A noob with noobish questions
 

hi,
I am new here, and I have always wanted a fish. I was wondering if someone could reccommend a fish with the following specifications-

-prefferably not a common goldfish
-1 to 4 cubic feet
-under a toatal cost of 50$

I would love some reccomendations!
thanks

edit- I just realized that I have enough space for a 4' by 2' by 2', but that probably breaches the 50$ mark by a lot.

Maybe try and get a 20 gallon tank? If you look around, particularly on craigslist you should be able to find a really good deal. You should be able to get a 20 gallon, filter and heater for $20-$30 possibly even less. Then you will need some de-chlorinater and water test kit (could look for on ebay and get that for cheaper). That should about be $50, then the tank will need to cycle so you can save up for some fish. Or were you looking for fish that didn't require a heater?

I love my platies. They're hardy, colorful, and livebearing.

The bigger the tank you can afford the more stable your water parameters will be. Make sure you read the sticky on cycling tanks.

Good luck and enjoy! :)

thanks for the tip, i completely forgot about ebay! I bet there are some great deals there. platies sound like a good fish, I'll look into them.

I think virtually all lfs carry platies in all kinds of varieties. I wouldn't bother with paying for shipping costs, but that's just me.

ifs? Internet Fish stores?

lfs= local fish store. Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear, I didn't mean buying fish online, but looking for water testing kits (liquid kind) on ebay can be a lot cheaper, even with shipping. Platies are good hardy fish, but can reproduce at an alarming rate. I'd google 'hardy aquarium fish' and see what hits you get, see which fish you like, and then you can ask the forum about stocking suggestions. First steps first though, finding an aquarium, I'd recommend craigslist for a cheap aquarium.