate area is tiny and filled with harsh ceramic media which will damage them.

I would recommend that unless you have another, more apropriate, tank or are willing to upgrade already that you do get rid of the cories. Check to see if family, friends or colleagues can take them and if not, your LFS might. There is also the option of offering them on here, I'm sure there will be people to take them off your hands

There aren't many fish suitable for a 30L BiOrb, to be fair. Microrasbora, ember tetra, endlers and bettas are all I can think of right now.

 

[beechey]

Na the bn's go in discus tank when grow bigger!

 

[dwarfgourami]

Apart from the obvious problems with the size and shape of the tank, panda cories are fairly sensitive as cories go and really shouldn't be used to cycle a tank. Your best bet would be to return the current fish to the shop and do a fishless cycle and then start again.

Suitable fish for a tank this size might be:

a single betta

or

a small school of microrasboras

or

a group of heterandria formosa (can be ordered online)- particularly suitable if your water is hard which is not ideal for microrasboras

or

a small group of male endlers

shrimps

 

[littlegreentiger]

Ember Tetra? Norman's Lampeye?

Incidentally, my Dad successfully replaced the supplied substrate with relatively small pieces of slate (usually used for gardens/driveways). Still no use for Cory's but opens the door for Otto's as there will be far greater surface area for algae to grow on for them.