A number of factors collided, causing me to decide that I wanted to look at aquariums as a possible way to have pets. I did some research on the web about them, and discovered that there seems to be an enormous amount of work and money involved. Well, that didn’t stop me from going to the pet store to look at them. The people there were very friendly, and showed me the starter kits. Looks like about $500 would get me started. Now, this is probably more money than I’m willing to spend, but less money than I expected. Considering those two facts, it’s surprising I was at the store at all. Anyway, the people at the store seemed to be telling me that it wasn’t that difficult to maintain, which surprised me since their own tanks looked rather filthy. Perhaps it’s not too difficult to maintain if you want a filthy tank. 😐 Anyway, because I had done some research I could ask some questions, and eventually discovered, bit by bit, that it was as much work as I had read on the Internet. Pet store people are not really willing to volunteer that information, but they’ll tell you if you ask. I guess they figure I’d buy all the equipment and fish, set it up, have many fish die, buy more fish, and gradually learn that it’s a major pain in the ass while they make a lot of money. I wonder how many people have empty fish tanks sitting in their basements because they didn’t realize how much work was involved? I did enjoy the trip to the store though. They had a saltwater tank set up with similar fish to the ones in Finding Nemo. They had clown fish and one of those fancy shrimp that cleans stuff. They also had a coy pond with some massive coy. That’s kind of appealing to me, but I’d have to set up a waterfall and fill most of my livingroom with water to house them. 😛