trip to my LFS

well today my brothers girlfriend said she'd take me to this fish store that she used to go to when she was little. She said she had always gotten fish from there so i'm convinced that this place is pretty reliable. however, I don't have a lot of money and want to find something cheap. what plants or fish are cheap. this way I'll have time to research them.

The cheap plants and fish are easier to keep healthy than some expensive ones. For a floating plant you can't beat hornwort. Many of the rooted plants sold in fish stores need a little more light than the average aquarium hood provides. Some good low light but slow growing plants are java fern, crypts and anubias. If you can't find them at the aquarium shop, look on Aquabid.com or EBay. You may also want to use a clay based supplement for the gravel substrate. Laterite is the least expensive, but it and other clay based substrate materials will make the water dusty for a while. If you start with plants and laterite, the water will clear well before the nitrogen cycle is complete.

As for the fish, guppies and platies are good starters, and you need only a pair or two females and a male. Egg laying fish are a bit more challenging than live bearers, but a good, inexpensive one is the white cloud mountain minnow. White clouds like cooler water, so you may not even need a heater. Zebra Dainos are also a good starter fish. Don't worry about scavenger species unless you have the money for some cory cats.

Remember: cheap and slow is the way to go. And please don't try to fill the aquarium all at once. In time, healthy live bearing fish will do that for you. Let us know what you decide.