When you get tired of fish, you can eat them.
Many modern societies would look down upon you if you were to do this to another pet.

Cool hobby? Fish never do anything interesting

Well if you look at it that way, animals in general don't really do anything that's particularly interesting. Fish have a variety of different temperaments and interact with each other and other species in pretty interesting ways(IMO).

the fun thing about aquariums is maintaining a little ecosystem where life can thrive so it's just kind of a way to "play god". I had one as a kid and it was really useful for learning a lot of basic concepts in chemistry and biology.

dietcoke: pro pet fish


i am too, but i won't be getting fish.

get a sugarglider

or a capuchin monkey

that looks like the best pet ever

i sort of already told you all of this on irc buuuuut

fish are cool but axolotls are cooler, because they're like having fish and having lizards at the same time.  plus, they're hella easy to care for and severely cuter than fish (because they don't have the cold dead stare that fish do, instead they have cute little dot eyes and smiley faces).  also they live pretty well together, so you can get more than one.  also unlike some aquarium setups where you have to have a pretty huge aquarium, two adult axolotls can be kept in a 20 gallon tank which isn't too big really.   and since your requirements are that it has to be something that can be left on holiday, it would be very easy to just have someone come 'round and throw a bit of food in there for it every few days or something.  the only downside is that they aren't always easy to find, but i'm pretty sure there's several breeders in the UK so if nothing else you could have them shipped (this is what i did, because there were none for sale near me so i just paid to have one shipped from elsewhere in the US)

just please learn from my mistakes and be very careful to sort through the gravel (or use something other than gravel) because even if the gravel is in general very large, there's still the possibility that a single piece would be big enough to swallow and trust me, they will

I love my cat Shadow. She's by far the greatest cat I've ever had the pleasure of owning. We live on an acre of land and she's an outdoor cat so we don't need a litterbox at all for her. Best of all her personality is like that of a dog - when you're outside she'll follow you around like she's mothering you, and will even meow at you to get you to back away from the lake when you get too close. Hahaha. She's very affectionate and will seek you out and lay on your lap when you're watching tv. It's like having the best of both worlds. A companion like a dog without the responsibility of having to walk and clean up after it.

monkeys are pretty awful and dangerous pets as a rule

I have two dogs. One is an Australian shepherd named Carly. The other is a black lab named Corbin (yes, after Corbin Dallas from the 5th Element).

Carly is pretty relaxed and the lazier of the two, but it may be due to the fact that she's almost two years old whereas Corbin is 3 months old. Corbin is super active and really playful, but I think he's about to leave his puppy stage in a few weeks.

monkeys are pretty awful and dangerous pets as a rule

naw they're great, the problem is with the owners. If you invest the time and effort it takes to raise and train a lil monkey-baby, she or he will be your little monkey buddy for the rest of its monkey life

i want a pet great ape from the zoo and i will name him george bush

Well if you look at it that way, animals in general don't really do anything that's particularly interesting. Fish have a variety of different temperaments and interact with each other and other species in pretty interesting ways(IMO).

the fun thing about aquariums is maintaining a little ecosystem where life can thrive so it's just kind of a way to "play god". I had one as a kid and it was really useful for learning a lot of basic concepts in chemistry and biology.

But it sucks you have to change the water and all that stuff. If I wanted an ecosystem I'd just leave garbage around so mice would grow on it.

naw they're great, the problem is with the owners. If you invest the time and effort it takes to raise and train a lil monkey-baby, she or he will be your little monkey buddy for the rest of its monkey life

it depends on the type of monkey, but in general most people aren't cut out for it (jesus most people aren't really cut out for dogs)

but some types of monkeys are just plain unsuitable to be living in a house with people no matter what.  the basic rule of thumb is just don't.

i don't know about 'just don't. some of them can deal with it.

i don't know about 'just don't. some of them can deal with it.

nah man monkeys are pretty classically a pet where most people who want one aren't capable of properly caring for it.  very very few people are legitimately right to own one.  that's why for the most part you should just go ahead and assume no unless you go way above and beyond.

i hate to use a site like this as a catch all for making a point but it's all the info i want to convey in one spot so i'm goin for it

not saying having a pet monkey is always 100% a horrible thing, but for all the people out there who think it'd be cool to have a monkey, almost none of them are really properly up for it and just shouldn't before they not only cause themselves tons of problems but also the monkey.  this really goes for most exotic pets tbh but monkeys are high up on the list for 'pets most people aren't prepared to keep'