Hi - I Dont Have Any Fish................

[scubadoo]

So I'm currently smurfing around trying to find more info to steer me in the right direction.

This looks like it could be the right place.

I'm currently thinking of starting small with something fairly simple like a biorb 60.
I can just hear the sniggers now from the more experienced.

Really I'm looking for a way into the hobby which will keep the kids entertained and I can cut my teeth on basic principles, and importantly, a set up which will fit nicely into the small corner I've allocated in my mind for the kit.

ps - dont tell the mrs cos she doesnt know yet that some of her stuff will have to be moved to accommodate the fish

 

[catxx]

welcome!

first things first, don't get a biorb, they're a bit rubbish.

do you have any measurements for your corner in mind? is there a max length/depth it needs to be?

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Hi and welcome.

OK things to lookout for.

1. Biorb, Make sure you go for the tropical version as it comes with a heater and halogen lamp.
2. You will need a air pump if one is not installed as the narrow top of the bowl is not big enough to allow natural air to get into the water.
3. make sure you buy a mid size plant to fit into the orb so you dont have to mess with it to much.
4. buy a 60ltr bucket with a lid at teh same time. (buy this from a wine making store) this will be used to top your water up and to do water replenishes. basically you do not want to add tapwater. Fill the bucket up and leave it for three days then fill up the orb with this water and go out and buy your fish. Fill teh buket up again and leave for a further 3 days, change out 50% of the water in the orb every 4 days.

If you need to clean the bowl (empty all teh water out) as there is to much algae then use the whole bucket of water to refill your tank. clean the tank with tapwater and fill it back up with the bucket water. try to save the old water you used to clean the gravel. dont use tapwater to watsh the gravel as this will kill the bacteria. if you have a totally new tank all the time the water will go clowdy and your fish will die.

5. dont buy angel fish, discus or silver dollers as this type of tank will stress them out.
6. dont buy a plecco for this tank as it will out grow the tank really fast. only buy pleccos that wil grow no more than 6cm
7. when you feed your fish with dry flakes. pinch the surface of the dry flakes with your first finger and thumb so it is like 3 layers thick and drop it into the tank. this is enough.
8. If you buy guppies they will eat until they die.
9. fish can live for around 6days without being fed before they get stressed to much. so to much food will kill your fish and it will also kill the water in the tank.
10. your plant needs min 10hrs of sun a day.
12. look at teh fish before you buy. If they have white spots, furry groth, clowdy eyes, slimy looking scales. dont buy any thing from that tank. Also look if the water from that tank is fed from another tank. if so dont buy any thing from that tank.
13. before you make sure the temprature and PH levels of your fish all match .e.g
Angel fish 25-30 deg some tetras 22-24 deg obviously these two fish should not be placed in to the same tank.
14. dont place your tank in direct sunlight as the tempratur can change by 6 deg from day and night. this will kill your fish.

Um any thing else people??

 

[scubadoo]

Thanks very much for the fast replies.

Phew looks like i've got lots to learn fozzy.

Good job I didn't just but the thing on impulse at the wekend - almost did!

I've had a bit of a look through the forums since I posted the start of this thread.
It seems that the general consensus here is that the biorb isn't much good for keeping fish - which is a shame because it does look good (in my humble opinion).

I dont actually have much more space available than a biorb would take (nicely tucked away in a corner away from the sunlight), and I'm not really keen on a corner unit.

I have growing interest in fish keeping - brought on by my enjoyment of diving, but I know that I'm not in a position to consider a marine set-up (even though thats what I'd really like).

So what is the real problem with biorbs - is it that the quality of the kit supplied isn't up to the job, or is it purely that the shape of the tank isn't conducive to many fish breeds?

I guess that what I'm looking for is something with quite a lot of small brightly coloured fish (rather than 2 or 3 larger ones).

Also, I've seen quita a bit about the gravel on the bottom of the biorb being bigger and more coarse than normal - would it then be suitable to put some bottom feeders or snails etc in there ?

Too many questions I guess and a lot of reding to do .......

 

[catxx]

i find biorbs hard to look at, because it's bowl shaped you never get a clear view of the fish, combined with bad filtration, it's NOT suitable for bottom feeders, is only really suitable for mid/top-range fish. it's a very expensive option, parts of the filter needs to be replaced far more regularly than other tanks.

you could look into hex tanks, their footprint is about the same as a bioorb, and you have a bit more flexibility stock wise. but if you can go for a longer tank thats always the better option. length is more important than height, especially if you want small colourful fish, which are usually very active and swim side to side rather than up and down.

 

[scubadoo]

So consensus seems to be leave biorb alone and go for a rectangular tank

hmmmmmm

now this could involve a lot of living room reorganisation and plenty of spouse management!

for spouse management read grovelling !

 

[catxx]

show the Mrs lots and lots of pictures of pretty pretty tanks and promise you'll do all the cleaning and the feeding and the everything. and that it'll be PRETTY. i'm sure she'll be won over hehe.

 

[scubadoo]

OK - so after the wife had gone to bed got out my tape measure and went to work.

Given that the only free location is a corner, there are only a few options:

1) Biorb on stand as mentioned above, but nobody on here's going to recommend that.

2) Simple rectangular tank (max length 36" or 3' whichever you prefer), but it will be tucked in corner, so not sure about viewing fish obliquely most of time.

3) Nice corner tank, but of the ones I've seen I only like the ones with a curved front like the Juwel Trigon 190l - might be a bit of a squeeze, but should be able to shoehorn it in.

If anyone had any thought on the above, I'd be grateful for input.

 

[seanc]

Juwel trigon 190 is probably your best option if you prefer that toa bog standard 36"x12x18, although a standard tank with 30 gallons does give you plenty of space, the Juwel gives even more gallonage therefore less chance of water stats swinging wildly.. more water = more constant ph/ gh/kh/sg/ and less chance of ammonia nitrite and nitrate levels rocketing. "solution to pollution is diffusion" after all. Alot of aquarists aren't too keen on some of the jewel hardware though: the filters are horrible to clean, and not as effective as using a decent external (eheim/ fluval) or even a fluval 4+ internal filter.