If you can get your hand on a few cherry shrimp they breed very easy. Here in Canada they sell in the pet shops for about 3.00 to 5.00 each you can easily keep them in a planted 10 gal tank and they are get algae eaters. Pat.
Have you given any thought to aquarium maintenance? A couple dollars for a bus ride, a gravel vac, water change, maybe some aquascaping..there's 20-40 bucks. Your LFS should have no problem letting you hang up flyers, and there's craigslist too.