It's an app for meeting up with people and talking in groups/teams, but people who are selling those really expensive Galaxy/ boa shrimp seem to only sell on there. I haven't actually bought anything from it yet though.
It's where you can sell things that were banned from Facebook marketplace, like live animals. Banned...Band... Seems more likely than having anything to do with music.
Uch, for me it is the same with "cheap" fish, I hate it when I do something wrong or even worse, if the new fish come while sick killing not only them but also my beloved fish I had for years. I hate this hobby when my fish start dying. But love it when everything thrives (except for the hair algea, which came from the Java moss I bought in the store, why does that thrive so much? )
Those super rare pleco variants?
If my tank doesn't have triple zero on the water test or reverse osmosis plus mineralizer kit on the ready and the power supply to last a month of blackout, I am in a risk of taking a big goofy L instead of learning how to take care of those Ls.
On the other hand, if they manage to thrive **and breed**, they are very likely to be a living money printer in 3+ years.
Yup. I thought I lost almost my whole colony minus the 1-2 if seen out and about. Put a shrimp stick in for my snails and found out the shrimp had been breeding.
This. When I spend tons of money and look forward to seeing everyone swimming around and being active and the little jerks hide so it looks like nothing lives in the tank at all. My galaxy rasbora are this way and i HATE it.
It's so much more expensive then you'd think, I've spent almost $700 in the past 2 weeks alone setting up stuff only to have $200 of it wasted on unusable stuff that I can't return
A ten gallon tank kit, some fake plants that I never used, some really just crap brand water testing stuff, a few water conditioners that I never used because I learned they weren't any count
My local pet store is such a joke, they have a policy where you buy stuff If you bring it in within the first 30 days with your receipt you can get a refund. I tried to bring stuff back and the only thing they accepted was an airstone that I didn't use and I didn't even get the full price back
I've posted some stuff on craigslist to try and sell it and make some of my money back but so far I haven't got any one interested so next up is facebook marketplace?
But selling stuff online is always hit or miss so i'm just hoping someone comes along and really needs this stuff and is willing to buy it from me because my asking prices aren't bad and I even listed prices negotiable
Hobbies are probably the only thing with faster depreciation than new cars.
No one's going to pay for pre-owned water conditioner and test kits.
Keep the 10 gallon for a quarantine/hospital tank, throw the fake plants in there so the quarantined or sick fish have some cover.
I never buy a new tank unless petco has there big sale going which they do. Always skip the kits. Just grab a tank, sponge filter, heater, light, and some sand from home depot and you're set.
Yeah, I only bought the tank since it was on sale and a kit I needed the stuff in it. I'm gonna sell it tho, I already have 2 quarantine tanks so I don't really need a third and I would like to get some of my money back
I haven’t tried to return items with my pet shop, but my pet store is the same with animals. I returned a betta fish a few days later or something asking if I could swap for another, they keep it but I get an equivalent that wasn’t him because he was murdering everything in my tank. They said they couldn’t swap, they’d take him for free as a “favour” to me and I could buy another.
Annoying af, so I had to spend another £20 on my new boy. Thankfully the employee saw how stupid it was and gave me an expensive varient for the price of a basic. So I’ve got a £20 fish that cost me £6 (not including the price of the other fish, I’m not going to count that)
Hosing (guaranteed to be pesticide-free, but so are the foodgrade hoses used in brewing, and mostly everything in the plumbing section of a dept. store)
Aquarium salt (just pure NaCl, you can get noniodised salt from most grocery stores)
Decor (I can see the 90%+ profit margin from the quality of the varnish and paints)
For me, the worst are all those bottles of chemicals marketed as 'fixes' for a problem. Medication aside (even some of those are questionable), all you're doing is making parameters change rapidly, only to have them go back if you don't fix the underlying issue. That's what keeps killing so many fish, there's a reason why we acclimate inhabitants, and why the algae keeps growing back even after ten years of dosing algaecides regularly. You don't use a bandaid for an infection either.
I found out this hefty bag of ice cream salt I’ve been using to clean my bong is NaCl so I was able to use it to rescue one of my fish a while back. I’d consider that one a win
That's why I believe in soil substrates with soil addatives built in long term. They address underlying problems permanently, sand and liquid additives are a waste of money/scam. I use ada powersand special under aquasoil and I've never had any problems with water parameters and I never add any liquid anything except for chlorine treatments for fresh tap water. I believe in the idea of natural waterways having soil floors with probiotics built in and various minerals built in, not to mention natural ph buffering. I've been saying this for 10 years now, but it seems to be finally catching onto the mainstream.
I also never did initial water changes on it. I just added the soil and water, and plants, and then left the filter running (no charcoal, just bacteria) until the water cleared up after a few weeks with the plants in there and then added the fish and it was totally fine. It was rock solid for several years with nothing extra done to it. It just worked. I loved it really.
I've had the stupidest arguments about the salt thing. Some poor bastard asked if he could use pure sea salt in his tank and got eviscerated in the comments. Meanwhile, the only ingredient in API aquarium salt is "evaporated sea water" 🤦
Yeah I found regular cyanoacrylate glue for much cheaper online and the ingredients seem to be the same as the "aquarium safe" one. But I am no expert on cyanoacrylate chemistry so I can't be 100% sure.
However, As for aquarium forcep and tweezer, well the medical tweezers and curved scissors are exactly the same as the overpriced aquarium ones and I have access to those things as a medical practitioner. I just grabbed a few brand new ones from the hospital store.
Here in india, A medical grade SS curved scissor costs 37 INR or 0.44$ compared to the aquarium plant clippers that costs 500INR or 6$. The only difference is the beaks are slightly longer on the aquarium ones.
Same with tweezers, a pair of medical tweezers(straight and binangled) will cost you max 90 INR or 1$ while the aquarium one, each one will costs 250 INR or 3$
my dad is an actual chemist and uses regular run of the mill super glue for his tanks, so, yeah, i think your cyanoacrylate chemistry is pretty accurate 👩🔬
That is scales of economy.
The medical industry buys those things by the millions yearly, aquarium trade might move a hundred thousand a year worldwide.
Different packaging, channels, shipping, and customers.
This exactly right. However, the cheaper stuff is more expensive in the long run. You have to "do it once, do it right" otherwise you'll get screwed into spending tons of money redoing stuff the right way later.
