Lampshades - they're quite dull. Goldfish bowls? Not very exciting either, for the fish or for the viewer. But combine the two? It's a win-win situation.
The lightbulb not only warms the water in the bowl itself (allowing you to keep tropical fish in your ceiling-mounted aquarium), but also reflects off the shiny scales of the fish themselves, and so makes the entire room a place of wonder and disco-type delight. Also, if the bowl could be made to revolve in true disco-ball fashion, every twelve seconds the fishes find themselves swimming in an entirely new environment (piscine memories being what they are). It would enrich the fishes lives as well as your own.-- lostdog, Feb 27 2003 If you wanna keep fish, do it properly http://www.practica...fk/pages/basics.phpotherwise stick to Juttas fishlampbowl [squeak, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Biorb bowl http://www.aquatics...k/bigpics/biOrb.htmOr try one of these. NOT to be spun. [squeak, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Not like this, please. http://glen.org/hereyougo/fishscreen.jpg[gnormal] displays his gnignorance. [squeak, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] OATA http://www.ornamentalfish.org/The Good Guys [squeak, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] How do you change the bulb?-- snarfyguy, Feb 27 2003 The bulb could be contained in a central, sealed-off pipe of glass (making it more of a "goldfish bowl lampshade," I suppose) so you can change it reasonably easily. +-- my face your, Feb 27 2003 // disco-type delight //
haha. Struck me funny.-- waugsqueke, Feb 27 2003 You would need fishes that like having a bright, hot lamp shone on them all night long.-- DrCurry, Feb 27 2003 You leave your lights on all night long?-- waugsqueke, Feb 27 2003 only as long as the disco dancing lasts, waugs-- lostdog, Feb 27 2003 angelfish with blacklights... funkadelic man.-- RayfordSteele, Feb 27 2003 I like this,just don't wake up to baked fish.-- skinflaps, Feb 27 2003 I have fond memories of a sardine tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was cylindrical, and the silvery fish swam around and around in circles. The effect was really quite pleasing, and proper lighting would only add to the circulating sequin effect.-- mandy, Feb 27 2003 This ain't no disco.-- waugsqueke, Feb 27 2003 Damn - I wore my sequined jacket and flared pants specially.-- DrCurry, Feb 27 2003 I've actually baked this myself, I bought a vase to put my betta in and found that the lamp shade and light attachment from a different lamp fitted perfectly ontop of the vase so now his vase is the lamp base it looks pretty cool.-- Gulherme, Feb 27 2003 Yeah, that Monterrey aquarium is really something else.-- snarfyguy, Feb 27 2003 You can get a small disco ball at auto parts stores for less than 5 bucks. Spin can be achieved by letting filter flow to one side of ball, which only needs a simple swivel (somewhat akin to those found on fishing lures) attached to top of the ball where rearview mirror string dohickey was, as well as ceiling of any decent lidded aquarium. Don't know how to safely facilitate spin in an open-top, non-filtered aquarium such as a goldfishbowl, though.-- thumbwax, Feb 28 2003 I am so going to build this. I'm goingn to stock it with blind cave fish, for the irony.-- feedmewithyourkids, Jul 07 2003 +-- thecat, Jul 07 2003 [squeak], if the ball were mounted above the water level, then the reflected light rays might mimic the scattered rays of the sun on a river's surface. It would probably not disturb the fish and may even improve its conditions. It's certainly no worse than many of the flickering florescent acquarium lights sold today.-- FloridaManatee, Jul 08 2003 [Florida]The light is IN the bowl by my reading of the post. //But combine the two? // [lostdog] doesn't mean to suspend the bowl below the ball, he wants to MAKE it the ball.
The light itself is not the only problem with this idea.(see previous anno). Another also occurred to me. If the bowl is to be completely transparent to allow light through the base then you can have no substrate. Fish do not like to see reflections coming from underneath where there should be no reflections. The fish become stressed. When breeders use bare tanks, the bottom of the tank is usually painted black or blue on the outside to counter this effect, others use a very fine sprinkling of sand. Mostly, however, a substrate of between half an inch to three inches deep is used in almost all aquariums (gravel, sand, peat or a composite substrate).
The need for this non-reflective layer effectively means that there would be a large dark spot directly underneath the bowl/ball.
Can I borrow about 5107 fishbones from other people to give to this idea?-- squeak, Jul 08 2003 that's more like a roar than a squeak. You want to try and take this place just a bit less seriously?-- RayfordSteele, Jul 08 2003 [rayford] Unfortunately for lostdog and others, this is an area in which I have long since lost my sense of humor and take extremely seriously. People really do this kind of stuff. Check out the picture in the link. This is something that [gnormal] actually did and was so proud of he linked it to "Marine Life Double Glazing" , the ignorant twonk. See also such ideas as "Centrifugal Fishtank", "Goldfish Pool Balls"´and other horrors.
