The main work is doing a water change, which I think I'll have to do every couple of weeks going forwards, but we'll see. I had to do it more often at the start whilst the tank was cycling. Takes me about 40 minutes. I also have to trim the plants every so often. Oh, and feed them of course. It doesn't feel like a lot of work or a chore to me atm.

If your first fish tank is just going to be something small with a goldfish or two in it, I'm not sure how you go about doing that as I've not done that before. Maybe you just fill the tank from the tap and chuck the fish in? I decided to go for a large planted heated freshwater tank with interesting fish and shrimps and snails, so I had to be careful to monitor the water and find out what species could co-exist, what pH and temp they like, etc. It took 6 weeks before I could put anything in it safely, so one tip would be to patient. Another would be, go and speak to the people in the pet shop / aquatics center about what you're doing as they can tell you everything you need to know. I got most of my advice from ChatGPT, but double checked it with the kind people at the aquatics center as I was setting things up.