Last summer, we bought a goldfish on a whim while we were at the supermarket.
Actually, we did start off with two Bettas that eventually died after a week or two. I saw them in those ridiculous plastic cups at Wal-Mart, no room to swim and just floating in their own unfiltered poop. Wal-Mart had them stacked on each other so many of them had the air holes covered by the cup above them. I spent about half an hour trying to stack them in a way where the air holes weren't covered and the ones toward the back had about a CENTIMETER of water left because the incompetent Wal-Mart employees apparently don't care about living creatures. I don't even like fish but I felt so bad when I saw them so we took two home and with them we spent about $60 additional dollars for the tank and everything else we needed to set up a home for them.
So yeah they died two weeks later.
Then we went to Meijer and figured what the heck? They sell goldfish for 17 cents and now we have an empty tank. Might as well fill it with a fish or two. So, we got Dominic and Decoco...two small goldfish named after a hilarious scene in Inglorious Basterds. Some time after that we got some chubby fantailed fish that, to this day, we still call `Fish' along with two small guppies and two platy fish (not all at once).
Decoco died. The two guppies tried eating the other fish's tail fins so they got beat up and died. One of the platy fish got ick and died.
Since summer, we've just been waiting for them all to croak but since then we've upgraded the tank two times, bought a heater, filters, etc, etc. All for pets that we can't pet, hug, or do anything with. I swear I didn't like them but all of a sudden after Fish started spending time at the bottom of the tank a few days ago, I was actually worried and it bothered me. I had grown attached to Fish, Dominic, and Platy.
The previous air pump or whatever you call it that we used was a Tetra and it sucked. Everything that we've gotten that was a Tetra brand has sucked except for this so I'm a little confused because this one is much cheaper than the first filter I got. Especially the filter system. I have to write a review on my new filter, too, because that thing is amazing.
Our whole fish tank got an entire renovation complete with new air pump, filter system, heater, and new plants. This air pump is a beast. You'll have to buy an air stone but those are extremely cheap. We got a seashell shape and it blows bubbles like a monster and even Fish will stick his or her butt into it and just linger there.
It does have to be plugged in of course but the power cord is fairly long. There's not much else I can do to describe it but it is a wonderful product. I think my fish are happier. I stuck my finger in there the other day after feeding them and all 3 of them nibbled on me.
Also, it barely makes a sound. We live in a small studio so if it made a sound, we would know since the space is so small I'm sure we would be able to hear a housefly fart.
Great product. Would recommend. Would buy again.
ttatum01