Goldfish Bowl

Question
Hi i just got two little goldfish on Sat. and today is Tues. they are only about two and a half inches long so i put both of them in the same bowl which is about seven and a half inches in diameter at its widest point. My problem is that i follow the specifications on the fish flakes when i feed them (the food is a special formula that does not cloud the water) and after a couple feedings the water gets cloudy anyway! I would like this to stop because number one it seems to bother my fish, they come up to the surface more and start rapidly opening and closing their mouths; and number two i would just like the water to be clearer. The last time this happened I cleaned out the bowl because I was worried and it seemed to work but i am also afraid that doing this two often will traumatize my fish! HELP!! What do i do?!? (I'm pretty new to all this!)

Answer
Well welcome to the fish world. Ok first off i'm just going to let you know that goldfish are very messy fish, they produce alot of waste which equals alot of ammonia and in a little fish bowl where there are two of them they are going to swimming in there waste for a while. In a fish tank when you run a filter, over time the tank goes through somthing called a cycle. Basically it's the buildup of beneficial bacteria called nitrite and nitrate which are less toxic than ammonia but they fight off ammonia into a clean environment that is alot better for the fish. In order for this to happen you have to have a filter in your fishtank.. but in your case i doubt you could get a filter on there so what i would do is go out and buy a 10gallon aquarium (trust me it's cheap and it's worth it) pickup a 40$ filter (any brand will do you find) that hangs on to the back of the tank and Boom you have chemical and biological filtration which will help your tankout alot and provide a clean envornment to the fish. Thus in turn will clear the cloudy water that poluting your current fishbowl. I cant tell you why it's clouding your water.. (maybe your overfeeding and the excess food is breaking down and causing even more ammonia which is why they are coming to the surface for air) Water changes are very imporant with fish tank and in your case i think you will need o do it fairly often (every 3 days) just to keep that water clean of ammonia (because there's not any beneficial bacteria growing to kill the ammonia). That would be my advice and if you want healthy fish i'd go with that. If you go the extra money i'd spring for a 20 gallon tank, easier to maintain.