Thank you for the great resources, Thor! I only browsed through them quickly before my reply, but I've bookmarked the pages and will be sure to read them more in-depth (probably several times) before even beginning to shop for a fish. I don't want to spend the money and time on a pet just for it to die due to my own negligence when there are resources like this to prevent such a thing from happening!
Also, I'm looking to spend a few hundred dollars at the most. Maybe around $300-$400? Of course, I'd probably be far better starting off with something even smaller and more inexpensive than that, but that's about the top price I'd be willing to pay to get started. I've actually been putting aside money for a pet for awhile, and so I have a bit more than I would have thought possible to spend.
Ram - the only one of those fish you mentioned that I liked was the Betta xD Those I like a lot, but everyone I have spoken to have said that theirs never lasted very long. My sister owned them and attempted to breed them for a 4H project, and they both died within a week or two, even before being put in the tank together.
