First tank - Biorb?

[ponypants]

Hi all!

I'm just looking for some advice really. My daughter is 15 months old and fascinated with water (especially bubbles, changing colours etc, the usual!) so I thought it would be wonderful to buy a tank for our lounge.

I actually had a biorb (vicariously when living with my ex many moons ago) once, and I thought it was lovely to look at, and the fish seemed happy enough to me, lived quite a few years in there (2-3 fish at a time)... the only exception being a Blackmoor who had swim bladder issues I think it's called?

Anyway, biorb was the main option at the time because we'd had an unfortunate event with more flimsy tanks, being that our rather intelligent cat had managed to get the lid off and kill off one of our fish.

Anyway, long story short, I was thinking of getting a biorb again for my daughter to look at (I still have cats, too). I also noticed they now do a colour-changing bulb that fits in the halogen light unit which would be brilliant for my daughter, but what is the general consensus when it comes to Biorbs?

Also, does anyone know if you can get generic accessories / refills for all the bits needed to run a Biorb? I actually spotted a generic 5w LED colour-changing bulb + remote on ebay and was wondering, would this fit in the biorb halogen unit? (it costs about £8, rather than £35!)

Any advice would be gratefully received. Basically looking for an easy-to-manage, reasonably-priced and exciting tank!

Thanks in advance

 

[FishieMomma]

Don't have any advice. Just wanted to say that sound perfect for a 15 month child. Mine would have loved it if I had been into the hobby then! Let us know how it works out.

 

[digitallinh]

I would get a fluval ebi/flora/chi (in that order) and put fish in it, instead of the biorb.

I always felt the curved glass of the biorb made it hard to really see the fish clearly.

The ebi can be had on amazon for 85 bucks free shipping right now, I actually just bought one yesterday, and it comes with most of the main components.

I've also read somewhere they have fixed the light failing issue.

 

[Vircomore]

As someone who purchased a BiOrb as my first aquarium - I'd honestly recommend against it. Granted - I didn't know about cycling when I purchased it - but the amount of maintenance and the poor filtration that they have really isn't worth the price.

Especially when you consider that you could buy a great glass aquarium, all the accessories, filter, heater, etc. for about half the price of a BiOrb.

But if you can get a BiOrb to work for you - your decision.

(I've also heard arguments that the spherical curves of the BiOrb causes extreme visual distortions for the fish which can confuse / harm them)

 

[Aquali]

I had a biorb as my first successful aquarium, imo I believe that fish are a lot happier in a rectanglar tank, I moved the 3 fish I had in my biorb into a much larger 29g tank I got as a present and they were joyously celebrating the change. However it does have plenty of bubbles and with the color changing led light that they have it can provide that I'm actually converting my biorb into a fw shrimp tank soon, you can find really colorful shrimp however I'm not sure if a spherical tank would be a problem, so I'm still doing research into it.

 

[Flow]

I had to reply as I'm in same position as you. My 19 month old is visually impaired & loves bubbles and lights so I thought she'd love looking at an aquarium.

The price and poor filtration of the biorb puts me off but they do look pretty. Anyway we've opted for a curved glass rectangular tank (aqua vital) and as well as filter and bright tank light I've put in a pump and airstone so we have lots of bubbles. You can also get color changing led spot lights to change color of airstone bubbles.

Its been really easy to set up and cycle and now I'm just waiting for my fancy guppies to arrive to stock it. They're very pretty, bright fish.perfect for a toddler.

Oh and my cat can't access the aqua vital tank as the lid is too heavy and flap too hard for her to open.

Goodluck with your set up whichever you choose!