Hi! I'm Becky, from Michigan. I'm just a lonely college student living with my parents (ugh!) and the only pet my mom will let me have is a fish.
My dad has had fish since he was little and has done a lot of fish keeping himself. He has a 100 gallon overfilled cichlid tank at his work that he bought from a co-worker who moved away (They won't stop having babies!!) He bought a 55 gallon goldfish tank from this same co-worker that is now in our basement. He started with 3 gargatuan goldfish-on-steroids and is down to two, although we did buy a some feeder fish and amazingly, some survived and are currently no longer big enough to fit in the other goldfishes' mouths. He also has a 20 gallon tropical fish tank with your normal platies, tetras, etc. He hasn't really done much research on the topic because he mostly learned from experience. Didn't exactly have internet when he was a kid.
As for myself, I got a silver goldfish when I was little and it died soon after my sleepover when someone fed the fish after I specifically told her not to. R.I.P. little fishy! I think I had a couple other goldfish that didn't last long. When I was around 11 or 12 or so I had a lovely blue betta (my favorite color is blue, so you'll notice a pattern) named Buddy. He lasted a couple of years and then died. After that, I didn't get another fish for a few years, and I ended up getting a dark blue betta who I named Rocky (because he was the exact same color as the blue rocks I picked out for his bowl; I couldn't find him half the time). I lost him after a couple of years as well. Soon after I got Sam, who was mostly blue with some red on him. And then when I got him home and put him in the light I noticed that there was some white between the fins, so I named him after Uncle Sam. I currently have a mostly red, but blue body (that shines if you put a bright light on him! It's beautiful!) betta named Louis Jacob. The name is kind of a long story, so I'll spare you the details. I've already given you way more information than you could already want. But he's really special to me, and after getting busy at school, I neglected him too much and now he has a nasty case of fin rot that won't go away and has eaten his fins pretty much completely away. :( So I came here to ask about it. Here, if you're interested:
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=124379
We kind of forced my mom into letting me get a community tank. My dad has several extras but when his boss randomly gave him a tall 30 gallon, my parents gave it to me because it was perfect for my small room. Gotta love using vertical space! lol I started off with a lot more fish, but I'm down to three large danios, 3 zebra danios, and 1 platy. Those danios are sturdy! I lost one platy after I left for a few days and the water temperature went down. :(
So while I've had several fish since I was little, when it comes to actually knowing specifics about them, I'm a novice. Most of my knowledge has been a mixture of my dad's or my experiences in the past. I had a good run this way, until my fishy got sick. :( So here I am!
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
