Fish keeping can be fun if managed properly but it can also become a daunting and frustrating endeavor if you embark on it with little or no preparation.
One of the most important things to consider before one embarks on keeping pet fish is to be thorough in learning about and choosing the right type of pet fish that can suit one's resources, time and desires.
In other words, you need to find the right pet for you.
So how does one go about choosing the right fish? Here are 5 important tips that will help you chose the right fish that will be a joy to keep without putting a strain on your time and resources.

1. Start by doing some research - Find out all you can about fish keeping.
   Use the internet or visit your local library and read as much as you can about the basics of managing an aquarium at home.
   In particular, learn about the different types of fish that are suitable for home aquariums.
   Learn about their behavior, how much space they need, what type of food they eat and how they breed, among other things.
   
2. Visit your local pet shop - Once you have acquainted yourself with the different types of aquarium fish, pay a visit to your local pet shop and see what types of pet fish they stock.
   Based on your newly acquired knowledge, find out how much the pet shop staff know about pet fish by asking them some simple questions relating to fish names, fish food, fish diseases and other basic questions.
   This will help you to find out whether they are knowledgeable enough to be able to provide you with the necessary advice and support you will need down the road.
   Also do your own inspection and see whether their fish tanks are clean.
   You can do this by looking into the tanks from the top and from the sides.
   A pet shop with dirty fish tanks, little fish knowledge or dead fish is certainly not a good store to buy from.
   
3. Review local stock availability against your choices - When you get back home, do some further investigations on the fish you found at the pet store especially the ones you liked.
   In particular, do an in-depth study into how they behave, whether they school or not, as well as the required level of care in terms of frequencies of feeding, water changing and tank cleaning.
   Thereafter, it should be pretty easy for you to select the type of fish that suits you.
   
4. Prepare your aquarium - Once you have come to you decision, proceed to prepare a fish tank according to set requirements for your kind of fish.
   Make sure you have the necessary equipment for tank maintenance to ensure that water cleanliness and appropriate temperatures are maintained at all times.
   
5. Choose your fish - Once all is set, proceed to the pet store and buy your first fish.
   In choosing your new pet, always go for the fish that is alert and healthy.
   Fish that appear sluggish, trembling, have torn fins, sores or spots that appear unnatural must be avoided at all costs.
   Also to be avoided are fish that have, recently, been brought into the pet shop as they may have come with some diseases.
   

Once you have collected your fish, proceed to introduce them into your aquarium and start enjoying your hobby of fish keeping.
You will learn a lot along the way, most of it from the fish themselves.
Soon you will be able to start distinguishing them based on their unique character as not all fish are the same.