Bio orb's... Cruel?

[kye]

A friend of mine has been looking at buying a bio orb for awhile now, much to my horrah.

As a fishy fanatic I wouldnt touch one with a barge pole, generally believing them to be cruel.

I read something in a tropical fish magazine (cant remember which one) awhile ago about them and basicly it said that the enviroment was unnatural and confusing to the fish, disorientating them etc...

Is my view on the bio orb accurate, are they cruel and if so why.

I want my friend to have more than one fish keeper's opinion on the bio orb.

 

[QTOFFER]

I think the bio orb is one of those products that looks great but suffers from a fundamental design flaw that renders it practically useless.

The problem with bio orbs is that they have far less water/air surface area than a comparably sized rectangular tank. Because of this, they are difficult to oxygenate and can't support nearly as much bioload as a regular tank.