Best fish for a new aquarium

So I've been going down this rabbit hole of aquarium stuff for the past week and honestly my brain is fried. I just wanted some fish. Like, some nice fish swimming around in a tank on my shelf. How hard could it be right? Turns out pretty hard actually. Or at least theres a lot more to think about than I expected.

The biggest thing I keep seeing everywhere is this thing called the nitrogen cycle. And look I'm not gonna pretend I fully understand all the chemistry but basically you cant just fill a tank with water and throw fish in there. The water needs to develop good bacteria that break down the fish waste or something. Takes like 4-6 weeks apparently. Which is insane to me because I was ready to go to the pet store this weekend but I guess I'll be staring at an empty tank for a month first. Patience is not my strong suit but everyone online says this is the thing that kills most beginner fish so. Yeah. Getting a test kit before I do anything.

One thing that surprised me though is that bigger tanks are actually easier than small ones. I was gonna get like a 5 gallon because I figured start small right? But apparently the water chemistry in small tanks swings around way more and its harder to keep stable. A 20 gallon is more forgiving. Which is good because I have room for it I think, just gotta move some stuff around in the living room. Spent like an hour today just sitting with a notepad trying to figure out where it would go and what fish I want.

For the actual fish I'm looking at zebra danios or white cloud minnows. They're both supposed to be really hardy which is what I need since I have no idea what I'm doing. Zebra danios are these little striped guys that are super active swimmers. White clouds are more chill apparently and can handle cooler water so I might not even need a heater which would be nice. I kind of want both but I should probably just pick one species to start. Less variables you know?

Oh and goldfish? Total trap. Everyone thinks goldfish are the beginner fish but they get HUGE. Like some of them can grow to be a foot long. And they produce so much waste that you need like a 30-40 gallon tank minimum for just one. I had no idea. I thought they were those little orange things that live in bowls but apparently thats just slow torture for them. So yeah no goldfish for me. Maybe someday when I know what I'm doing and have space for a proper big tank.

Anyway thats where I'm at. Need to order a test kit, figure out the tank situation, and then just... wait. The waiting is gonna be the hardest part honestly. I keep looking at pictures of peoples tanks online and getting excited but I gotta do this right. Dont want to be that person whose fish all die in the first week because I was impatient. So yeah. Fish update to come I guess. Eventually.