First time buying a fish: Easiest fish to take care of!?!? It has to be a small one.?

No fish is easy to take care of. They all require regular maintenance and purchasing of food, equipment and medication if needed. You need a minimum of a 5 gallon tank and 10 would be better. The tank needs to by cycled before you add fish and the water tested to be sure it is ready. Tetra's are pretty hardy small fish for a beginner and it won't matter if they are male or female. The livebreeders (guppies, mollies, platies and swordtails) are fairly easy to keep but need to be kept in groups on 2 or 3 females to one male. Any decent fish store should be able to tell the sexes apart. If they can't I wouldn't buy fish there! **

I would get a male Beta (Japanese Fighting Fish). The males have long flowing fins and are very pretty. They usually come in very small tanks at the back of the petstore. You can only buy one male though, or a few females or else the male will fight the other fish.

I would say a Betta, a.k.a Siamese Fighting Fish. (Beta Splendens). Most Bettas you see are male - the ones with long flowing fins. Some fish like Bettas are easy to tell apart. Others are impossible - the only way to tell is to dissect the fish. Its different for different fish. Bettas are bubble nest breeders, the female lays eggs in a nest built by the male. Only 1 male Betta to a tank! They will fight to the death if there are 2 males. Males will also attack anything with long flowing fins like male guppies. The Betta will win. If you have females, 2 or 3 females to one male. As a beginner, I would highly recommend avoiding breeding situations - caring for fry is not something you are really ready for. Would be frustrating for you, bad for the fry. (babies) In the opinions of many, myself included, NO fish should ever be kept without adequate filtration of the water. Bettas are no different. The advantage of a Betta is that they are beautiful to look at, easily available, undemanding to care for compared to others, and can live comfortably in a small tank such as a 1.5 gallon. There is also a lot of info available on Betas - sadly not oll of it is good. If you are in doubt remember two things: 1. If you were the fish, how would you feel? 2. Surviving isn't the same as thriving Good luck, and welcome to this fascinating obsession. Um, I mean... hobby. P.S. - one of the most common fish sold as a beginner fish is a goldfish. It is actually one of the worst possible choices. They require special care and larger tanks -- many people are lucky to keep one alive for a few months, but they should actually live for 15 years or more....

Sorry, but there is no such type of fish that can live in a fish bowl :( Even so, a Betta would be your best bet. They can live in tanks 5 gallons+, (NOT a fish bowl!) and don't require A LOT of care. 5 gallon tank: http://www.thecribbs.com/images/Fish/10_gallon_tank.jpg You'll need to feed him/her a variety of food once or twice a day, but skip one day of the week to reduce chances of your Betta getting swim bladder disorder. Foods that can be fed: Blood worms: http://www.caudata.org/cc/images/articles/foodpics/frozenworm.jpg Brine shrimp pellets: http://www.chalo.biz/attach/hash145/48017/pellet.gif etc,etc,etc..... Only get ONE Betta, as two males will fight, and you have to be an experienced fish breeder to put a female with a male. (The male will kill the female if you don't know what you're doing) Male: http://www.nippyfish.net/gallery/023.jpg http://image57.webshots.com/757/4/29/35/2546429350047005191SQtwIb_fs.jpg Female: http://www.oneworldinternetcafe.com/betta/betta05G.jpg http://www.fishpondinfo.com/photos/fish/anabantoids/fembetta.jpg I hope this helps! Good luck! --------------------------------------… Edit: Make sure you cycle the 5 gallon+ tank properly! Use this site for details on cycling: http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php And this, just in case you don't know what swim bladder disorder is: http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/Swim%20Bladder%20Disorder.html Hope you make a good desicion, & DON'T put a goldfish in a tank any smaller than 20 gallons: http://home.pacbell.net/powerfx/images/20gallon.jpg ---------------------------------- Edit again: sorry, livebearers can't stay in fish bowls :( I breed them & I use my 20 gallon tank, not a 1 gallon. :(

When you go get your tank, get one with a bubbler and a light. Even a betta is more active and thus more beautiful with a bubbler. If you get a bowl, you can't keep anything except a betta and the betta will mainly stay still. Any other fish will need a filter, bubbler, probably a heater and regular cleaning....which is fine. You can keep more interesting fish if you do a little research and get the right equipment up front. Goldfish produce a lot of waste and I wouldn't recommend one. Bettas are colorful and pretty easy to keep, but you can only have one male betta (the pretty ones) per tank or they fight each other until one or both are dead, and that's no good. If you opt to get a total tank set up with a filter, heater, bubbler and all, then easy beginner fish include danios and platys. The problem with guppies and mollies are that they have a reputation for reproducing, and it sounds like you want to stay away from that. If you get lucky, the fish store person will know the right advice to give you...unfortunately, this isn't always the case, so do a little reading on a fish keepers website and you'll save yourself a lot of headaches!! good luck and have fun! Here are some websites that are really helpful and include tons of pictures and advice for beginners: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/ http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/

there are no livebearers that can live in a fishbowl.

Goldfish are the easiest fish to have, as far as telling if they are male or female I am not sure. Any goldfish that I have ever had have not had babies. I have provided a link to a good website to get you started: http://www.petlibrary.com/goldfish/fishcare.htm

You might want to try some mollies and/or tetras. With these fish you can not identify if they are male or female but fortunately you can buy numerous amounts of them and chances are some are going to be male and some female. When they are pregnant their belly tends to swell up and turn a bit red in color. Best wishes!

Beta or goldfish.. or guppies