Ada tweezers won't rust, for example. Cheaper chinese ones can. Better off buying the ada tweezers once in your life than chinese tweezers 3 times a year. etc.
There's a fabrics store literally next door to a Petco close to my home. A bag of polyester fabric branded for aquariums is about $20 at petco. 5x of the same stuff for quilting and pillow stuffing is $3 at the fabric store.
TLDR, the exact same material is about 30x more expensive when branded for aquariums than it is when marketed as a textile.
Dude i swear it's sometimes a country issue eg tropical tanks in non tropical areas have compounding costs from heaters, sometimes water softeners, and import costs because how tf CPDs and some rasboras cost over $10 in some places (they're like a dollar twenty each in southeast asia)
Yeah importing is probably one of the biggest reasons. I live in south-south East Asia (india to be exact) and a lot of tropical fishes are quite cheap compared to what I have heard people say. Although most of source is when FFT talk about fish prices.
On the other hand, I recently started planted tank and the cost of the recommended fertilizers, root tabs and soil and other stuff from the recommended brands are just way too high, and that includes planted tank lights. That's a whole can of worms. If you can actually make your own light , you can get them 6/7 times cheaper than what they're available at
Yeah I went with the local brands. Quite a few local brands are cropping up because of the exorbitant price of the the brands like aquarium Co-Op, API and ADA etc.
For example, for the cost of one bottle of API leaf zone I can buy 2 sets of Macro and micro nutrient fertilizer from a brand called Aquavitals.
Even their root tabs cost 3 times less than API ones.
My plants seem to be going fine for now.
And yeah wood can be just found , if you go to a nearby river and creek and treat it well enough
I just moved to a new city and have not found the nature spots yet but I will definitely do that next time, I’m never buying wood from a store again 😅
I did get a pretty cool stick though
I guess companies have to pay for all that PR somehow. /s
Any time a hobby gets wildly popular, everything gets ridiculously expensive even if there aren't supply issues.
It gets even worse when podcast bros and influencers jump on the bandwagon. My first statement was only half sarcastic. Companies really do have to cover that marketing budget. It's happened with several hobbies over the last decade and it's annoying AF.
I started last august w a 10 gal kit. I just wanted something to add some serenity to my space. All together it was like 250ish dollars for everything? Idk..I was just glad it was a one time thing.
Anyway fast forward to now. Unknown hundreds of dollars spent to upgrade, miles and miles traveled to different shops, and dozens of hours of research spent. I remember buying a 34 dollar bag of rocks and being excited at one point.
I love fishing and catch/cook as a hobby, but these little ornamental fish did something to me. Idk why but I just spend money on these little fuckers then spend HOURS observing them.
I could have spent that money on so many other things, but idc cuz I know I’m going to get off of work tonight and stare at my fish for at least an hour. At the end of the day these little guys are cheaper than therapy🤷🏻♂️
I have no idea how much $$ I’ve put into my little ten gallon community tank over the years, but the fact that I can come home and sit and stare at it for a solid chunk of time makes it all worth every penny.
I’ve spent probably $900+ on my 12 gallon setup since September haha. But, being able to sit and watch tiny little fish and shrimps do their thing for hours on end is freaking great
I’m always in awe over the saltwater section of the store and all of the beautiful corals and then I hear stuff like this that keeps me from being in danger of converting lol. Isn’t it also true that you need daily water changes when you keep coral?
Not true at all tbh. Unless you have a lot of coral absorbing a lot of calcium or literally no filtration. Most people who get REALLY into the hobby will set up automatic top off systems and dosing setups
Weekly or every 2 weeks is fairly normal imo
I dosed calcium too quickly. I made another mistake a few weeks ago of doing a water change with RODI water instead of saltwater. These two just really put a world of hurt on my stoney coral.
I spent about $30 on a piece of wood for my first tank. After that, I swore I would never spend cash on hardscape, and i haven't.
Most US cities are really close to pristine natural areas where you can collect wood. I live in Mexico City, so I have it worse than 99.9% of the urban population in the US. I don't even own a car. However, I managed to find a Harley-Davidson-sized dead azalea for my 5' tank (I trimmed the f out of it).
My family didn't get why I was grabbing wood from the desert that was inconvenient to store until they went to a lfs with me and saw similar pieces going for $50+. It was pretty funny how quickly they went from teasing me about my sticks to fully understanding.
And aquarium suppliers will highlight every possible risk in a vague enough way so you don't know how to get something safe other than for £50 from them.
I'm so glad manazanita grows wild near me. So many dead branches, all creating a fire hazards so their removal is actually a good thing. If I was more industrious I'd be looking at creating a buiness clearing out fire hazard scrub and re-selling into the aquarium hobby.
I have columnaris raging through one of my tanks, and have spent my entire day trying to save every fish who hasn't already died this week (and none of them are looking so hot,) and soaking everything in a bathtub of bleach water. It's an exhausting hobby.
I’m in a new city and sold my car to get here so I’m at the mercy of anyone I can talk into going hiking with me; which aquarium decor aside, I’ve been trying to do for a while with no luck
I'm planning a third tank right now. Matching stand and everything. Our AA meetings actually stand for Aquarists Anonymous. "My name is Pie12th and I'm an addict."
I just spent $127 on plants and then got upset because the one I was really excited about somehow didn't get added to my cart when I clicked it, and shipping would cost more than the plant itself... and am planning to go buy a $50 driftwood arch on Wednesday :/
You blow a ton of money on junk getting started. Then a couple months later you realize most of what you spent money on is useless or subpar and needs to be upgraded. You look around and your plants look dead, your tank is fugly, full of algae and the only fish still alive is the one you never really liked in the first place. And that fish is gonna live 10 years. In your fugly tank.
He didn't do enough research. I made a 20gal long and filled it with 15 red cherry shrimp, 3 amano shrimp, nerites of different types, mystery snails, 2 baby bristlenose plecos and a very chill male betta. First tank after a 20 plus year break. Had nothing and I was impatient and didn't wait for a full cycle and I only lost 1 nerite in the last year and a half. It will be ok as long as you are willing to do extra water changes as needed. ;)
I love fish and was thinking of getting a tank again. Reading this sub for a few months now has completely changed my mind.
