Seriously though,
Fishless cycling is a good way to go, although it then puts the pressure on you to stock the tank all at once.
Patience has its benefits when stocking a tank. I personally prefer to stock a tank the old fashion way, starting with a few small hardy fish, and going through the nitrogen cycle slowly, charting it all the way until you have naturally established your bacteria colonies. The biggest benefit to doing this is that it gives you plenty of time to decide on what fish you want to have in there. I bet you that the fish you want now will not be the fish you want one month, or two months from now.
I have been in the fish hobby for a couple of years now, and I am always wanting something different even now. We often want things we can't have (read here: can't keep alive), and stocking slowly gives you a lot of leeway in what you can and can't do.
There a few fundamental decisions you have to make:
Freshwater or saltwater
Big fish or small fish
live plants or plastic plants
low tech or high tech
Since you posted in the FW section, I assume you have decided for freshwater. That shows great wisdom and restraint on your part, and we commend you for that. A lot of people start out with freshwater, and learn all about water chemistry before venturing into saltwater, which is more tricky, and more costly too.
Big fish vs Small fish
I prefer small fish, lots of them. They produce less waste, and they behave more naturally as they have more room compared to their size. They also cost less.
Live plants are another level of complexity. If you really want live plants than by ALL MEANS, go for it, as you will not regret it. You may regret not having live plants if you start out with plastic. But you can change back and forth, so don;t feel like it's an all or nothing choice you have to make right now.
High tech vs low tech is a decision that usually starts out low tech, gradually moving towards high tech.
So look around at people's tanks in the Rate My Tank section and see what you do and don;t like. Some of us post links to our tanks in our signatures as well, so you can look there for ideas too.
