Help?!

[PAV]

Hi,

I have been keeping goldfishes for the last year and a bit. I got them as a gift from my sister. At first I had a standard fish bowl, around 30L, but after about 2 months I changed to a biorb 60L as I thought this would be much better. I stupidly did not read all the reviews on the biorb so I was disappointed when I saw that many customers did not like the false advertising. What are your thoughts on the Biorb range?

I am in a bit of a pickle now as to whether I should change tanks and get a bigger, longer tank (I also want to add some more fishes) or should I stick to my current tank.

I tend to clean my tank about every 3 weeks, however it has started to look very cloudy and dirty, my filter seems to be working, but I am not sure if the tank is good enough for my fish. When I first got my fish, within the first 7 days, one died. However I bought another and it has been going strong for a year. Is this some sort of indication that my tank is good.

Looking for friendly advice,
Thank you

 

[Plecc]

Hi,
What exactly is wrong with the biorb?
How have they been falsely advertising?

I think if you are wanting to expand into other cold water fish it would be wise to get yourself a regular rectangular tank, for the same price as the biorb you could have a 120L!
Regular tanks are much easier to customise allowing your setup to grow with your hobby.

 

[sadguppy]

Goldfish can grow very large and you're probably looking at a 200l tank for three to be happy for life. My personal opinion is that goldfish should be saved for ponds, with just the addition of a heater small tropicals are far more suitable for indoor living and better coloured therefore to me, more interesting to watch. It is something to consider, as goldfish are generally not suited to community living.

The general thoughts on bi-orbs around here aren't great. The number of fish you can suitably house in a tank is less related to it's capacity and more to do with surface area - which for the bi-orb is very small. Add to that the fact that the biggest bi-orb at 60l is too small for even one goldie for life despite the picture on the box and that goes some way to explaining why they're often thought of quite negatively by serious aquarists.