Hi All,

I'm looking at buying a Biorb Life 60 and I think I'm going to go down the tropical fish route ( initially wanted a marine setup but have been put off with some of the comments I've read ). So that I don't spend too much on equipment that is not suitable, if anyone has any info on a good tank heater and any extras required it would be much appreciated and also where I can get them?

What types of fish are easier to look after and can happily live together

I really am a beginner at this and to be honest I'm beginning to get information overload.

Thanks,

B

If you want a 60 litre tank there are much better options out there in more standard designs that are healthier for fish, have better filtration, give you more choices of fish that will suit the tank and are much less strain on your wallet.

For instance, this Juwel Rekord 600 is supplied with lights, heater, filter and media and is only £84.45.

The Biorb tanks tend to be nice to look at but not terribly practical for actually keeping fish and have inadequate filtration. Apart from that they are very, very overpriced in terms of what you actually get for over £200.

If budget isn't an issue, then for the price of the Biorb you could have a much bigger and better tank.

I would not recommend the Biorbs. The filtration system is antiquated, and the tall narrow shape gives both a rather small area for swimming, and a small surface area which reduces the area for gas exchange. The rocks in the bottom are part of the filter, which means you can't replace them with sand (many bottom-living fish need sand to stop their barbels getting damaged), this also makes it unsuitable for all but a few plants- things like Java Fern which grow tied to wood or rocks, or stem plants like Hornwort which don't have proper roots anyway and just need weighing down.

You would be much better off looking at a traditional shaped tank with a similar volume- the Juwel Korall's aren't bad, although the bigger Rekord series have better filters and hoods that are easier to work with. And they're cheaper than the equivalent biorb. Most tanks like this will come with a heater (there aren't many fish I would recommend for 60L unheated tanks, but there are a few- White Cloud Mountain Minnows are an ideal starter fish for example.)

In order to recommend fish we will need to know the pH and hardness of your water. You will need to get a water testing kit to do a fishless cycle anyway, so get one and leave some water out for 24 hours for the various additives the water companies add to evaporate and that will tell you your pH. Hardness can usually be found on your water board's website.

If you have hard alkaline water then livebearers (guppies, platies, etc) would be suitable, and there are quite a few- you will have to take into account that they will breed however- if you get all males a slightly larger tank may be necessary as they can get feisty with each other. If your water is soft and acidic then there are lots of small tetras and catfish that would be suitable.

A good rule of thumb is 1cm of fish per 2L, which would give you 30cm of fish in a 60L tank, although you can usually go a bit over this as long as your maintenance is good. This would give you about 8-10 small shoaling fish in a 60L. Which, given that you need a minimum of 6 and ideally more for a shoal isn't much.

The best advice for new fishkeepers is to buy the biggest tank you can afford (and look at second hand kit, its much cheaper provided you can collect it) and be prepared to move your furniture around to fit it in.

Thanks for the quick responce,

To be honest it was the small footprint area ( and the look ) that attracted me to the 60 ltr so will probably still go down this route.

I was under the impression I could use normal rock and sand with tropical fish?

B

Not in a Biorb. They have a very specific type of filtration which relies on the supplied substrate as part of the filter and can't be replaced unless you add in a separate filter and don't use the Biorb under-gravel system. You can use any substrate you like in a standard tank as long as it suits the fish you choose.

The small footprint is an issue for many of the fish people start with- neons, WCMMs, etc, while small enough for a standard 60L don't have enough space in a biorb to stretch their fins. I keep my WCMMs in a four foot tank (in a fairly large shoal) and they use the full length of it. A tank not much over a foot wide is not going to be suitable for them.

Some of the smaller microrasboras would be OK, but they really like planted tanks with plenty of vegetation to hide in, which is also difficult to achieve in a biorb.

If you want something to fit in a small space the AquaOne Aquanano 40 would be a much better choice- the filter is much better than the biorb, so you can use whatever substrate you like, and it holds about as much water as the biorb does. Its shorter and squatter, but is a much better tank, and comes in at not a lot more than the Juwels. Had they been available when I bought my cube I'd have got one- in the end I went for a bare 40cm cube (also by AquaOne), and bought the heater, lights, and filter separately.

I completely agree with the above comments. I have a 30 litre biorb in which I now keep a single male betta and some shrimps. They look really nice, but on balance I consider it a very bad buy. Although I don't have water quality issues with mine as I do a 30% water change once a week, they are very difficult to properly clean and maintain. It is also hard to actually see the fish and shrimp properly because of the shape. I keep real plants in mine, but replace them every few months. I will probably be replacing this tank with something more suitable within the next year.