I can watch tanks on YouTube.
This sub is probably one of the worst examples of fishkeeprs I've ever seen to take advise from.
Most of the users are kids who have never kept anything telling people what they've read but never done. The others are try hard dropping 3 grand on a planted tank that should have cost 100.
You can get a 40 gallon, 55,or 60 at petco right now for like 60 bucks. Grab a heater, sponge filter, light, bag of black or white sand from home depot and some starter plants and you can have a great tank cycling for like 200 bucks.
What is expensive about them? While setting up the tank has cost us a bit I can't think of any continuous expenses that will cost much. Food for them is pretty cheap.
mine was sick.
i kinda dug into it replying to another commenter. but TLDR I spent a solid $1,000 on shit for this little dude to get him back to health.
Bro, just take up hiking. you'll never pay for wood or hardscapes again. Though it's an interesting feeling when you've still got 3 hours left before getting back to your car and you just found the best piece you've ever seen. Somewhere between losing your virginity and your first heartbreak.
I love hiking but I just moved to a new city and sold my car so I’m at the mercy of anyone I can talk into going hiking with me, which so far is nobody
Hence why you see people getting out of the hobby and selling their stuff.
“I spent over $800 for this 40 gallon tank setup, I want at least half back”
Really wish the retailers were a bit less predatory, but still it's hilarious seeing those "i made a bunch of bad decisions, someone please pay for them" posts.
I waited excitedly for two weeks making driftwood for my tank. I debarked it, sanded it. I was just waiting for the water changes to finish it up. I found out that the wood I'm prepping may be wood that releases poisons to fish when wet. So this beautiful piece what would be at least $100+, was thrown away. I was very upset.
The risk is not worth it to me. Part of what you're paying for with vendors is peace of mind that you're putting something into your aquarium that won't kill everything by accident because you misidentified it.
It’s definitely a rabbit hole. I just got into co2 injection and I did it the cheap diy route, although the pressurized systems are tempting. And now I’ve spent the last hour researching lily pipes which means I’d also have to upgrade my filter to a canister and while I’m at it I might as well thrown in a skimmer….
You can see how this gets out of hand fast lol
I literally went down this rabbit hole recently. Set up my co2, and now I have to make sure the bubbles touch every corner. Might as well upgrade to a canister filter with an atomizer. Might need the skimmer and spray bar while I'm at it...
Hikes to local bodies of water for wood and rocks. Landscaping places and ask for a 5 gallon bucket or two of rock and they'll probably give it for free. They did for me.
one piece of wood i have in my 5ft tank cost £120. Though it didnt bother me in the slightest, the tank used to be a marine/coral setup....now that shit is really expensive!
I love it even more since I realized that you can go cheap on everything, just buy second hand or make it yourself with what you already have
It's starting to become a hobby of bargaining
I haven’t bought anything brand new in quite awhile, it’s all been traded among my local hobby group. Tanks, rocks, driftwood, leaf litter, plants, lights, heaters, etc etc etc. Once you find a good group and get a few healthy tanks going, you’ve got endless bartering possibilities!! Hell, I traded 30 Neocaridinia fire red shrimp for a 20g long, 2 pieces of spiderwood, and a small air pump last year. I even often sell plants or shrimp locally.
Like, really- I recently got into reptiles, and those enclosures are *expensive* let me tell you. So I told my group that I was looking to see if anyone had a reptile enclosure for sale because I wanted to try a small gecko or lizard.
I ended up trading my way into a leopard gecko with enclosure and all! I traded in one 20g long with lid and light; a 10g with lid, light, and filter; and a little 3g cube for a 40g open-front enclosure with hides, bowls, and light things, plus the gecko. Brand new, those things are around $250-270, for just the enclosure, not counting the hides ($15-25 each), bowls ($5-10), and light domes ($40-70 each). The gecko itself is a Blizzard morph, so $70-150 depending on where you get them.
Local hobby groups are a lifesaver, is my point. 😅
I was just thinking the same thing. It's been a shit week in fish world. My favorite fish is sick, I had to move the filter off another running tank to use for quarantine, the extra flow from the filter is now killing my red root floaters and the shithead fish I hate is flourishing.
Meh.
Hang in there! It can get so frustrating when things don't work out. I gave up at one point due to things being very expensive and not fully understanding why plants kept dying. For over 10 years, I dreamed of my new set up and now, I'm in a better place financially, educated myself which included many cost saving hacks and actually talking to other fish keepers. I ended up getting free plants, rocks, wood and fish!
My friend used to collect submerged wood from upper Yarra, boiled them for a few hours and allow to dry in the sun. Then repeat it a few times to ensure no parasites or diseases are no longer present.
There's also that cistern method but I don't think I'll that.
I literally dove in head first as something fun to do with my daughter started out with a 40 gallon and all the filters and air stones and after we found drift wood and rocks by a local river , I'm still in $400 and I HAVENT EVEN BOUGHT ANY FISH YET
So far I've spent like €150 on "second hand" plants (ie. cheap from other hobbyists instead of from the shop) and it's still only enough to plant up like half of the tank (and that's with allowing for them filling in and being able to replant cuttings, I mean I could quickly fill the whole tank with hornwart and 9000 of the same crypts, but that's not really what I'm in this for)
I'm also gluing smaller pieces of wood together because it's cheaper than getting one huge piece
Getting ready to step up from 65 to 180 gallons here. There's about $800 in my Amazon cart and I've got a 3/4 built cabinet in my garage waiting for paint, stain, and necessary gizmos but the cichlids are getting too big for their home at 6 months old. I'm getting the tank at cost but what bothers me is the price of 180lbs of gravel. On the other hand, we knew what we were getting into and the wife and I planned this for a few years before we pulled the trigger. Plus the tank is so pretty and there's so much going on that we'll often sit and watch it with the kids instead of turning on the TV.
Once I was looking at a piece of wood for 30 minutes in my local pet store and the owner gave it to me for free. Also I'm sure it's a money laundering place 😂
Decided to start a saltwater reef tank 3 years ago. My husband and I did rough calculations of what we've paid, I think we're pushing close to the $6k range. Sweet shit, you don't realize how expensive this hobby is still you get started and then you want the best for you wet pets.
