Carolyn got her first goldfish, "Goldy" at the age of 6 and was able to do the water changes, feed appropriately, and keep the fish alive for TWO years.  Her grandmother killed the fish when spraying for mosquitoes without covering the fishbowl... a very sad and upsetting experience, never to be forgotten.  When a teenager, her love for fish had an accumulation of tropical fish tanks in her parents' basement and included a "wild" tank with newts, goldfish, and terrestrials.  It was a half-land/half-water tank before they were made popular, back in the late 1950's.  She tried her hand at salt water aquariums and other exotics, like birds, alligators, snakes and iguanas, but always went back to the fish of her childhood.  She was allowed to have all these pets because she was responsible enough to care for it all.  Her parents never had to help.

     When she grew up, got her own home, she wanted a pond.  She got a large fishtank, stocked with tropical fish first and then fancy goldfish, primarily fantails and Black Moors.  When the pond was installed, it was stocked with Shubunkin, two very striking Sarasa Comets, one fantail and a Black Moor.  But someone gave her a couple of albino catfish too, and with this only being a very small pond, the water immediately became pea soup.  In total frustration, she went shopping for a larger fish, one that could be SEEN in this mess.  She came home with her first koi, a non-descript albeit light-colored and larger (12") koi.  It disappeared in the pea soup along with the goldfish. 

     When the water finally cleared, some of the goldfish were not in there.  She learned that whatever fits into a catfish's mouth will become catfish food.  Another hard lesson learned the hard way.  So, she got rid of the catfish and installed a second pond, one for goldfish and the other for koi.  Eventually, when building the one really large (3,400 gallons) pond, the goldfish were replaced by more koi.  And now, she is ready to start all over again.