The Omni-Bowl

Invention: The Omni-Bowl

This was something I came up with about 5 years ago, whilst discussing goldfish memory.

The product relies on the notion that goldfish (and I assume fish in general), have a very short attention span. 3 seconds to be exact.

Now this, along with the average swimming speed of a gold fish can be used to work out the maximum distance a goldfish can travel before their memory "resets".

Goldfish speed (m/s) X 3 (seconds) = Goldfish Travel Distance or GTD (m).

Now imagine that a goldfish could travel along a tube that was exactly that length. By the time that the goldfish has finished travelling, they will have forgotten what the beginning looks like. With this in mind I present to you...

the Omni-Bowl!

The omni-bowls ingenious design is either a hoop (the "Doughnut "), or a figure of eight (the "Omni"). The length of the course is a little over the GTD, thus allowing the fish infinite pleasure in exploring what it will think is a never ending tunnel.

The "Doughnut "










This is the base model. The shape leaves a hole in the middle to add the water pump, foliage and general scenery. It is best to have it fairly see-through, so that the fish may be visible from anywhere.

The "Omni"

This is the advanced bowl. A tube that forms a figure of eight. this allows the bowl to be smaller than the doughnut bowl. It has two areas that allow for adding the filter and plants etc..

In both cases, the middle sections are peppered with small holes, to allow water, but not fish, into the middle sections.

There is also the option of motivating the fish to swim laps rather than just floating by adding a current to the loop. This could be done with a small, protected propeller.