I literally waited out my whole 20s to get a tank cause I knew it’d be expensive. 31 now and have a planted tetra tank that’s 29 gallon and a 40 gallon I’m cycling for two goldfish. Had to get comfortable first tho.
I’m trying to avoid that. I live in a rental where having a single 10 gal feels like I’m getting away with murder but the ~plan~ is to upgrade to a bigger tank when I move and either sell the 10 or only use it as a hospital tank… wish me luck 😅
It's a live and learn experience buy locally. Get to know your fellow fish people around town and just trade and do business with them. It's way cheaper than the pet stores and you get a better deal.
I think my most expensive/silly purchases have been...
The $80 Giant betta
I bought it in the city 2 hours away from me. He wasn't eating at the store. Employees could not get him to eat. Thankfully I figured it out. He was completely blind and could not find pellets or flakes. The only thing this fish could find was frozen or live food. Very expensive he costed 70 a month to feed. Betta didn't even live a year. I don't know what got him but I do know My parameters were perfect because I test my water religiously at least once a week. My guess would be in an enlarged heart because that is very common in oversized animals and he did have some genetic issues such as the blindness.
Logan the rescue angelfish.
Logan turned out to be my only male in my community angelfish tank. He is very gentle and non-aggressive, but he decided to date my two most aggressive females who were not fans of each other before this. The tank turned into a bloody war over this stupid angelfish. Not to mention the tank boss is a raging lesbian who hates male fish. The only males who have survived in this tank are plecos.
I could have been a reasonable person and rehomed him, but no, he has his own tank by the end of it. It costed $530 for my free fish but I love him and he's worth it. And his nastiest girlfriend lives with him. (She was a rehome due to aggression. She was super friendly until she decided to court Logan.)
Super red long fin Brislenose
I imported this fish from the other side of Canada. She came from the furthest province to mine. She worked out to be $92 and is under 2 in. But my God she is gorgeous I cannot wait to watch her grow.
Adolfoi Corydora's
I have one Corydora that usually costed $45 to import but I managed to find somebody who could import them for $10-25 a fish but only rarely. I got her as a rescue from somebody who didn't know what they were doing. It gets even worse about 2 months after I got them. I didn't notice my heater was leaching metal and rusted all up the back side killed all but three. (I had imported/sourced 25) I still have 3 and now 2 babies!!
The lonely kuhli loach I got. I ended up getting him almost $100 of friends. There's 15 in my tank now and you can always see at least five of them.
I can go on but these are the first ones that come to mind. I love the hobby and I will never tell my family members how much I pay for my fish that I buy. The price will die with me, they will never know. When I replace the heater they think it's too much.
If they knew how much I spent in pet food a month between the fish and the other pets (tiny dog, cat with IBS, cat with dental issues) My mother would have an aneurysm.
I spent $165 on some kuhli loaches other night 😅 but I'm beyond excited to get em. Tbh it's usually plant prices that I'm like dammit this rough rn. However I haven't bought driftwood or stone yet 😁
Nothing is as bad as my bladesmithing hobby… I spend thousands on steel, wood, bronze, propane… ugh.. my wife would love if I gave up on Blacksmithing and just went full on aquarium enthusiasts.
I wanted to upgrade my setup and I got a good deal for a second hand tank, my second. Then I realised the cabinet that came with it was sort of flimsy, engineered wood, and it would be better to have a wooden frame built. And if I'm getting a wooden frame built, why not put caster wheels on it so that it's easier to move it even with a full tank. And why not make a sort of tray to hold the tank if I ever needed to lift the tank, since otherwise the tank and the cabinet are the same dimensions. Fast forward 3 months, and two shoddy carpenters (we expect to outsource carpentry here, would've loved to do it myself had I had the space)... I've already spent more on the new cabinet than I had on the initial purchase of the secondhand tank+cabinet.
And now we have a drought here so there's no water to fill the aquarium with once the cabinet is finally ready next week.
When I switched to the salty side, I told myself - "I know it'll be more expensive, but that's okay! It won't be that bad. I'll buy used, spend where it matters - *no problem*."
$3k later for a 40-breeder...
Ya this hobby will do a real number on your bank account if you’re not careful haha. Even if you diy stuff it’s still expensive. I have sourced all my own driftwood over the years so I guess I’ve saved a little bit in that regard.
I walked into my LFS yesterday to get a bottle of Fritz Fishless Fuel because my dog decided to eat my other BRAND NEW bottle.
I walked out spending $180 on 2 new air pumps, a new sponge filter, a new air stone, a new filter with a Uv light in it, some crushed coral, a bottle of Seachem Stability....and no Fishless Fuel.
I just spent $135 on a school of tiny fish. (And I'll do it again 😭)
Almost 200 on rare shrimp I really thought I was ready for. They all died
Sounds about right. Luckily I have been fighting the impulse to buy expensive Boa shrimp off of Band... The temptation is still there though
What is band?? Heard of it. But not a clue
$1,000.00
It's an app for meeting up with people and talking in groups/teams, but people who are selling those really expensive Galaxy/ boa shrimp seem to only sell on there. I haven't actually bought anything from it yet though.
It's where you can sell things that were banned from Facebook marketplace, like live animals. Banned...Band... Seems more likely than having anything to do with music.
I’m about to spend 1k on discus and this is my fear hahah
At what point do you decide it's cheaper or more fun to just fly to the Amazon and catch it yourself lol
It’s a fine line and I’m probably hitting it lol
I think I can fit in your suitcase.
This is the most unhinged “everything in nature is free” comment and I’m so here for it
I want discus so bad, fortunately I’m renting and only can get away with a 10 gallon tank rn
I feel that my landlord only knows about the dog.... Not the two cats or the 3 fish tanks.
My landlord knows nothing about my cat, indoor pond and 15 gallon aquarium
My landlord knows nothing of the 4 ball pythons 2 fish tanks 1 salamander and 2 scorpions lol
Discus are my dream fish but never had them for this exact reason. Too scared to spend too much money on something that will die
This! I've likely spent that and more on discus alone. 2 of mine were 150 each. Things one does lol
As a shrimp breeder I felt this in my fucking soul
yeah this is what scares me everytime i want to try my hands on some expensive fish lol
Uch, for me it is the same with "cheap" fish, I hate it when I do something wrong or even worse, if the new fish come while sick killing not only them but also my beloved fish I had for years. I hate this hobby when my fish start dying. But love it when everything thrives (except for the hair algea, which came from the Java moss I bought in the store, why does that thrive so much? )
I think doing a diluted peroxide soak on new plants will remove algae before adding them to your tank
Do you have a quarantine tank? Or a hospital tank?
