Born again fish keeper! Got my first aquarium 22 years ago at a pet store in my local mall. The aquarium came with everything I needed (hood, lights, filter, heater, net, food etc). Sounded perfect to me! I put my aquarium box up by the cash so I could pick out my fish. I remember picking out every fish that looked pretty...mollies, guppies, platys, neons, otos, goldfish and angels. I had TONS of new fish...sooo excited and they seemed really happy about the amount of $$$ I was spending. Since the internet wasn't available I had no clue, I mean NO clue what was about to happen. Got home, washed my gravel with soapy dish water, did the same for my tank and my filter sponge (you know, to get the dust off). Got my gravel in, water, hooked the rest of my stuff up and threw all my fish in (including the store fish water that came in the bags). Well within days fish were dying, some had white things growing on their bodies, others swimming in odd ways. It was a disaster! I really wished someone would've taken the time to explain fish keeping. It was pretty clear to the sales person I had clue what I was doing. They watched me buy a 20 gal, bagged about 50 fish, charged me and watched me leave knowing I'd probably be back to buy more fish in the very near future due to die off. Well, once the last fish went belly up, I washed everything, got some bedding in the tank and put in 2 gerbils instead. They lived over 4 years. Fast forward 22 years...decided to use the internet to educate myself before getting another tank. I'm pleased to report, I have a fully cycled Fluval Spec 5 which I cycled fishless...planted...with co2, drop checker...and I have the happiest spoiled betta ever! I test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrates, ph, gh, kh...all things I should've known way back then. I'm already planning 4 more scaped tanks (larger) with 1 tank set aside for quarantine. Multiple tank syndrome coming up!