growing to size of tank?

[Baos]

Hello everyone, I'm not a superbly active member of this forum and hope this isn't a regularly stirred topic but I have a question regarding my son's goldfish.

I know that not every species has growth limited by the size of the enclosure but IME goldfish or feeder comets definately are. My son recently got an already established aquarium setup (20gallon I think) with 11 goldfish in it. I am curious to see the current view on the ethics of keeping a fish small to suite an enclosure. Do many fish species suscribe to this trait? Are the fish harmed, suffer, or have reduced lifespans because of such? Do they breed at this miniscule size? Breeding isn't an endeaver by any means, but my curiousity around all facets of this issue is growing.

Thanks kindly for your words of wisdom

Ian

It's a nice lie I heard in the 90's from pet stores. I guess if most of the customers kill the fish before they become a problem, no big deal.