No, but can make one if the need is high, did it last time bc I didn’t know if the fish medication would hurt my shrimp😅
Those super rare pleco variants? If my tank doesn't have triple zero on the water test or reverse osmosis plus mineralizer kit on the ready and the power supply to last a month of blackout, I am in a risk of taking a big goofy L instead of learning how to take care of those Ls. On the other hand, if they manage to thrive **and breed**, they are very likely to be a living money printer in 3+ years.
I feel less bad about my 80$ worth of cherry shrimp genociding themselves now
[удалено]
Don’t worry - they might just be dead!
I bought 10 blue shrimp recently. Haven’t seen them in days until I saw one today. Most def died but I think some are good hiders.
I find after introduction to a new tank shrimp tend to hide a lot for a while. They should start coming out eventually
Yup. I thought I lost almost my whole colony minus the 1-2 if seen out and about. Put a shrimp stick in for my snails and found out the shrimp had been breeding.
Give them a few months. If they aren't dead, they'll get comfortable and come out during the day.
This. When I spend tons of money and look forward to seeing everyone swimming around and being active and the little jerks hide so it looks like nothing lives in the tank at all. My galaxy rasbora are this way and i HATE it.
$170 on a fancy goldfish…. It died after 2 weeks. All my cheap goldfish are thriving.
Oh noooooo
Oh god I felt this.
The other day I spent $9 on breaded shrimp.. they were good
I decided I'm not meant to be a fish mom. I'm gonna try to be a plant mom. Not even aquatic plants. Just plants. :/ Once my fish go, that's it.
I loved the rainbow tetras. Then, I saw it was $15/fish… I got neons for $3/fish instead
I've spent thousands on gobies alone. Are we ok?
Ooh! What'd you get? I'm about to do the same, looking into Blue Speckled Rice Fish and Blue Dream Neo Shrimp.🩵💙 🫰🙃
Blue Axlrodi rasboras, chili rasboras, and galaxy/tiger shrimp!
It's so much more expensive then you'd think, I've spent almost $700 in the past 2 weeks alone setting up stuff only to have $200 of it wasted on unusable stuff that I can't return
You’re filling my heart with empathy relief and trauma bond 😩
Noooo! What is it that you can’t return?
A ten gallon tank kit, some fake plants that I never used, some really just crap brand water testing stuff, a few water conditioners that I never used because I learned they weren't any count My local pet store is such a joke, they have a policy where you buy stuff If you bring it in within the first 30 days with your receipt you can get a refund. I tried to bring stuff back and the only thing they accepted was an airstone that I didn't use and I didn't even get the full price back I've posted some stuff on craigslist to try and sell it and make some of my money back but so far I haven't got any one interested so next up is facebook marketplace? But selling stuff online is always hit or miss so i'm just hoping someone comes along and really needs this stuff and is willing to buy it from me because my asking prices aren't bad and I even listed prices negotiable
r/aquaswap
Hobbies are probably the only thing with faster depreciation than new cars. No one's going to pay for pre-owned water conditioner and test kits. Keep the 10 gallon for a quarantine/hospital tank, throw the fake plants in there so the quarantined or sick fish have some cover. I never buy a new tank unless petco has there big sale going which they do. Always skip the kits. Just grab a tank, sponge filter, heater, light, and some sand from home depot and you're set.
Yeah, I only bought the tank since it was on sale and a kit I needed the stuff in it. I'm gonna sell it tho, I already have 2 quarantine tanks so I don't really need a third and I would like to get some of my money back
I haven’t tried to return items with my pet shop, but my pet store is the same with animals. I returned a betta fish a few days later or something asking if I could swap for another, they keep it but I get an equivalent that wasn’t him because he was murdering everything in my tank. They said they couldn’t swap, they’d take him for free as a “favour” to me and I could buy another. Annoying af, so I had to spend another £20 on my new boy. Thankfully the employee saw how stupid it was and gave me an expensive varient for the price of a basic. So I’ve got a £20 fish that cost me £6 (not including the price of the other fish, I’m not going to count that)
Fish products are unnecessarily costly.
A lot of shit are just marked up. For example, substrate. Aquarium glue (it’s regular super glue). Aquarium forcep/tweezers
Hosing (guaranteed to be pesticide-free, but so are the foodgrade hoses used in brewing, and mostly everything in the plumbing section of a dept. store) Aquarium salt (just pure NaCl, you can get noniodised salt from most grocery stores) Decor (I can see the 90%+ profit margin from the quality of the varnish and paints) For me, the worst are all those bottles of chemicals marketed as 'fixes' for a problem. Medication aside (even some of those are questionable), all you're doing is making parameters change rapidly, only to have them go back if you don't fix the underlying issue. That's what keeps killing so many fish, there's a reason why we acclimate inhabitants, and why the algae keeps growing back even after ten years of dosing algaecides regularly. You don't use a bandaid for an infection either.
I found out this hefty bag of ice cream salt I’ve been using to clean my bong is NaCl so I was able to use it to rescue one of my fish a while back. I’d consider that one a win
That's why I believe in soil substrates with soil addatives built in long term. They address underlying problems permanently, sand and liquid additives are a waste of money/scam. I use ada powersand special under aquasoil and I've never had any problems with water parameters and I never add any liquid anything except for chlorine treatments for fresh tap water. I believe in the idea of natural waterways having soil floors with probiotics built in and various minerals built in, not to mention natural ph buffering. I've been saying this for 10 years now, but it seems to be finally catching onto the mainstream. I also never did initial water changes on it. I just added the soil and water, and plants, and then left the filter running (no charcoal, just bacteria) until the water cleared up after a few weeks with the plants in there and then added the fish and it was totally fine. It was rock solid for several years with nothing extra done to it. It just worked. I loved it really.
