Heater For A Baby Biorb?

[domesticated ape]

Hi all, I'm new here so I apologise in advance for my lack of knowledge!

My wife decided the other day that we needed some fish, so we went to Pets At Home and bought a 29L Clear-Seal rectangular tank, and a load of other things such as a filter, gravel and plants. However when we got it home we realised that it was just too big for our little house (it looked much smaller in the shop), so it all went back and we exchanged it for a Baby Biorb.

We were inteding just to get a couple of small goldfish or other small coldwater fish, but because of the small size of the Baby Biorb I'm wondering if it would be better with some smaller tropical fish instead. The shop assistant said that the Baby Biorb was too small for a heater, but the picture on the box shows it with tropical fish inside, and there's also a list of 'fish for my Biorb' inside the box.

I already searched the forum and saw that someone has tried the Biorb heater inside the Baby Biorb and found it to be too big*. So does anyone know of any other heaters that are small enough to work with the Baby Biorb?



*I also found lots of posts about Biorbs being not very good, but since we've already been back to the shop once we're pretty much stuck with it now. Should've found this forum before going to the shop in the first place!

 

[catxx]

i would have no fear in going back to the shop a second time, stating that it's not suitable for tropicals and after some research you'd prefer to have something you can actually heat!

get a tape measure out and work out exactly how much space you have for a larger tank (that you can fit a heater in), and go back to the shop, tape measure in hand. there are several skinnier models of tanks out there you can keep small tropicals in and even a heater, hexs and square. i have a 5 gallon hex with an 18" base, and the square 7.5 gallon is about the same.

chances are after a month of running the baby bioorb you'll want to upgrade anyway, so might as well do it now while you can still get your money back!

 

[n3ont3tra]

I agree with Cat, the biorbs can barely hold any fish, and they would never be happy. A much better idea is as Cat suggested, going back to the lfs and gettion something bigger.
Also, there are no "small" goldfish. Common goldfish grow up to 2 ft long, maybe longer, I'm not sure. Fancy varieties generally need 20g per fish and an extra ten for each additional fish. They can usually grow to about a foot, depending on the species. A more suitable stocking idea would be a heated tank, as big as you have room for, with few small tetras or some pygmy corydoras, or maybe a betta (or more in a divided tank).

 

[proton]

What about endler's? They are around 1" in length, that would be perfect...

 

[pica_nuttalli]

although really, if you just keep your house warm (say 73-78 F), you don't need a heater at all. the light will probably warm the water up a couple more degrees, which would make it perfectly fine for most tropicals.