While I wasn't really intending to start my fish tank for awhile, my wife picked up a 1 gal bowl in her garage saling, and promised our 5 yo son a goldfish. I did the responsible thing and told him that when the fish got so big, we could eat him. Wife was thrilled when this got repeated...


The first 14 cent fish, "Goldy" lasted a couple of days. I don't think it was very healthy to start with. However, it was a lesson for my son in the cycle of life. 10 cents later, we were back in goldfish (they were on sale, 40% off this time). For some reason the pet store clerks seemed to think that the $8 betas would do better. We've since proved them wrong. Goldy 2 is still thriving after almost 2 months. Every couple of days, I drain about half the water in the bowl and use it to water plants. I replace it with hot tap water that has sat overnight to dechlorinate and come to room temp. I use hot water to get the extra iron, which someone told me often becomes deficient in aquarium plants. I have one aquatic plant (don't recall what kind) stuck in the gravel to help filter and oxygenate the water. The fish seems to leave it alone.