Humane goldfish bowl?

[Tetra Guy]

Is there a way to keep goldfish in a traditional style goldfish bowl humanely?     What size bowl, what breed/variety goldfish, and what sort of filtration should I be looking at?   Or is it a bad idea?   Perhaps I should be looking at betta instead of goldfish?   TIA ! 

Edited November 9, 2020 by Tetra Guy

[Daniel]

Keeping small fish like bettas or pygmy sunfish in small containers such as 1- 2 gallons containers works pretty well as both fish come from vegetation choked still waters.

A small number of small fish doesn't even require a filter other than plants. Here is what @Mikey Walnuts is doing:

It is a different story with goldfish as they are definitely not small fish. A small container is not a good idea with a goldfish.

[Alexa]

Realistically, a bowl that’s big enough for a young fancy goldfish would be a few hundred dollars. I did a quick google search and found a 24 gallon penn plax bowl for $219. You could pull it off short term, but a healthy goldfish will outgrow that eventually.

[yannachka]

as @Alexa said realistically it really isn't possible unless you are willing to spend a good chunk of change. there are traditional chinese bowls that are 40-50 gallons that look beautiful but they're practically non-existent in the states and importing them may be the cost of a used car. i can't find any examples right now but i believe cory showed some off when he was in hong kong? you need to always have in mind the adult size of the fish when setting up an aquarium and even the smallest of goldfish should get to 6" or so if kept properly.

[Pakal]

The minimum tank size for most goldfish species is 20-30 gallons, and then an extra 10 gallons for each new goldfish you add. Goldfish also produce a lot of waste so the poop/ammonia would take control of a bowl pretty easily. @Daniel said that you should perhaps consider a betta instead but even Bettas shouldn't live in a bowl. They'll survive, sure, but there's a difference between surviving and thriving. The minimum tank size for a betta is at the very least, 3 gallons.

[aquachris]

There's a 28 gallon biOrb if you want a "fishbowl" kinda style.

[ChefConfit]

I agree with most of the other answers here that a goldfish is simply to big for a bowl unless you're able to find one that's 20+ gallons. Given good filtration and plants 1-2 gallon bowls can be used for bettas, shrimp, or some nano fish. Just keep in mind that tanks that small are going to be hard to keep stable possibly even after they are well seasoned. 

I've been considering doing a planted betta vase for awhile. I've got my eye on a 12x12 cylinder but that's actually close to 7 gallons.

[binkysmom]

I have a 20gallon long running without a filter. I had a sponge filter on it and the airpump broke. I'm only in the office 1 day a week (someone else feeds the other 4 days) so thought I'd leave it to see how it ran without it as it's a well established tank.

It's fully carpeted in Sag, and the top is some frogbit and pothos. Guppies are still breeding and havent seen any illness yet.

I have to tear it down at the end of January (office is moving) so I may just leave it filterless until then.

I've done bettas in heated 3 - 5 gallon bowls. Planted. I've also done 5 chilli rasboras in a planted, heated 3 gallon long with no filter. And a planted, no tech 3 gallon shrimp vase.

[Fonske]

On 11/10/2020 at 1:24 AM, Tetra Guy said:

Is there a way to keep goldfish in a traditional style goldfish bowl humanely?

Yes, if it is a real traditional goldfish bowl like these ones. The bowls in this shop are on the smaller side, the largest (at the back) is about 2.5ft in diameter.  Most also have a water re-circulation structure with the intake at the bottom and the return through the dragon head on the side.