Fish

According to the worldatles.com

Freshwater fish are the most common pet in the US. There are about 171.7 million of them.

It’s not hard to see why as it’s very easy to go to your local pet store and grab a bowl with a fish and call it a day. Despite how easy it looks in the media, fish need much more than that so it’s important to do the research before jumping into the amazing world of fish.

Single Goldfish
Goldfish with a red cap.

Goldfish

Myth

Goldfish are fine living in a small 1 gallon bowl since they grow to the size of their tank.

Fact

This is the most prevalent myth on this page, probably this whole site. Goldfish do not grow to the size of their tank, it’s better to say that their growth gets extremely stunted when put inside of tanks that are too small. Not only that, but when it gets to a certain point their organs will continue to grow despite their body not, causing them to suffer before they die. They are also extremely dirty fish that need the extra tank space to help contain that. Even if you were to get a 20 gallon tank to put a few into, it’s recommended you get a filter for a very large tank to help with the waste they output. In a bowl that waste will slowly poison them and they are much more at risk for bacteria and parasitic infections. Many people now may try to argue with this as they had a goldfish live in a bowl for a year or two.That can seem impressive until you realize they should be living to at least five years in captivity

Myth

Goldfish can go with many other fish, like semiaggresives, tropicals, and cichlids.

Fact

So maybe you realized the bowl isn’t the best place for a goldfish, so you think the next best thing is to put it with your other fish in a bigger tank. As stated in the last fact though, goldfish are very dirty and that dirt can actually position other kinds of fish. There are plenty of other factors that make it almost impossible to get goldfish and tropical fish to live in the same conditions. It’s best to just keep goldfish with their kind.