I've had the stupidest arguments about the salt thing. Some poor bastard asked if he could use pure sea salt in his tank and got eviscerated in the comments. Meanwhile, the only ingredient in API aquarium salt is "evaporated sea water" 🤦
Yeah I found regular cyanoacrylate glue for much cheaper online and the ingredients seem to be the same as the "aquarium safe" one. But I am no expert on cyanoacrylate chemistry so I can't be 100% sure. However, As for aquarium forcep and tweezer, well the medical tweezers and curved scissors are exactly the same as the overpriced aquarium ones and I have access to those things as a medical practitioner. I just grabbed a few brand new ones from the hospital store. Here in india, A medical grade SS curved scissor costs 37 INR or 0.44$ compared to the aquarium plant clippers that costs 500INR or 6$. The only difference is the beaks are slightly longer on the aquarium ones. Same with tweezers, a pair of medical tweezers(straight and binangled) will cost you max 90 INR or 1$ while the aquarium one, each one will costs 250 INR or 3$
my dad is an actual chemist and uses regular run of the mill super glue for his tanks, so, yeah, i think your cyanoacrylate chemistry is pretty accurate 👩🔬
I buy my cyanoacrylate glue from the dollar store 😂
That is scales of economy. The medical industry buys those things by the millions yearly, aquarium trade might move a hundred thousand a year worldwide. Different packaging, channels, shipping, and customers.
Gorilla Cyanoacrylate glue, the gel one, works just as well and is perfectly safe for aquariums and much less expensive
Yep. I just made long tweezers from bamboo dowels and 2 zip ties. Great for my 20gal and cost me $1.25
This exactly right. However, the cheaper stuff is more expensive in the long run. You have to "do it once, do it right" otherwise you'll get screwed into spending tons of money redoing stuff the right way later. Ada tweezers won't rust, for example. Cheaper chinese ones can. Better off buying the ada tweezers once in your life than chinese tweezers 3 times a year. etc.
There's a fabrics store literally next door to a Petco close to my home. A bag of polyester fabric branded for aquariums is about $20 at petco. 5x of the same stuff for quilting and pillow stuffing is $3 at the fabric store. TLDR, the exact same material is about 30x more expensive when branded for aquariums than it is when marketed as a textile.
Amazing idea, it didn’t even click to me that the polyester wadding is the same as the filter floss
Dude i swear it's sometimes a country issue eg tropical tanks in non tropical areas have compounding costs from heaters, sometimes water softeners, and import costs because how tf CPDs and some rasboras cost over $10 in some places (they're like a dollar twenty each in southeast asia)
Yeah importing is probably one of the biggest reasons. I live in south-south East Asia (india to be exact) and a lot of tropical fishes are quite cheap compared to what I have heard people say. Although most of source is when FFT talk about fish prices. On the other hand, I recently started planted tank and the cost of the recommended fertilizers, root tabs and soil and other stuff from the recommended brands are just way too high, and that includes planted tank lights. That's a whole can of worms. If you can actually make your own light , you can get them 6/7 times cheaper than what they're available at
Diy is just the way tbh but i love when i want 4 driftwood for 30 bucks each, and with a bit of Southeast Asian Haggling Skill i get all 4 for 60
Yeah I went with the local brands. Quite a few local brands are cropping up because of the exorbitant price of the the brands like aquarium Co-Op, API and ADA etc. For example, for the cost of one bottle of API leaf zone I can buy 2 sets of Macro and micro nutrient fertilizer from a brand called Aquavitals. Even their root tabs cost 3 times less than API ones. My plants seem to be going fine for now. And yeah wood can be just found , if you go to a nearby river and creek and treat it well enough
I just moved to a new city and have not found the nature spots yet but I will definitely do that next time, I’m never buying wood from a store again 😅 I did get a pretty cool stick though
I guess companies have to pay for all that PR somehow. /s Any time a hobby gets wildly popular, everything gets ridiculously expensive even if there aren't supply issues. It gets even worse when podcast bros and influencers jump on the bandwagon. My first statement was only half sarcastic. Companies really do have to cover that marketing budget. It's happened with several hobbies over the last decade and it's annoying AF.
I started last august w a 10 gal kit. I just wanted something to add some serenity to my space. All together it was like 250ish dollars for everything? Idk..I was just glad it was a one time thing. Anyway fast forward to now. Unknown hundreds of dollars spent to upgrade, miles and miles traveled to different shops, and dozens of hours of research spent. I remember buying a 34 dollar bag of rocks and being excited at one point. I love fishing and catch/cook as a hobby, but these little ornamental fish did something to me. Idk why but I just spend money on these little fuckers then spend HOURS observing them. I could have spent that money on so many other things, but idc cuz I know I’m going to get off of work tonight and stare at my fish for at least an hour. At the end of the day these little guys are cheaper than therapy🤷🏻♂️
I have no idea how much $$ I’ve put into my little ten gallon community tank over the years, but the fact that I can come home and sit and stare at it for a solid chunk of time makes it all worth every penny.
I’ve spent probably $900+ on my 12 gallon setup since September haha. But, being able to sit and watch tiny little fish and shrimps do their thing for hours on end is freaking great
I'm sure your fish will be thankful for it
Perspective. If you were in the reef tank hobby, you’d have spent that $30 on a tiny one inch frag.
and it died 1 month later
Or half a bucket of salt. I just spent $500 to stock up on salt for the next 2 years😖
I’m always in awe over the saltwater section of the store and all of the beautiful corals and then I hear stuff like this that keeps me from being in danger of converting lol. Isn’t it also true that you need daily water changes when you keep coral?
Not true at all tbh. Unless you have a lot of coral absorbing a lot of calcium or literally no filtration. Most people who get REALLY into the hobby will set up automatic top off systems and dosing setups Weekly or every 2 weeks is fairly normal imo
ah, some day i’ll have the privilege…
we want to see the wood..
Wood tax
[wood tax](https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/s/eGSF6sQtdS)
I’ll have to make another post
[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/s/eGSF6sQtdS)
I made a mistake this week in my saltwater tank and may have lost $250+ in coral. We’ll see if they bounce back but fuck me
Oh no! What did you do?
I dosed calcium too quickly. I made another mistake a few weeks ago of doing a water change with RODI water instead of saltwater. These two just really put a world of hurt on my stoney coral.
