Here fishy, fishy, fishy. And Tarot. Fish cards in Tarot readings.

I looked through my Crowley-Harris Thoth Tarot Deck and found only four cards displaying fish: The Sun (trump card), Death (trump card), The Two of Cups (Love) and Princess of Cups.

So you wouldn't have to draw all cups to see a few fish. Hope that helps a little.

Which card layout are they using, and which deck are they using? The Rider-Waite is probably the most common but it doesn't have very many fish. Page of Cups is the only one that immediately springs to mind.

If she's doing it on the cheap, with the Internet, she could simply print out all the cards she wants on a thick card stock, promising herself that she'd buy a real deck when she gets more money. I can see it happening.

That way, she can pick and choose which cards appeal to her and, thus, set herself up for all the fishes you could possibly want. There are a gazillion different tarot decks out on the internet, after all, so you could be very vague about what actual deck you're using.

While there are many commonly mentioned spreads (ie: the ubiquitous Celtic Cross), the vast majority of tarot readers I've dealt with (including myself) devise spreads which speak to them and use that. If she has a real gift for this, she might start out with a standard spread, scrap it because it feels fake, and start dealing them out randomly since that speaks to her. It also gives you a reason for her to be looking more at the cards instead of concentrating on the spread and make any realizations you need her to make without having anyone come back and cry "Foul!" on you.

The first reading I did as a teenager came out of accident, actually. I was trying to get used to physically handling the larger-than-playing cards by playing solitaire--and in the midst of a game, I got a flash of a reading. It was kinda strange, but it rather confirmed to myself that I had a knack for Tarot.

And if you'd like to use that in any way, shape or form, my blessings.

The Deviant Moon tarot has lots of fish cards, it's a recent deck and not too pricey. Let me see if I can find you a link. no link. But the card I picture from your description is Prince Cups, Deviant Moon. The prince is dressed as a fish, while carrying a fish in a cup - supposedly a 'to understand the fish, you must become the fish'.

A classic spread would be the Celtic cross, but also a simple three card "past, present, future" is pretty popular.

Also no, not impossible at all to pull all cups.

All cups is very unlikely with the Celtic Cross spread but with the three carder, it's not so unusual.

Improbable, but not impossible.

Good point though - Celtic cross is a 10 card spread - the fewer the better if you want to show all fish cards.

In the classic Rider-Waite-Smith deck fish/sea creatures show up on the following cards:

The Moon - okay, it's a crawfish, but still. It's seen towards the bottom of the card, crawling out of the water (perhaps to ask the barking canines--dog and wolf--to quiet it down or something.)

The Page of Cups - peeping out of the cup the Page is holding.

The Knight of Cups - depicted on the tunic of the Knight.

The Queen of Cups - one of the angels carved on the Queen's throne holds a fish. There are also cherubic mermaids on the top of the throne.

The King of Cups - there's a fish leaping in the background as well as one on the King's necklace.

Bodies of water show up more often than fish do, at least in that deck.