Things to keep in mind
Keeping fish in a fish bowl will severely limit your fish selection. That's because of the fishes' adult size or growth, their need for companionship, or their need to move around.
Goldfish aren't actually the best fish for a fish bowl. That's because most goldfish will quickly outgrown fish bowls and they are also very messy eaters, leaving a lot of food to decay in the bowl.
These fish are better: Betta, White Clouds, and Guppies. That's because they're small, don't require a lot of space for movement, and are fine on their own (the Betta you actually need to keep by itself). If you had to pick just one, go with a Betta. They're gorgeous and better on their own. They also have primitive lungs; they can actually draw oxygen out of the air up at the water surface. Ghost Shrimp work out great in a fish bowl. African dwarf frogs are also really cute, about 1/2 inch in size and they don't cost that much.
You'll also have to limit the number of fish (usually to one) because that size bowl doesn't usually have room for filters and so won't be able to process much waste at all. You might be able to get a simple box filter for your fish bowl but you're still limited to the volume of water that you can keep in your fish bowl. As a rule of thumb, you usually need to have one gallon of water per inch of fish for small community fish. As you could figure out when you do the math, you'll quickly run out of space in your fish bowl!
Because you won't have that much or any filtration, you'll need to change the water frequently. Experts suggest replacing 20% of the water twice a week. Wondering how to figure out what 20% of the tank volume would be? You could take the fish bowl size, figure out the volume of what the bowl would be (minus the couple of inches from the top that you would fill the water).
Another simpler way that might make more sense with a fish bowl is this easy method. Before you put your fish in it, fill it with a measuring cup and keep count. So let's say you have a 1/2 gallon size bowl. You'll find that you have roughly 4 cups of water in that bowl when it's not filled to the top. 20% of the total is slightly less than 1 cup but you can go ahead and round it up to a cup. So every couple of days, you'll need to change 1 cup of water out of that bowl. That's not too complicated, is it?
Besides filtration, you'll need to keep two other things in mind with your fish bowl: temperature and lighting. Remember to keep you tank is a room that is at least 72 degrees Fahrenheit at all times. That's because you won't be able to use a heater with your fish bowl. Another issue that you'll need to address is proper lighting. Unlike a fish tank where you can hook up lighting to the hood, with a fish bowl, you're pretty much stuck with ambient lighting. So place the fish bowl near a natural light source so your fish will get enough light during the day.
What else will you need with your bowl? You could get gravel but this is really a aesthetic decision. If you buy gravel, make sure you pick up a small gravel vacuum. A small net will help you clean the tank between water changes. You might be able to get a small filter if it will fit. Many people like to buy fishbowl covers to help minimize evaporation. If you want decorations, like a plant or a treasure chest, just make sure you can fit it inside your fish bowl.
Tips
Here are some lessons learned that you can use with your fish bowls.
- Don't fill the water all the way to the top. Fill it a little bit lower down so that you can increase the water to surface area ratio. Increasing that ratio will help improve the gas exchange between harmful gases in the water and oxygen in the air
- You can use the used fish bowl water to feed your plants. It will make them grow up tall and green!
- When you decide to move your fish up to a larger tank, you could use the fish bowl as a terrarium. They're supposed to be great for Venus Flytraps!
Online Sources
Here are some online sources for you where you can buy fish bowls online.
- The BiOrb is a "new style" fish bowl that's pretty technically advanced compared to your traditional fish bowl. It's available it the states at this site, Future Pets. I've ordered from this pet store before, service and quality has been fine. If you want to read more about the BiOrb, you can go to their UK website (http://www.biorb.com).
- Petsmart is pretty dependable in terms of a fish bowl source online.
- Petco also has a good range of fish bowl products that you can buy online.
Weird but true!
A town in Italy, Monza, has outlawed the use of fish bowls for keeping goldfish! This law went into effect the summer of 2004. This is Monza, as in the Grand Prix!
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