BioBubble habitat is neat but not suitable for most marine fish

By Jake Adams on Apr 27, 2011

The BioBubble is an interesting and versatile animal habitat which is convertible between aquarium, terrarium, small pets and mini greenhouse. The BioBubble might be neat but they’ve clearly overestimated the capacity of the puny air driven filter and underestimated the needs of live marine fish.

Apparently, the makers or marketers of the BioBubble didn’t get the memo that nano tanks should be stocked with nano fish. As you can see in these screenshots from the promotional video for the BioBubble, the marketers are suggesting that you can cram a flame angelfish, six clownfish and an anthias into what appears to be about five to ten gallons of water. Another clip shows not one but two spotted sweetlips swimming in the BioBubble, nevermind that this delicate fish can grow to well over two feet long.

Don’t get us wrong, the BioBubble does look really neat and it could be a very interesting nano reef tank for eviota or trimma gobies, or something like a pair of ornamental shrimp but even suggesting that any of the pictured fish are suitable for long term residence in what amounts to a fancy goldfish bowl is downright irresponsible. Furthermore, when used with saltwater the salt creep and calcium buildup would like render the telescoping sleeve mechanism difficult to seal. Thankfully, the reef aquarium community knows better than to inflict such animal cruelty but we worry about the kind of casual aquarium consumer who may get the wrong idea about the capabilities of the BioBubble.

[via BioBubble]

Posted in Reef News |
Search More: biobubble • nano

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3PQR2S2EAZUDJKVYUCKLCWJ37Q Micheal

so if the fish manages to get big… and dies… how do you fish it out of that tiny hole?
http://profiles.google.com/aslam.ali Aslam Ali

For a second there I thought this was some prank. As I watched the promotional video I got this growing sense of horror as these idiots were serious of housing animals in this plastic terror-dome
Anonymous

I wonder how many yellow tangs would fit in there…
http://www.facebook.com/wally.do Walle Do

funny, i was thinking the same thing… I want one!!… not really
Anonymous

Love the graphic! And I agree. This is a nightmare for our fish and only serves as ammunition for the people who think us aquarists are ruining the world with our tanks.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JSGHE5DIANEZ5SXKVUM7GBSD3Y howard_roy

This is as horrible as putting goldfishes in a nike-shaped pico…
http://twitter.com/jfarabaugh jfarabaugh

W T F
http://www.facebook.com/people/Spencer-Shepard/100000684083622 Spencer Shepard

You would think, that if you were trying to market an aquarium product…you would employ someone who knows something about aquariums.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YZSNG2KISWNNWZUZ4FV7KFGEEI amit

to think this type of people coming to the hobby…
Anonymous

WOW, not only is it a bad product on so many levels, but it actually encourages a disposable mentality towards aquariums…i.e. when you “outgrow your aquarium” this thing changes into a “land habitat”. Irresponsible on so many levels. And yes, out of the 8000 species of reptiles out there, lets put a PYTHON in there. Or hell, as the lady dressed to appear like some sort of Doctor suggests, we could always have family fun sprouting beans in it.
Anonymous

WOW, not only is it a bad product on so many levels, but it actually encourages a disposable mentality towards aquariums…i.e. when you “outgrow your aquarium” this thing changes into a “land habitat”. Irresponsible on so many levels. And yes, out of the 8000 species of reptiles out there, lets put a PYTHON in there. Or hell, as the lady dressed to appear like some sort of Doctor suggests, we could always have family fun sprouting beans in it.
Anonymous

This is beyond bad. We should mount some sort of campaign or petition against this manufacturer. They need to know how f’d up this is.
I can’t get over the money- from development to production, packaging, marketing- everything that went into to something that at least as an aquarium is wrong on so many levels. It’s infuriating. That same money could have been put toward something so good, not this POS.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Johnson/537490127 Ben Johnson

I remember when Finding Nemo came out, I had people coming into the store I worked at asking for clowns and regal tangs and wanting to put them into 10 gallon aquariums. They had never even owned a freshwater aquarium. No….No…No….and No.
I watched the entire video for this product……It’s beyond ignorant. The only thing it looks good for is as a salad bowl. How are you going to be able to heat a plastic container for reptiles? Let’s see how many animals we can kill under adverse conditions! This is one of the few times that I could see sicking PETA on someone.
http://www.nanocustoms.com/ clive@nanocustoms

Reminds me of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome

Two fish enter. One fish leaves.

