Tell me about. . . caring for fish.

[T.J. Combo]

I don't like to spend a lot of money when it comes to pets. Mostly because they have a tendecy to die on me pretty quick. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Lately I was thinking about getting a Puffer Fish. The Figure 8 Puffers at my local pet shop were pretty expensive for little fish ($25 apiece), so I thought I'd buy a small 2.5 gallon tank and see if I could keep one of the less expensive fish at the store alive. If I could, I'd go ahead and get the puffer.

Long story short, I managed to keep a miniature catfish shark alive for 2 days before it wound up dead. It really doesn't make sense to me, I made sure the temperature and PH levels were alright. I think it might've been because he wasn't eating (even though I fed him what they told me to).

My girlfriend of 2 years has 3 Betta's (2 male, 1 female) that are perfectly healthy, the oldest of which is a little over a year. They don't live together (she says they can't, but I think it'd be fine to keep the female in the tank with one of the males, then again, what do I know, I'm a fish killer.)

After consulting some free websites on the care of Puffer Fish, I'd like some input from people who own these so I don't wind up killing this one. Recommended reading/buys would be appreciated.