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Original poster

Thinking of getting a biorb 60L for our fancy goldfish - any advice/experience?

14 replies

peggotty · 20/03/2010 14:23

I've known for a while that our poor fancy goldie is in a far too small tank (only 17l) and I am considering splashing out on a biorb 60L. I have read a couple of things online that they are not good for goldfish - is this true? I know that 60 litres is the barest minimum for one fish so in theory this tank should be ok? I would not put any more fish into it. The main reasons I want the biorb is because it looks good and it would fit into a suitable space in our not-very-spacious house, but I am willing to reconsider and get a rectangular tank if the consensus is that biorbs are crap....

OP posts:
Original poster
peggotty · 20/03/2010 14:45

oh dear, have just done a search on biorbs within MN and see that they are absolutely slated. Crap. I really liked it as well. Going to have to persuade DH that we need a big rectangular 60 litre tank instead, just as I'd got him sold on the biorb. (he thinks we shouldn't even be bothering re-housing our fish from it's current tank just because it's still alive!)

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hocuspontas · 20/03/2010 14:57

Yes, not really fish friendly. We looked at them to start with then bought this as a new home for our ageing fish. Looks good but the pump is strong, not what ours are used to!

sweetnitanitro · 20/03/2010 16:44

Yeah, biorbs are not much use for anything really other than looking pretty and expensive. 60 litres isn't big enough for goldfish either, they grow massive and so need a lot of space and really heavy filtration. For a pair of fancy goldfish you'd need at least 30 gallons (that's about 140 litres), a tank that volume would be about 3 feet long.

Fancy goldfish get to about 8 inches long so anything smaller really isn't any good because they wouldn't have enough space to swim. It's a myth that they grow to the size of their tank, but if they don't have enough room to grow they will become stunted-basically all their internal organs become squashed- which is obviously bad for their long term health (long term being about 10-15 years for a fancy goldfish)

If you need any advice on any other goldfish stuff just ask

Original poster
peggotty · 20/03/2010 21:59

Thanks hocuspontas and sweetnitanitro.

Ok, will shelf the biorb idea!

I only have one fancy goldfish - a Blue Oranda. I am really going to struggle to fit a bigger than 60 litre tank anywhere in our house - surely a 60 litre tank for one fancy goldfish would be ok if you say that a pair of them requires 140 litre?

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YourCallIsImportant · 20/03/2010 22:03

We've had 2 fantail goldfish in a standard biorb for the last 5 years and they're absolutely fine. The biorb has given us no bother at all, so I'd say go ahead. It looks lovely and is very low maintenance (according to DH who looks after it).

Original poster
peggotty · 20/03/2010 22:05

What do you think ofthis

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sweetnitanitro · 21/03/2010 08:22

No, 60 litres really isn't big enough, sorry when you consider their adult size they will barely have space to turn around in a 60 litre tank, it would shorten their lifespan considerably.

When stunting occurs, their body stops growing but their internal organs don't, so in the end they are crushed and the fish dies, usually of renal failure. This can happen quite suddenly after months of everything looking fine. I really wish shops would tell people this before they bought goldfish but they just see little swimming dollar signs

Most shops do nothing to dispel the common misconception that fish grow to the size of their tank and don't live long- goldfish live much longer than most pets if you give them the proper conditions.

I know it's very sad for your DCs but the kindest thing for the fish would be to return it to the shop or give it to someone that's got space for a tank big enough. A 60 litre tank would be fine for minnows or small tropical fish (bettas are easy to look after, they are colourful and have great personalities). Make sure to do a fishless cycle before you add any fish though! fishless cycling

Sorry for all the bad news, but take a look at Bruce the oranda and you'll see why a 60 litre tank is too small- Bruce

JollyPirate · 21/03/2010 08:26

I was given a biorb recently by my parents (it was theirs) and it has three goldfish in it. Having read about Bio-orbs and goldfish I am thinking about seeing if there are any fish-keepers on Freecycle who will take the goldfish so I can replace them with a small shoal of tiny coldwater minnows.

Original poster
peggotty · 21/03/2010 08:38

Sweetnitanitro i was hoping you'd come back to this - thanks. That oranda is huge! Is he yours? All a bit depressing about the tank, I must admit and dd is very attached to 'Jewel' our oranda! Gah I don't know what to do! I don't particularily want to take her back to where we got her as it was 'Pets at Home' and I can't see them being that concerned about rehoming her to someone who knows what they are doing!

THe thought of a lovely tank of tropical fish does appeal.

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Original poster
peggotty · 21/03/2010 08:39

Thank you too Jollypirate, but I thought Freecycle didn't allow animals on it?

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sweetnitanitro · 21/03/2010 08:43

I wish he was mine my veiltail got pretty big but nothing compared to Bruce.

Yeah, Pets at Home is pretty shocking with fish advice. If there is a Maidenhead Aquatics near you (they are usually based in garden centres) then you could try them, they are pretty good as most of their staff are trained but sometimes you can still get a duff one- www.fishkeeper.co.uk/storelocation.aspx

JollyPirate · 21/03/2010 10:18

Hello pegotty - in general I don't think Freecycle do allow animals (and am not sure they should either) but our local one does ads I have seen a few animals offered (fish and hamsters/gerbils etc).
Other than that might phone around some of the local fish places to see if they can re-home. Failing that it looks like I will need a different tank. Was mortified when I read about goldfish and biorbs but already had it by then. Mine are single tail fish - not too fancy but all boys - Mum removed them from her other tank as they were harrassing the females .

Ripeberry · 21/03/2010 10:26

I've got a 30L bi-orb and only have one little Danio in it. Tried two, but the water quality went right down and lots of water changes did not help.
When the new one died and just one was left, then the water was Ok again.
They claim you can have 3 little fish in there, not unless you want to be changing water every single week

sweetnitanitro · 21/03/2010 11:18

Ripeberry- danios are shoaling fish, they get stressed and ill quite easily if they are not in a large group (6+). Also any aggression needs to be spread out among as many fish as possible, they are constantly squabbling to sort out the pecking order and if you only have a couple of fish then the dominant one will just bully the other one. That might have been part of the problem.

In general, I wouldn't listen to a damn word biorb says in the instructions, they only care about one thing and it aint fish! And the filters are crap.

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