Regardless of the joke, this is terrible on so many levels. How can the makers of this product sleep at night?
Anonymous

Ignorance is bliss
http://www.nanocustoms.com/ clive@nanocustoms

It’s sad that some people have that ability to igore thsi kind of crap. I couldn’t do it.
http://profiles.google.com/aslam.ali Aslam Ali

Im with you on starting a campaign. The manufacturer is totally irresponsible in putting out a product like this.
Anonymous

Thanks for checking my message Jake, and posting story,
This company is telemarketing stores and pushing hard for endcaps and in/store displays.
They called a friends store and lady from
Company failed to address questions about my concerns .
Anonymous

I know there are a million reasons to hate on this product (based on that video alone) but I gotta admit that it’s pretty damn cool how the sides pop up for cleaning. Would make a really cool guppy tank.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Frick/100001223981671 Jason Frick

Maybe I am the only one here with a dirty mind but imagine a pair of these side by side. The BioBooble. LOL

Oh ya and terrible promotion on their part too. I wonder if jellies would be possible in this shape though? They’d look like loose implants. Aw I’ll stop.
Anonymous

This is the worst product I’ve seen since the eco-aqualizer.
Anonymous

but how do you HEAT it Jake? Guppies = tropical….not even really appropriate for guppies. No thought given to the surface area for gas exchange – how much CO2 can be offgassed through a water surface area the size of a silver dollar?
Anonymous

I had to go look that one up – wow. http://www.reefs.org/library/testing/ecoaqualizer
http://www.facebook.com/people/Brian-Barthel/100002124052473 Brian Barthel

Ummmmmmm. So this really pissed me off and I called the company. They pretty much said that it was always intended to be a beginner kit and that if you wanted the fish to survive than you are going to have to get a bigger tank and that you could convert the biobubble to a something else. When asked what was supposed to happen when the animals died before the BEGINNER knew that the tank was to small.

They also gave me some horse shit about having 3 clowns in a tank living for a year.

The inventor is some guy that also invented the freedom filter by the name of Albert Venenzia. Has anyone heard of this thing??? Sorry for the rant Jake if you would follow up on this that would be great.
Anonymous

Don’t get me wrong, like I said, there’s a million reasons to hate on this entire idea, but you have to admit the “concept” is pretty genius on a certain level. I used to build planted terrariums for specialty garden stores in So. Cal. Wish they would have been around back then.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1566767051 Andrew Hart

The aquarium hobby has seen better days. Though the reptile/terrarium seems practical to me. I would never cram my (as seen in the video)Jackson’s Chameleon into that plastic terrarium. Be smart fellow my hobbyists and don’t put fish in that…it’s cruel to see that sweetlip in that cramped area. I’m no PETA advocate, but anyone with a functioning brain would know that’s wrong and cruel(unless that’s a new breed of pygmy sweetlip that ORA’s breeding and has been hiding from us).
Anonymous

I’m calling and raising hell with them tomorrow. I encourage everyone here to do the same. this just sucks. I will be forwarding this to PETA. Never thought I’d go there but this is that f’d up.
The chain stores need to know they’ll have a real mess on their hands if they move on something as wrongfully marketed as this thing.
Though friggin PETA is probably against aquariums in general.
Anonymous

the freedom filter is/was another “POS” fail product that should have never been sold
it was an all in one internal skimmer filter.
mr braindead inventor got his ass handed to him at every trade show i attended.
but ,i do have a nice stack of his old filters that got dumped after a show
i salvaged the acrylic for other projects
http://www.facebook.com/people/Billy-Jean/100000985387823 Billy Jean

Horrible… I asked if I could keep a couple of blue tangs and they said I could if I did a water change once every 8 weeks! >< It's 3 gallons by the way.
Anonymous

I just discovered what a Bio Bubble is. My niece just got one for her birthday. After seeing it for myself, I wanted one! Started reading online and found this site. I have to say I am as much disppointed as I am disgusted with the comments on this blog. Have any of the “spokes people” who are so quick to give their two cents even used or laid eyes on a bio bubble? Not everyone out here in the real world are full on “Reef Junkies”! The drama and venim tossed around on this site is clearly the product of lonely, bored, self loathing tree huggers! Shame on all of you.