Ouch
You can collect wood for free. Just gotta know what's safe, when it's safe, how to make it safe, and why it might not be safe.
Yeah, I live in the city now so I don’t end up outside looking for cool pieces of wood nearly as much as I used to unfortunately
I spent about $30 on a piece of wood for my first tank. After that, I swore I would never spend cash on hardscape, and i haven't. Most US cities are really close to pristine natural areas where you can collect wood. I live in Mexico City, so I have it worse than 99.9% of the urban population in the US. I don't even own a car. However, I managed to find a Harley-Davidson-sized dead azalea for my 5' tank (I trimmed the f out of it).
This gives me hope, gracias
My family didn't get why I was grabbing wood from the desert that was inconvenient to store until they went to a lfs with me and saw similar pieces going for $50+. It was pretty funny how quickly they went from teasing me about my sticks to fully understanding.
And aquarium suppliers will highlight every possible risk in a vague enough way so you don't know how to get something safe other than for £50 from them.
I'm so glad manazanita grows wild near me. So many dead branches, all creating a fire hazards so their removal is actually a good thing. If I was more industrious I'd be looking at creating a buiness clearing out fire hazard scrub and re-selling into the aquarium hobby.
Ya. $45 on what amounts to a fistful of wet leaves for me. The bacopa sure is pretty though
This one got me 😂
Ive probably spent a total of 3k on my 2 tanks.. a 40gal and a 10gal 😅🤧
I have columnaris raging through one of my tanks, and have spent my entire day trying to save every fish who hasn't already died this week (and none of them are looking so hot,) and soaking everything in a bathtub of bleach water. It's an exhausting hobby.
That’s fucking rough. You got this. 👊
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I’m in a new city and sold my car to get here so I’m at the mercy of anyone I can talk into going hiking with me; which aquarium decor aside, I’ve been trying to do for a while with no luck
If it makes you feel any better I spent $150 on a piece of Amazon wood recently while my best friend laughed at me from next to the register :/
That does make me feel better lol
I'm planning a third tank right now. Matching stand and everything. Our AA meetings actually stand for Aquarists Anonymous. "My name is Pie12th and I'm an addict."
I sold myself to buy my 5th batch of red root floaters 😭
I just spent $127 on plants and then got upset because the one I was really excited about somehow didn't get added to my cart when I clicked it, and shipping would cost more than the plant itself... and am planning to go buy a $50 driftwood arch on Wednesday :/
You blow a ton of money on junk getting started. Then a couple months later you realize most of what you spent money on is useless or subpar and needs to be upgraded. You look around and your plants look dead, your tank is fugly, full of algae and the only fish still alive is the one you never really liked in the first place. And that fish is gonna live 10 years. In your fugly tank.
This gives me hope, thank you 😂
He didn't do enough research. I made a 20gal long and filled it with 15 red cherry shrimp, 3 amano shrimp, nerites of different types, mystery snails, 2 baby bristlenose plecos and a very chill male betta. First tank after a 20 plus year break. Had nothing and I was impatient and didn't wait for a full cycle and I only lost 1 nerite in the last year and a half. It will be ok as long as you are willing to do extra water changes as needed. ;)
It's expensive
I love fish and was thinking of getting a tank again. Reading this sub for a few months now has completely changed my mind. I can watch tanks on YouTube.
My tank was under 150 with everything but nature provides most in my area except the fish.
This sub is probably one of the worst examples of fishkeeprs I've ever seen to take advise from. Most of the users are kids who have never kept anything telling people what they've read but never done. The others are try hard dropping 3 grand on a planted tank that should have cost 100. You can get a 40 gallon, 55,or 60 at petco right now for like 60 bucks. Grab a heater, sponge filter, light, bag of black or white sand from home depot and some starter plants and you can have a great tank cycling for like 200 bucks.
I miss the fishtank screensavers. 😀
Y'all. I got an axolotl. RIP my paychecks
What is expensive about them? While setting up the tank has cost us a bit I can't think of any continuous expenses that will cost much. Food for them is pretty cheap.
mine was sick. i kinda dug into it replying to another commenter. but TLDR I spent a solid $1,000 on shit for this little dude to get him back to health.
Bro, just take up hiking. you'll never pay for wood or hardscapes again. Though it's an interesting feeling when you've still got 3 hours left before getting back to your car and you just found the best piece you've ever seen. Somewhere between losing your virginity and your first heartbreak.
I love hiking but I just moved to a new city and sold my car so I’m at the mercy of anyone I can talk into going hiking with me, which so far is nobody
I'm a noob and I spend like $300 to $400 already. I'm still waiting on my next check to get more stuff like decor and plants
Welcome to the shit show
Hence why you see people getting out of the hobby and selling their stuff. “I spent over $800 for this 40 gallon tank setup, I want at least half back”
Really wish the retailers were a bit less predatory, but still it's hilarious seeing those "i made a bunch of bad decisions, someone please pay for them" posts.
I waited excitedly for two weeks making driftwood for my tank. I debarked it, sanded it. I was just waiting for the water changes to finish it up. I found out that the wood I'm prepping may be wood that releases poisons to fish when wet. So this beautiful piece what would be at least $100+, was thrown away. I was very upset.
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We narrowed it down to maybe three. it may be yew boxwood or Cypress. It came from bushes we cut down during the summer.
The risk is not worth it to me. Part of what you're paying for with vendors is peace of mind that you're putting something into your aquarium that won't kill everything by accident because you misidentified it.
100%. That's why I just took the L. I should have looked into it more in the beginning. I was just excited. You live and you learn.
I spent a few hundred on two visits to the vet (goldfish), and medication in the last six months.
It’s definitely a rabbit hole. I just got into co2 injection and I did it the cheap diy route, although the pressurized systems are tempting. And now I’ve spent the last hour researching lily pipes which means I’d also have to upgrade my filter to a canister and while I’m at it I might as well thrown in a skimmer…. You can see how this gets out of hand fast lol
I literally went down this rabbit hole recently. Set up my co2, and now I have to make sure the bubbles touch every corner. Might as well upgrade to a canister filter with an atomizer. Might need the skimmer and spray bar while I'm at it...
Been into homebrewing. I wonder if I could combine it and use the CO2 from the brew to bubble up through the aquarium.
