I have a friend that never has had any experince with fish but he wants to try out the hobby. Would goldfish or a betta be better for him he says he wants a shark too but I recomended goldfish to him..........Can you help me out thanks

i've found bettas are an excellent beginner fish, but i've also had a very hard time with my goldfish. the nice thing about bettas is that they really don't require much work at all, and don't produce nearly as much waste. mine lives in a 1 gallon fish bowl and gets his water changed about once a week, sometimes a little more.
if he wants a goldfish, he's going to need the tank set up etc, with filters and whatnot. so i'd say betta, but a common goldfish may also be an excellent starter fish.

When people are new to fish and want goldfish, I usually recommend a 29 gallon tank with either 3 fancy goldfish or two common or comet goldfish. It's a small enough tank to fit in most houses/apartments, but big enough to hold a few goldfish and give them room to swim, and keep the water fairly stable.

But in general, bettas are much easier. And they're so pretty and colorful (especially males), and fun to watch. And it makes you feel like a good person if you "rescue" them from the little cups in the fish stores, lol.

I don't know what kind of "shark" he means... but if he means bala sharks, they get up to 14" long, and are schooling fish, so they would need a big tank just to start with, and eventually would need over 100 gallons.

I was thinking to tell him to get a betta cuz gold fish are kinda lots of work...well not work but they are very messy......I think i'll tell him to get a beta then when he gets into the hobby more he can get a nice tank and some gold fish.......THANKS TO ALL THOES WHO HELPED

They should go with the betta - easier to take care of and less room. Once they get a hang of things they should then go with the goldfish.

Great learning experience