Micheal, the last person to comment is obviously as much a moron as he is a hater, perfect example of someone who makes a comment on something he has never seen. Good job Michael.
Anonymous

Yeah, I posted about this on WWM previously. I actually wrote to the company and to the association that gave them “approval.” I can fwd you the response.
Anonymous

I actually wrote to the company and the APA. No response from BioBubble, but I got a very supportive response from the APA.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Wade-Howarth/100002451470813 Wade Howarth

i own a retail pet store and this company has been hounding me to bu this product from what ive seen it would be a good gimmick enclosure for very small critters such as bugs and the like but would be very wary of putting fish or anything in these as they are way too small and at $60 wholesale id have to charge $100 for this gimmick to make a profit so not for me thanks
http://www.facebook.com/people/Wade-Howarth/100002451470813 Wade Howarth

id also like to state that the salesman who contacted me was extremely pushy and i despise that so that alone turned me off this product
http://www.facebook.com/people/Reanne-Burnett/100000861712871 Reanne Burnett

I feel compelled to share my disappointment in my $130 Premium BioBubble… For the love of God, don’t put marine sand in it! The sand makes the seal impossible, and ours has been leaking nonstop even after removing the sand. There are still granules somewhere breaking the seal! Bzzzt! This might be nice for a hamster.
Anonymous

kelliandal- I feel you’ve somewhat missed the point of the disscussion, and to suggest ‘disgust’ at the idea of people showing concern for animal saftey is ubsurd. You don’t have to be a ‘reef junkie’ as you so cleverly described to know what is good for an animal habitat and what isn’t. The Biobubble just really is not a practical tank. 3 gallons is not enough for an aquarium and all in one filtration systems are pretty poor at the BEST of times. The point of this discussion isn’t to stick it to ‘the man’ or to spend as much money as possible, or to show people how big your aquarium is? it’s about giving animals the closest thing to the wild as you can afford, and if all you can afford is biobubble, I suggest you save some more. It’s also pin pointing the advertisment of the product and the fact that spokesmen for the company have the audacity to suggest you can put chameleons, snakes, clowns etc in such an unsuitible enclosure.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ann-Woodford/100000511044257 Ann Woodford

I picked up one of their Terra models this past week from a trade show i went to. Do i agree that so many fish can be housed in it at once… no. I will not how ever go as far as saying this this product is a bad one. I personally love the one i have. I have 2 tree frogs in it that are doing just fine. I like the idea of how versatile the Bio-Bubble is. It is especially great for kids. As we all know kids change their minds constantly. One minute they want a puppy, the next they don’t and they want a kitty, then a fish, then something else. They lose interest. The bio bubble allows for that change. Instead of purchasing a whole tank set up designed for fish (which can cost a butt load of money), you get the bio bubble. Kid wants fish? There ya go. Kid gets tired of fish and wants a hamster? There ya go. Kid gets tired of Hamster and wants a reptile? There ya go. It is also the parents and retailers responsibility to say, “Hey, if you are getting a bio-bubble, these are the types of critters you can put in it.”

When it comes to the fish that they picture in their commercial, no they shouldn’t have used them in it. But what manufacture doesn’t exaggerate what their product can hold? Companies show their product with cute little baby critters. Cute little critters sell. If a person sees the small fish in this commercial and goes to the retailer and says “Hey. I saw this product and it showed these fish in it. I want those fish.” Then it is that employees job to educate the customer. All in All i will say that i am happy with this product. Marketing is not the best but what company truly has the best marketing? If a person decided to automatically say that they don’t like this product just because of the commercial then so be it. But don’t go around bashing the company for something so meager as a bad commercial.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1265412616 Cynthia Bridge

Reminds me of the frog habitats (the 7″by 3″ clear plastic Box) they sell in the store or the betta vases, where they even tell you its a self sustainable eco culture, so you don’t need to feed them, they eat the algea that grows in the tank…REALLY?? I don’t thinks so..BAD, Very Bad!!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000549205637 Kaycie Freedman

Reading all of the posts, I agree. This is just ridiculous, but did you also get a load of the price? $96 for crap? I don’t keep fish anymore, but this just seems out there.

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