fish tank without filters etc

[CraigVmax]

Hi all,

Had a bi orb with 2 goldfish for 4 years, they got too big for it so they are now happily in a neighbours pond.

I wondered if this would be a nightmare:

http://www.conranshop.co.uk/617529/FISHSCAPE/Produ...

what are likely consequences of no filter/light etc?

[M@verick]

CraigVmax said:

Hi all,

Had a bi orb with 2 goldfish for 4 years, they got too big for it so they are now happily in a neighbours pond.

I wondered if this would be a nightmare:

http://www.conranshop.co.uk/617529/FISHSCAPE/Produ...

what are likely consequences of no filter/light etc?

In answer to your question - yes it would be a nightmare [largely for any fish placed in it]

Fish bowls of any description are too small for fishkeeping, vastly so. The one linked appears even worse in that the small area of water it does contain seems dominated by a kitsch glass mountain affair. I really cannot see how people dont understand that keeping a goldfish in a bowl (goldfish can and do grow to 12 - 15 inches in size) is akin to keeping a Labrador in an airing cupboard.

To try and answer your questions without bias...

1) Its too small.
2) Oxygenation will be a problem - the oxygen content of water is largely determined by how much of a gaseous exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide can occur at the waters surface. With no filter to provide water agitation or to inject bubbles into the water which promote gaseous exchange when they hit the surface. Oxygen will always be in short supply in such a bowl. Fish Bowls are particularly bad in design for oxygenation since their surface area is small by comparison to their volume.
3) No filtration, goldfish are messy eaters and do produce a fair old amount of waste - without a filter to house bacteria which can complete the nitrogen cycle the only filtration the resident of the bowl would have, to provide some respite from the build up of ammonia and nitrite (as well as other less potent toxins) would be provided by you changing the water in bowl, which is prone to many flaws.
4) Such a small body of water will be hard to manage. In a small body of water changes happen faster, mostly this will be seen in chemistry changes (generally as a result of ammonia building up quickly from overfeeding, and fish waste) - as the water has less ability to dilute a given volume of toxin, but also things such as the body of waters temperature relative to the ambient temperature in the room will be affected.

The lack of light wouldnt be a problem unless you wanted to grow plants (in fact light will be a problem for the owner of the bowl since sunlight or decent artificial light will encourage the growth of algae on the inside of the bowl which would need constant cleaning) goldfish are not particularly fussy with regard to light. You *could* potentially "keep an animal alive" in there for a period of time, but then as I said before you *could* "keep" a Labrador in an airing cupboard.

Dont do it.

R.

[CraigVmax]

figured as much, thx for the info, will go back to the bi orb.. Are these suitable for neon tetras if we fancied a change?

[832ark]

How big is the biorb? Anything under 60 litres not really suitable for fish IMHO

[CraigVmax]

45 i think

[Jasandjules]

CraigVmax said:

what are likely consequences of no filter/light etc?

I suspect, dead fish.