yep, same here, my highest fish so far is only at 22$. The pace of the game is intended to be like that though. It's definitely a game where you do your thing (work or play another game or go to the forums and chat etc...) and then go back to it after a while, so patience is a virtue here , but I find the outcomes and satisfaction of building it much higher that way... i've been dumping a LOT of fish while trying different breeds but in trying different combinations I found some cool ones. I usually set the pace to fastest too

"life is short so take it slow"

there are a couple of things in the forum that might help suggesting how to amass money... like this maybe?? http://www.ldwsoftware.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=20399&an=0&page=1#20399