To put these fish in this aquarium

[Sally150]

So I have bought one of those lovely biorb 30 litre aquariums with the intention of having a couple of fancy goldfish in it with maybe moving them to a bigger one when they grow larger.
However after reading up I'm dismayed to find that the advice is that 30 litre is too small for goldfish and many other type of fish.
Advice recommends a betta fish on it's own with maybe a snail or 2.
Any ideas of I can possible put 2 other small fish in if I did get a betta as I dont really want just 1 fish.
I know i should have done more research please go easy on me.
Anybody got any ideas on what I can put in there.

I had beta in tank with others and they were all fine. But it was 120 liters.
If you go for guppies, just ensure you don't have pairs. I ended up with nearly 100 young ones at 1 point and bought extra 60 liter tank for them... But local pet shop was buying them off me so 13 years old myself had a fish business 😂

Maybe check out some forums specialising in fish and aquariums. I always found good advice on them.

I would honestly plattys as they can be tropical or cold water you could choose diffrent colours just make sure you get 1 male and 2 females and they should be happy and a couple of shrimp as they will keep clean. If you thinking about snails they lay eggs every where and breed like mad and hard to get rid of after.

Platys are fantastic fish, but if you do go for them, I would go for same sex as they breed pretty quickly. I started with 2 and ended up with a tank full.

I wouldn't go for plates tbh or guppies you would be better off with a shoe of 6 neons and a betta fish but you will need a heater. BTW you do need them for patties too alot of old interpret books say they are tropical or cold water but that's was when they were being wild caught in the 70s. Now they are mainly tank bread so they are born into tropical temperatures so need to be kept the same not to cause problems.
Manager of an aquatic shop. Please feel free to pm me if I can help

Go and find a good independent tropical fish shop- or find a good tropical fish forum and get advice.
Male Betta fish can mix with other fish but you need to research which ones.

What about having 2 female Betta fish. Just as pretty in my opinion.

I’d say more than two female betta - there can be aggression if there’s just two, one wil become more dominant than the other

Don't get guppies with a betta. They're too wriggly. And may nip at the betta's flowing fins and tail. We got our betta from a specialist fish shop, and were told not to keep him with anything else.

And the females are definitely more plain looking!

A 30L tank is not big enough for many of these suggestions.

Whilst small, fish like most of the tetras need a big shoal and a lot of swimming space, plus plants/decor to hide behind.

Guppies are not such active swimmers but are a surface dweller that needs surface area... which a Biorb lacks.

Platys and mollies are plain too big for that size tank.

Really, your options are 1 betta with possibly some shrimp (amano shrimp are too big for a betta to eat though small enough for a stroppy one to kill)..

Dedicated shrimp tank.

School of microrasbora such as the chilli rasbora.

Group of galaxy rasbora

I'd go for a group of ember tetras, and some dwarf shrimp. Plenty to look at but no one is going to be struggling for space.

Goldfish imo should be banned from sale.
They are not aquarium fish. Period.

Properly looked after they are huge!
Massive waste producers as well requiring double rated filtration to be healthy.

I would go for one Betta or shrimp or microrasbora or ember tetra OP

Hi.
I have a biorb 30 with 3 goldfish in it for last 7 years! None have been replaced. Any new people that come to my house always comment on the tank,

If you keep shrimp with a betta be prepared for it to rip them apart.

You could add some moss like flame moss and a small anubias (both do well with low light) and keep some easy dwarf shrimp such as cherry shrimp.
As for fish you might be able to get away with a small shoal of dwarf rasboras but not with a betta.

When you test your water make sure you get a reading for nitrates with zero nitrites and ammonia before adding shrimp or fish.

@stillawakeat4amagain - a tank needs to have been going for a year before you can put in neon tetras. They need mature water.

Op, I suggest you join thecPractical Fishkeeping forum on and ask there. You’ll get advice from people who know.

I have a biorb 30 with 3 goldfish in it for last 7 years! None have been replaced

Perfect example of why they should be banned!

Goldfish are carp so big fish.
They have a natural length of 30cm minimum and a lifespan of 30 years or more.
A fully grown goldfish wouldn't even fit in a biorb.

When in too small a space they can temporarily stop their growth so they stay small.
Hence the 'goldfish only grow to the size of the tank' view.
Unfortunately long term stopping of growth damages their internal organs and they usually die a premature and painful death as a result.

Also, being carp they produce extremely large amounts of shit in comparison to their size which produces ammonia which burns their gills and suffocates them.
They need double rated filtration for this very reason.
So a 300 litre tank would need 600 litre rated filtration.

I would get a betta. They look so beautiful.

I know care of fish has moved on but we had two gold fish that lived to 20 in a similar sized aquarium to the one being discussed (different shape) before "retiring" to my grandads pond. They were still going strong when the house was sold making them 28 then! The key is to have decent plants, we also had snails in there.

I'm no expert but that tank in the video looks way too small for the fish.
It can barely swim.

I kept a betta for years with some tetras and guppies they did really well together. You don't want any nippy fish

If you mean for the betta, they live in puddles and rice fields in the wild and the requirements are very different. That tank would be completely unsuitable for most fish, including goldfish who need tonnes more space, but bettas are different which is why I suggested it for the OP because it will thrive in a smaller space when a goldfish won't. For example they can be kept in a 5 gallon (22 litre) tank. The biorb is 30L, I'd recommend making sure the water is put to the level it will have the largest surface area, and read up on fish care.

Even if people have had success with fish not recommended for each other, it doesn’t mean it’ll work in every case. I wouldn’t even attempt it, it’s not fair.

Hi, I am an expert fish keeper and I personally recommend a betta fish, they are an amazingly interactive pet. Mine rubs himself against my fingers like a cat does to your legs when I put my hand in the water lol.
I currently keep a betta fish with 16 (6 cardinals 10 rummy nose 5 of which are golden) tetras, 6 chilli rasbora, 8 salt and pepper Cory Dora's, 5 ottocinclus and a few tai tibee in a 80 litre community tank. However as mentioned before, I am an expert. This tank is very overfiltered, and is heavily planted to compensate for the massive overstocking I also do 1-2 water changes per week to keep nitrates in check.
I also keep an oscar fish in a 300 litre tank.
I would not recommend you do either of these things as a beginner. Especially if you believe mumsnet is the first place you should ask about fish related questions when there are plenty of dedicated fish forums available.
Betta and oscar are similar. One grows to like 2inch maximum.. The other grows to like 14 inches. Both can be trained to do tricks. Both recognise their owner and can bond with them.
Both can be kept on their own without any problems.
Betta can be kept in community tank but you need to choose the fish wisely and also the betta wisely. You need to find a passive betta who doesn't show aggression.
My advise is that if you have a 30 litre bio orb tank the best fish you could buy is a betta.
Do not add schooling fish as you simply won't have the space for enough of them to get the schooling behaviour and if you do buy schooling fish, stick to the incredibly tiny ones like chilli rasbora or lamp eyes. Even neon tetras are too big to be kept in adequate numbers with a betta fish in a biorb 30.
1 betta + 6 chilli's, or lamp eyes or a similar nano fish.
1 betta + cherry shrimp. (ones from the lfs bred in your local tap water)
1betta + 2 nerite snails. (they won't breed in freshwater i believe so you won't get over run.)
No betta + 6 neon tetras or similar sized schooling fish.

Realistically though your best bet is betta and nerites for the lowest maintenance tank.
Betta + cherries for a more active and still relatively low maintenance tank.
Betta + fish if you want to deal with diatoms and algae.