What's So Wrong With Fish Bowls?
- Advice
- Nov 24, 2025
- 1 min read
Find out why your fish bowl is harming your fish and what you can do to help them
A small round typical fish bowl may be okay for small fish like guppies but for the common goldfish this can lead to stress and disease.
Many species need horizontal swimming space and clear refuge (plants, caves). Curved glass provides continuous distorted sightlines and less usable linear distance; active swimmers and schooling species suffer. Fish may repeatedly encounter the glass or become stressed by visual distortions. Loss of appetite can lead to poor cognition resulting in the slow movement. Think of yourself in their shoes. They aren’t too different from us with their emotions.
Small round bowls hold little water. Small volumes magnify swings in temperature, pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate; those swings stress which can lead to disease and death quickly.
If your considering having fish as pets or you already do make sure you provide the best home for them possible. They don't need much... just space, filtration, and clear refuge.
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