Goldfish bowls

When I was really young I won a couple "goldfish" at a state fair. I don't think they were actually goldfish though. They were some kind of minnow that was either bred to be orange or injected with orange dye. I kept them in a bowl, and they lived about 2 weeks.
 
aw poor lil guys. i had a goldfish when i was a kid, just in a round bowl, he fell out twice (possible due to a cat) when he was younger but still lived to be nearly ten years old. i wonder do they get bored swimming around in circles all day or do they enjoy watching the world go by?
 
Yep about 6 months ago my daughter came home from a fair one day with her dad having won 2 goldfish. Two fish in a bag and a goldfish bowl under the arm aghhh. Anyway at his point i hadnt set up any fish tanks even of my own so i let her keep them and all was well. To be honest i was so busy with crap in my life i never gave those poor fish a second thought and left her to get on with keeping and caring for them. One day one of the fish jumped out and she stood on it. It was bleeding and she was heartbroken. The fish was still alive so i got the biggest jug i could find filled it with water and put the fish in expecting it to die. Anyway it didnt and i was amazed. My daughter to her credit said she wanted a bigger tank for them and saved up and bought a 6 gallon tank for them where they now live and they are both thriving. At this time though they have both really grown. They are orange with really long fins and tails and look quite beautiful and so i am now thinking of buying them a much bigger tank in which to house them as reading threads on here I have realised that the tank they are in isnt nearly big enough. Yes I think keeping fish in bowls in cruel but in this instance it had a positive role as it got my daughter involved in fish. She now also has a tropical fish tank and loves her fish and even at only 12 years old looks after them very diligently.
I think most people who keep goldfish in bowls genuinely dont know that the space is too small and totally inadequate and unless they come on forums like this why should they as the people selling them certainly arent going to tell them! I have learnt my lesson though and am very glad both for me and fish that i did.
 
psilo said:
Yep about 6 months ago my daughter came home from a fair one day with her dad having won 2 goldfish. Two fish in a bag and a goldfish bowl under the arm aghhh. Anyway at his point i hadnt set up any fish tanks even of my own so i let her keep them and all was well. To be honest i was so busy with crap in my life i never gave those poor fish a second thought and left her to get on with keeping and caring for them. One day one of the fish jumped out and she stood on it. It was bleeding and she was heartbroken. The fish was still alive so i got the biggest jug i could find filled it with water and put the fish in expecting it to die. Anyway it didnt and i was amazed. My daughter to her credit said she wanted a bigger tank for them and saved up and bought a 6 gallon tank for them where they now live and they are both thriving. At this time though they have both really grown. They are orange with really long fins and tails and look quite beautiful and so i am now thinking of buying them a much bigger tank in which to house them as reading threads on here I have realised that the tank they are in isnt nearly big enough. Yes I think keeping fish in bowls in cruel but in this instance it had a positive role as it got my daughter involved in fish. She now also has a tropical fish tank and loves her fish and even at only 12 years old looks after them very diligently.
I think most people who keep goldfish in bowls genuinely dont know that the space is too small and totally inadequate and unless they come on forums like this why should they as the people selling them certainly arent going to tell them! I have learnt my lesson though and am very glad both for me and fish that i did.
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Well, I bet your daughter will get a new tank and her and the fish will have a happy ending. That's a sweet story ;)
 
Yep, we did the goldfish in a small container thing too. A couple of months ago went to the pet store to get stuff for dogs. My daughter wanted fish so we got 2 feeder goldfish (figured at 26 cents a piece fi we killed them no big deal). We also got a 1 G tank for them - DOH! We realized in about 2 days that tank was too small so we got a 10G and another goldfish. Now two months later I have 5 tanks, with my biggest being 75 and I have realized NONE of them are really large enough to house my goldfish. So yes, I firmly beleive that small bowls are horrible for godlfish and I am really frustrated that goldfish have been marketed as the "classic" starter fish. They are messy and get big and have no buisness being kept in small bowls. Now that I know better I am in the bad position of trying to find a new home for 3.5 inch long common goldfish so they can live happy lives.
 
yeh i think having a goldfish in a bowl is definitely a kid thing. most people do it at some stage i guess. it is a good way of getting into fish though. Someday though i'm definitely gonna build a pond in my garden for koi and goldfish, and some tench and common carp. now that would be nice! hopefully next summer! my bf is mad into carp too, he has a few small ones in a tank at the mo, one really beautiful mirrored ghost carp. its stunning. I have a lovely goldfish in there too with the big flowing tale, such a beautiful fish! and an orange oranda(at least i think thats what it is), not one of the ones that looks like its brain is on teh outside though, a pretty one. his tail recently started turning black at the tips. its really nice!
 
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