I tell people I have a pet lemon. Indeed, I have had a lemon for over twenty-five years. I promised I'd throw it out when it split, but it hasn't yet. It's petrified now and like a maraca, with its seeds inside.
I've never had a pet as an adult. Pets are responsibility, and they limit one's ability to travel or move. As a kid, though, we had many a family pet, when we could (depending on how severe my mom's allergies were at the time: because of her allergies, we never had a dog within my living memory).
Below at the types of pets we had and the number of years we had them:
We never did have fish or birds.