Traditional glass goldfish bowl

em512

If you look in tesco's round about mother's day or christmas they always do bowls with plants in. I got one for my fish about 6 years ago and is still going strong.

carl_east

Cat72 wrote:

Is this like the one they had in big brother. That was a really cool fishbowl- does anyone know where I can get it and what are the best fish to keep for bowl life.. And also any stylish fishbowls that are uhmmm cat friendly ?:o

I'm not sure what the fish bowl in big brother was because I didn't watch it but the Biorb's and Biube's have a pretty big following. I saw the Biube in T3 technology magazines Christmas present idea pullout. It was recommended for girlfriends. Coincidentally my girlfriend loves water so I thought it was ideal.

As far as goldfish bowls being cat friendly then I would say that as long as you have the biube or the 30lt or 60lt biorb on a stable stand or table then the cat won't have a hope of moving it. There's too much water inside. But you will have the light and heater cables hanging over the sides so it comes potentially damage the heater and light.

I love mine. It's looks amazing with all the fake coral, rocks and plants in it. They take a while to set up though as you need to "cycle" the tank before the toxins in it become stable enough to house plenty of fish. "Cycling" a tank can be done with a couple of hardy fish or without any fish by just adding some food everyday. It takes around four weeks to cycle a tank.

See here for the biorb forum:

http://www.biorbforum.co.uk/

teenage_Drama

Diminutive wrote:

Syphon pumps are the only way to go! I really recommend getting one with a pumping action rather than just a tube that you suck.... you really dont want a mouth full of fish tank water. My local aquatic store sell water thats more suitable for fish than tap water and its like £2 for a barrel refill (the plastic barells are like £3 to buy or something!) I always have one empty barell, for putting old water into... which i then water the garden with As for re-filling, since with syphoning the source needs to be higher than the destination (right o.0) I just pop the new barell on top of the tank

Here's a syphon on ebay for £1.99 buy it now including postage! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HAND-SYPHON-PUMP-wine-making_W0QQitemZ4455740091QQcategoryZ38172QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
it says for wine making but oh well!

Though, if you have a gravel tank (personally i have sand), you can get the ones that clean the gravel like so... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AQUARIUM-FISH-TANK-BACK-SYPHON-KIT-GRAVEL-CLEANER_W0QQitemZ7757849341QQcategoryZ20756QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

hmm
dat was incredibly confusing for me :rotfl:

so basically if i get one of those i am able to change the fish water right...but will it also take the old water out ..like i mean if u take the dirty water out somehow... the fishes would probably die cos it wud take at least 3 mins to put the new water back in..OR do u take the fishes out first : \

Diminutive

Sorry for the confusion!!

When you do a water change, you only change one third of the water. Leaving the fish with 2/3. There's important bacteria in the water that the fishes need It's best to avoid taking the fish out of the water (even if you're putting them into new water), it stresses them out alot.

Using the syphon you can first take out the old dirty water, and then using it again you can put in new clean water

With the syphon pump shown, you just pump the top a few times, till water is flowing and then the water will flow natually without you needing to pump.

The Syphon pump works for taking the water out of the tank quite easily, because the tank is higher than the source. For example, if you were to put the water into a bucket, the bucket can be on the floor or a stall.

Once 1/3 of the dirty water is out, then you can get a fresh bucket and treat it with water treatment to make it safe for the fish, then syphon it back in. When syphoning back in, the bucket of water needs to be higher than tank, because syphoning uses gravity So you have to place the bucket on top of the tank

Hope that clears things up

carl_east

When doing water changes I wouldn't recommend doing anything as much as a 33% water change on a regular basis. Almost all websites recommend a 15-20% water change per week. This will not only take out some of the dirty water but it will also help regulate the toxins in the tank taking the workload off the filter. Those who consider their fish tanks as a hobby have water test kits (I got one with mine) which cost about £20 and that will monitor the ph, amonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels in your tank. If one of these gets out of control then in certain circumstances you may need to do a 33-50% water change. One thing to bear in mind when changing so much water in a tropical tank is that unless you have an airstone and spare heater (to put in a bucket full of water overnight) the water going in is likely to lack oxygen and heat. So that may shock your fish just as much as the toxins that you're trying to remove.

The syphon will allow you to pump water out very quickly and also suck up stuff from the bottom, rather than skim water off the top with a jug. I just got one and can't recommend it enough.

Once again if you're confused about this at all the biorb forum will answer all of your questions with ease. No need to really ask them on this forum.

http://www.biorbforum.co.uk/

Carl

quoia

Just until you get a new one !