I didnt vote as i can see it from different ways and no one is wrong and no one is right, as i see attitudes to goldies is different in america than it is in the uk.
In the u.k you cant buy a fish from a pet shop until you are 14 is it? but you could win one at a fair
. Even though its now illegal to give fish as prizes its still happening as GSL has found.
Its great cuba that your introducing your kids into caring for fish but thats really only because you yourself have fish. Many kids parents dont have fish and see goldies as a toy or put them in a bowl and watch them die. Its rare that you get a kid that actually wants to look after it properly. When i was 14 i myself won my first goldie at a fair and it wasnt until i got home with it that i realised i had nothing to put it in. Luckily for me my dad kept fish many years before and went out the next day (goldie lived in a fruit bowl for the night) and got me a small plastic tank and he lived there for a few months before i was totally bitten by the bug and got a proper sized tank and all the gizmos for him.
The mentality is, it doesnt cost much for a goldie so why spend loads of money on a tank when you can put it in a bowl or other cheap tank and just feed it once a day. Thats how people see them, a cheap pet, and until more is done by stopping these manufacturers from making these tiny tanks and putting a pic of loads of goldies on the front then nothing is going to change. Would putting the price up for a goldfish help? or do pet shops want the turnover of the fish and not care what people put them in, because in a fortnights time the goldfish are dying and the parents bring back the kid to pick yet another one and maybe a friend for it as well.
As for pet shops selling goldies its unbelievable the attitude to fish i have seen recently. In my town there's a very good pet shop that only stocks fish and if you want a goldie you have to tell him what size of tank etc before he will sell it, and if its something like a sarasa comet he wont sell it to you unless you have a pond. He doesnt sell any small tanks or bowls and his one failing is he stocks the bi orb, but he discourages people buying commons for it. Also, if they dont have the right size tank for the fish he simply wont sell them the fish. Maybe also he makes a lot of money on the tropical side of it so he can care for the goldies more or maybe he just sees them as the same as tropicals and wants them to have a good a life as possible. I just wish there were more fish shops like his.
In another town there is a pet shop mainly selling fluffy pets and a small section with fish. I witnessed a man buying two fish and then bought one of those plastic round things that might hold a gallon of water if your lucky. I said to the assistant they wouldnt last long and she just shrugged her shoulders. So to me that says they dont care about the fish only the fluffy animals and its those attitudes we need to change.
Pet shops are the first place people go to with their kids when they want a goldfish, so its up to the assistant to tell them at the beginning what they need and not sell those prison cells for fish. If the customers dont want to do that then they should refuse to sell the fish and direct them to the hamster cages instead.
Many stores are just to make a profit and they really dont care how the fish are going to be treated and until that stops then we will always have the fortunate fish owner who cares enough to look online and find us to help them.
im glad i set this poll up but i think the nos are winning 
/www.scorpsweb.com/images/us/tank.jpg
/www.crystalcolours.com/images/dm-goldfish-bowl.jpg
/www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/s...&clickfrom=name
