but, my mom had a goldfish in just a little 2 gallon bowl and it lived for many many years even after traveling cross country. It was in good health. Also in books I read on goldfish it said that I could have 3-4 goldfish in a 10 gallon....
How many years did it live for though? Most people are pretty chuffed when they get a goldfish to live for more than a few years in a bowl- but its nothing when you consider that goldfish can live to over 30years old (the longest a goldfish ever lived for was 47years old)- most fish which come from the carp family can live for a very long time. If you goldfish did not even live long as 10years then it couldn't have been in good health. A goldfish will not live out a normal life expectancy when kept in a bowl.
Surely its common sense not to put an animal that can potentially grow to over 15inches in a bowl that is not even as long as that.
Basic water chemistry: Fish pee and poop ammonia everyday, ammonia is toxic to all aquatic life, in a bowl with no filter there is nothing to get rid of this daily dosing of ammonia- so ammonia eventually builds up causing great stress to the fish; ammonia burns the fishes body and cause a lot of stress to it internally.
Most fish can die in rather small levels of ammonia- the only reason why goldfish manage to survive for years on end in bowls is simply because that generally speaking, they are exceptionally hardy fish by nature and can survive some pretty appalling conditions. However this does not mean that the appalling conditions bowl fish often suffer from is good for them, and even if the goldfish manages to survive for years, the conditions of the bowl will eventually kill the fish- it will not be able to grow, breath or swim properly in a bowl. The life of a bowl fish is a very miserable one indeed.
Seriously, do you want to see what happens when you put 3-4 goldfish in a 10gallon tank? This is a video of what happened as the years went by when a particular person did this;
http
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8653SsGTDM
Many people are trying to ban goldfish bowls for good reason, one Italian town has already banned goldfish bowls;
http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...em.php?news=386
Goldfish are fantastic fish, IMHO a lot of people don't give them the credit that they deserve- goldfish are just as good as any other fish and recent studies show that they are also surprisingly intelligent fish too. Goldfish are not some miracle fish though where they'll thrive if you put them in conditions which stunt their growth and reduce their quality of life, goldfish need space and good water quality just like any other fish
. Its great that you like these fish, but you need to realize that it takes more than just a little love to keep these fish well, and that you need to house them in a medium to large size tank with good/strong filtration and perform regular water changes etc if you are to look after your goldfish well- if you are really determined to keep goldfish well, then i suggest you start out with a 20-30gal tank and avoid keeping the non-fancy varieties of goldfish
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. Im going to put in 4 small goldfish, because im sharing 
with my little brother (2 for him 2 for me).
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