Hi I'm a Newbie in Mcdonough , Ga. About 20 miles se of Atlanta.  I am looking for a pond or a breeder of fantails nearby.  The fish at the stores seem often sick and ill used-I would prefer not to use a "PET STORE" at all!  I have been keeping Goldies w some moderate sucess for about 20 years.  I recently had all my fish die-I'm trying to learn and find out why, and there is so many things I never heard of I'm already learning here!

Anyway when I get my act together in a few weeks I would like to start out new with strong stock-maybe go to a pond or to a show and get a healthy fish! It doesnt have to be 100's of dollars show fish(I cant afford that anyway!) Just aregular healthy fish!   Thanks!

I agree - sometimes pet stores can be HORRIBLE! I've personally bought all of my goldfish from a pet store, though when I'm ready to expand this hobby I hope to get some directly from a breeder.

Any idea of which varieties you're looking to get?

Why not just hide the food from the girl? Or at least talk to her, if she's 18 she should be able to understand the fact that goldfish are cold-blooded creatures that don't need as much food as we do, they don't even have stomachs in fact.