I have had a lot of pets growing up, ranging from dogs, to tadpoles, to a bunny. However, I am currently obsessed with pet fish. I own four. Sure, owning four pet fish is mildly insane, but they are so adorable and fun. Sometimes you have to buy them friends. It's okay, though. I'll just be a crazy fish lady, surrounded by shallow bowls of tiny creatures.
Going to college and living on campus does not always allow for pets other than those who can live their whole lives underwater in small tanks. Of course, this only means that you can buy fish. It was a huge thing, my freshman year, for an entire floor of a residence hall to have a group outing to PetSmart and Target to purchase pet betta fish. I was not on this bandwagon. I didn't purchase my first fish until sophomore year. I went to the pet store and took forever to choose two fish to buy. Everything took off after that.
So in my short fish-parenthood, there are a few reasons why I personally believe that fish are the best pets to own in college. While four pet fish may be a little excessive on my part (sorry to all the times I have had to lug them to school and home and their fish water got everywhere), fish are nevertheless objectively the best college pet because of the facts that they're cheap, relatively low maintenance and just plain precious. You can go to the pet store and buy a betta fish for about $7, or even a goldfish for $0.14.
I love having the ability and authority to name them whatever crazy names I want. I have named some of my fish over the past years Sixtus, Lazarus, Helios, Quinoa, LaVerne, Polaris, Xanthoesis, Synethstasia and many other colorful names. I like to give my tiny pets larger-than-life names to compensate for the fact that they'll live their tiny lives in a bowl. And you only have to change their water every two weeks or so, which is great, because I only have time to breathe between studying and work about every two weeks.
With low price and maintenance, fun naming abilities and all-around adorability, fish are the bomb. I'm obsessed with mine, especially when I make it rain food in their bowls and they're all confused swimming back and forth trying to catch the little pellets. At the end of the day, they just make me happy.
