Buying My First Fish...

[Jacko86]

As I mentioned the ammonia levels are fine, and I'll continue to monitor them.

The tank isn't stocked fully yet, I wanted to buy 8 fish but they wouldn't let me.

From speaking to the two guys in the shop I want to, which is a specialist aquatic centre, they seemed quite experienced to me and gave a lot of useful guidance.

But I appreciate your feedback and will keep a close eye on the development.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

If you haven't already, invest in a liquid based test kit for the ammonia and nitrite, also PH. Try and include in any update that you state exactly what the ammonia and nitrites are reading.
Also, be prepared to be expected to carry out, quite possibly, regular water changes. As KittyKat mentioned, it is very difficult to properly cycle a fishtank with fish food alone.... if you know of someone with a mature, healthy tank and filter ask them for a donation of their filter media, this would be an excellent move.
Good luck.
 
Terry.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

From speaking to the two guys in the shop I want to, which is a specialist aquatic centre, they seemed quite experienced to me and gave a lot of useful guidance.
 

 
With the greatest respect, if they let you buy the fish types in the numbers you have I'd say they're not as experienced as you think they are. The Zebras and Leopard shouldn't be in a small tank of that size and should be in numbers of 5-6+ as has already been mentioned. If I were you I'd return them and replace them with some more guppies. Biorbs look nice but they're not the most practical shaped tanks to keep fish in.
 
What is your maintenance regime? e.g. water changes etc?

 

[Meeresstille]

The problem with biorbs is that they don't have a lot of surface area for oxygenation of the water through agitation. The way you could look at it is that the surface of the tank is the lungs of the tank, the lungs for the fish. 
I too like the look of the biorbs but the space you have inside the tank I'd rather use for creating an awesome aquascape with plants and decor and adding very little life stock. Rectangular shaped tanks are better for schooling fish, like tetras and danios, the longer tanks are even better for them.
 
Sales people giving advise in the shops aren't always as knowledgeable as one might think, and they are not always giving the best advise for the fish or the keeper, but rather for what is good for their sales. 
The very experienced members you can find on forums such as this one will give you advise on what they have learned to be best for the fish and the keeper. The advise they give you makes no profit for them, I'd rather trust them!
 
I'm sorry, but I too think the danios are not suitable for the biorb, the guppies and shrimp will be fine. After your tank has shown it can handle the stocking of those you could add a few more guppies if they're all male. As you probably already have researched, guppies are livebearers and if you had a mix of males and females your biorb would soon be overrun with guppies. Maybe the shop can give you credit on the danios for you to get more guppies later on to add to the three you already have!?

 

[tunagirll]

Or you can just buy a bigger tank