New Toy Review: Baby biOrb

In one of my first posts to this site, I mentioned my new fish tank, the Baby biOrb. I thought now that I've had it for a while, I'd post a review. I have mentioned a lot of my new toys and hope to be able to review them all--because I have definitly got some opinions!

I'm a little disapointed with the biOrb. I had this vision of fish swimming in a cool little orb, free of confining corners. I pictured something interesting and fun for my dining room.

What I failed to consider was the way the curve of the bowl would affect the ability to see the fish. More often than not, the fish is hidden behind the tricks of the light (much to the puzzlement of my kitten, Dempsey).

Further, the size and shape of the biOrb make it difficult to insert a heater without losing the whole effect, and without a heater most fish are out of the question.

And one final complaint (one which is no fault of the biOrb makers), is that mine seems to grow a lot of green algea. So much so in fact, that at our recent housewarming party, one guest commented on the "cool green ball" in my dining room.

Overall, I have learned a lot about fish and aquariums from the biOrb, so it has not been a complete waste. But, I could have had the same lesson for a lot less money had I just bought an old aquarium off of craigslist (my husband was right).

I give the Baby Biorb 3 out of 5 stars

On Fish & Meditation (Meditation on Fish?)

So the meditation practice has not progressed. After my rather discouraging 3 minute exercise the other day, I have determined that I need some sort of structure or discipline for this practice. I did some research (of course), and found out that many people find the aid of "meditation beads" helps. The way the beads work is you recite the mantra one time for each bead, and there are 108 beads. So I bought some beads on Ebay and will resume meditation practice when the beads show up.

On a slightly more exciting note, I got a small starter aquarium for Christmas. I actually bought it for myself and when E found out he made me call it a present and wait for Christmas to open it. It is a very cute aquarium called a BiOrb, and I think it will be good for teaching me some fish mom basics.

The first two fishies went in today. They are a type of fish called Platys and the guy at the fish store said they should do good in my aquarium even though I don't have a heater. I've named them Lee and Spike, the smaller one is Spike because his fin on his back appears to be more spikey than the other fish's fin.

I'm hoping that fish keeping can be a hobby that E and I both enjoy. Maybe if the BiOrb goes well I can get a larger aquarium