Apparently goldfish are the most popular pet in the UK and I recently acquired a couple which I now keep in my bedroom. This is not the first time I have kept goldfish, like many children they were the first pets I ever had the responsibility of looking after and after visiting a friend recently and enjoying watching them I decided it was time I rekindled my child hood.

Before I bought my fish I got a book which tells you how to look after your fish. It is not as easy as you may think and you actually have to make a lot of preparations before you can go and buy them.

First of all you obviously need a bowl or tank to keep them in. I opted for a nice big tank and filled it with water and decorated it with a bag of gravel for the bottom and added a few live plants and some nice rock features. I think installed a filter which cleans the water by filtering out fish poo and algae which can form on the tank.

I then let the tank function for a few days before I went and got my fish as this allows the water to settle and be filtered to get rid of some of the impurities you get in tap water and makes it safe for your new residents.

Off I popped to the pet shop and got myself two standard fish. They cost me £3 all together and I was given them in a plastic bag to transport home. When home I had to place the bags in the tank without opening them so that the temperatures could even out so the fish would not get stressed. 30 minutes later I released them into their new home and they took to it really well. I them gave them some food in the form of flakes and they guzzled it up straight away.

These fish are really easy to care for, I feed them twice a day and that is all you need to do. The filter is very good and the person in the shop said I shouldn't really need to clean the tank but just change the filter every 6 months. I recommend these for anyone with young children who wants to introduce the concept of responsibility with pets as they are hardly little critters who don't require too much attention.