I worked in the aqautics trade for quite a while and have kept fish myself for 10 years.I am currently studying for an advanced qualification in the field and do have a pretty good idea what I'm talking about.
After hearing stories from innumerable customers about their fish dying or being kept in disgaceful conditions purely through the owners ignorance of the most basic facts, I am well and truly sick of it. This is a very bad subject to argue about with me.
I'll stick another link on to OATA. If any one needs any advice or has any questions either give me your e-mail and I'd be glad to help or contact OATA.-- squeak, Jul 08 2003 Come on, [squeak]. It’s just an idea. It’s not a blueprint, or a practical suggestion, or a business proposal or anything: it’s just five minutes of fanciful thinking.
You obviously know a lot about the subject, and feel quite passionately about it. And I don’t doubt you for a minute when you say that people have tried this sort of thing – but I haven’t. And I don’t intend to. It’s an idea, not a plan of action. I was just trying to convey an image that I found quite nice. I never expected it work, or even to be tried: like most of my ideas, it’s highly impractical, probably undoable, and just stands as an interesting (to me, anyway) what-if.
A fairly high percentage of the ideas to be found here would be cruel, dangerous, or even downright lethal if actually baked – and that’s why they are what they are: just ideas posted on a website, nothing more. And I’m afraid that’s also why I’m not going to apologise for any offence taken (although, believe me, none was meant): if I had to take into account all the possible toes that my postings might tread on, I’d never post anything at all.
I think this a pretty innocuous idea (Vagina Jam, anyone?) without an ounce of malice in it. And while your postings have been informative and have taught me something about the keeping of fish (about which, you’re right, I know next to nothing), they’ve also been couched in a language which borders on the offensive (I particularly don’t like to be called a “dickhead”, and would appreciate it if you’d edit that link). If I’m guilty of anything then it’s ignorance – and while you have gone some way to curing me of that (albeit in a rather heavy-handed way), as I said, this was just a fleeting idea, and probably doesn’t deserve the weight of feeling you’ve wasted on it.
Believe me, no fish (imaginary or otherwise) were harmed in the making of this idea.-- lostdog, Jul 08 2003 <last rant, I promise> Y'see [lostdog], that's where we differ. I really don't see this as an "innocuous" idea. If you'd posted an idea that involved jamming a fluffy bunny into a little box and spinning it whilst dangling from the ceiling, glaring lights at it and terrifying it with loud music, I don't think the responses would have been so good.
Whilst I would not advocate the mistreatment of any animal, this is my personal bugbear as I have so often come into contact with it. The fact that goldfish (and some other fish) are not as cute as fluffy things, are v. cheap to buy and are very easy to acquire has lead to them being seen as "just goldfish" and not worthy of proper care. It makes me spit, it really does and I do not believe that trying to change this attitude is a waste of my energy. Right, I'll stop now before I burst a blood vessel. <last rant, I promise>
That said, if you removed the fish bit from this idea and just used a water filled glass globe, I think it would look pretty. You'd get all sorts of rainbows and ripples on the walls. Much softer and more romantic than a traditional glitter ball thingy.You'd have to watch what spectrum of light you used though, or you'd get a green, algae-filled ball within a month. Without the fish you wouldn't need a substrate and wouldn't get the dark patch either.-- squeak, Jul 09 2003 Just to let squeak know that this cat doesn't hate fish or any other animal really (I did + this). I think anything is possible with science. The details just have to be gotten right. So I'd say to lostdog, don't apologize -- fix the idea. It's better than the disconnect between the I'm suggesting for fun/I actually think this.-- thecat, Jul 10 2003 I was looking for an idea like this because I saw something similar in a book called "PAD Parties". They made a swag type lamp with a spherical light globe and a small hurricane lamp globe glued inside with aquarium sealant and decorative gravel and plastic plants. It was lit with a candle and had a goldfish in it. They did recommend only keeping the candle lit for a short period of time and not using the lamp as a permanent home for the fish. If you were serious about a permanent goldfish bowl type light fixture you could use LED's and put in a small under gravel filtration system.-- greengrasshopper, Jul 29 2003 GGGGRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!....calm. OK I won't .-- squeak, Jul 30 2003 random idea bump.-- RayfordSteele, Jan 19 2009 random, halfbakery