My kids had hamsters. They eventually died, unfortunately. Then, my son discovered fish when he was about 12 and had them for many years, the last being Oscars in a 50 gal tank when I first moved up here, but they got so big, they could jump out of the tank (there were 2) and he gave them away. He fed them goldfish. One jumped out at me when I took the top off the tank for some reason, and landed on the floor; scared the shit out of me, but I picked it up and plopped it back in. : )