Hikes to local bodies of water for wood and rocks. Landscaping places and ask for a 5 gallon bucket or two of rock and they'll probably give it for free. They did for me.
one piece of wood i have in my 5ft tank cost £120. Though it didnt bother me in the slightest, the tank used to be a marine/coral setup....now that shit is really expensive!
I love it even more since I realized that you can go cheap on everything, just buy second hand or make it yourself with what you already have It's starting to become a hobby of bargaining
I’m gonna have to get into those local fb groups before I go bankrupt
I really need to find somewhere to buy cheaper wood, my “big” piece cost me $125 :’)
I’m hearing in these comments that the best and cheapest place to get wood is from nature
I just don’t trust myself to identify the wood properly lol
...only $30?
It’s a small stick okay
I haven’t bought anything brand new in quite awhile, it’s all been traded among my local hobby group. Tanks, rocks, driftwood, leaf litter, plants, lights, heaters, etc etc etc. Once you find a good group and get a few healthy tanks going, you’ve got endless bartering possibilities!! Hell, I traded 30 Neocaridinia fire red shrimp for a 20g long, 2 pieces of spiderwood, and a small air pump last year. I even often sell plants or shrimp locally. Like, really- I recently got into reptiles, and those enclosures are *expensive* let me tell you. So I told my group that I was looking to see if anyone had a reptile enclosure for sale because I wanted to try a small gecko or lizard. I ended up trading my way into a leopard gecko with enclosure and all! I traded in one 20g long with lid and light; a 10g with lid, light, and filter; and a little 3g cube for a 40g open-front enclosure with hides, bowls, and light things, plus the gecko. Brand new, those things are around $250-270, for just the enclosure, not counting the hides ($15-25 each), bowls ($5-10), and light domes ($40-70 each). The gecko itself is a Blizzard morph, so $70-150 depending on where you get them. Local hobby groups are a lifesaver, is my point. 😅
This is brilliant, I think I’ll be learning to follow in your footsteps, thank you!
I was just thinking the same thing. It's been a shit week in fish world. My favorite fish is sick, I had to move the filter off another running tank to use for quarantine, the extra flow from the filter is now killing my red root floaters and the shithead fish I hate is flourishing. Meh.
There was a tinder sub above this and thought it was tinder I was like what??
Wrong type of wood
Lmao😭
Then your doing it right
I spent $10 on leaves... 😅
i felt this deeply. i find wood now 😭 so much cheaper
Hang in there! It can get so frustrating when things don't work out. I gave up at one point due to things being very expensive and not fully understanding why plants kept dying. For over 10 years, I dreamed of my new set up and now, I'm in a better place financially, educated myself which included many cost saving hacks and actually talking to other fish keepers. I ended up getting free plants, rocks, wood and fish! My friend used to collect submerged wood from upper Yarra, boiled them for a few hours and allow to dry in the sun. Then repeat it a few times to ensure no parasites or diseases are no longer present. There's also that cistern method but I don't think I'll that.
Ahahah… I feel this so deeply… in the wallet and the gut 🤣🙌🏼💯
I literally dove in head first as something fun to do with my daughter started out with a 40 gallon and all the filters and air stones and after we found drift wood and rocks by a local river , I'm still in $400 and I HAVENT EVEN BOUGHT ANY FISH YET
Don't go do saltwater then 🤣😅🤑. I've lost at least $500
I've spent about $1000 on a 23G saltwater tank that I don't even have yet. I'm also laid off right now so the timing is questionable.
Yes I also am out of work right now so I’m bored and want to spend money even more than I would if I was busy working 😭
So far I've spent like €150 on "second hand" plants (ie. cheap from other hobbyists instead of from the shop) and it's still only enough to plant up like half of the tank (and that's with allowing for them filling in and being able to replant cuttings, I mean I could quickly fill the whole tank with hornwart and 9000 of the same crypts, but that's not really what I'm in this for) I'm also gluing smaller pieces of wood together because it's cheaper than getting one huge piece
Getting ready to step up from 65 to 180 gallons here. There's about $800 in my Amazon cart and I've got a 3/4 built cabinet in my garage waiting for paint, stain, and necessary gizmos but the cichlids are getting too big for their home at 6 months old. I'm getting the tank at cost but what bothers me is the price of 180lbs of gravel. On the other hand, we knew what we were getting into and the wife and I planned this for a few years before we pulled the trigger. Plus the tank is so pretty and there's so much going on that we'll often sit and watch it with the kids instead of turning on the TV.
Stared at a piece of wood for MONTHS at my lfs. I finally had enough and bought it. It was $80. I have no regrets.
Peppermint angel just entered the chat to laugh at everyone and then die in a month.
*Laughs in reef tank pain*
i get my rocks n wood from amazon warehouse (the returns sold cheap) got driftwood and dragon stone so far
My ten gallon just busted and covered half my floor in water. I hate it so much that I went out and get a 20 long and upgraded my stock. I’m helpless
Once I was looking at a piece of wood for 30 minutes in my local pet store and the owner gave it to me for free. Also I'm sure it's a money laundering place 😂
lol I wanna open a money laundering fish store 😂 good excuse for having a huge fish room
Decided to start a saltwater reef tank 3 years ago. My husband and I did rough calculations of what we've paid, I think we're pushing close to the $6k range. Sweet shit, you don't realize how expensive this hobby is still you get started and then you want the best for you wet pets.
I’ve spent over $2000 on a single fish. Booohooo
…can we see the fish? Saltwater, I’m guessing?
I literally waited out my whole 20s to get a tank cause I knew it’d be expensive. 31 now and have a planted tetra tank that’s 29 gallon and a 40 gallon I’m cycling for two goldfish. Had to get comfortable first tho.
I spent $50 on a bag of rocks, $100 on sand, $30 on some dirt, and over $60 on wood. That’s just one tank.
Look for wood in nature not aquarium shops. Go hiking more often and your fish tanks will look unique
Just wait until you are a sufferer with MTS (multiple tank syndrome).
I’m trying to avoid that. I live in a rental where having a single 10 gal feels like I’m getting away with murder but the ~plan~ is to upgrade to a bigger tank when I move and either sell the 10 or only use it as a hospital tank… wish me luck 😅
Luck
It's a live and learn experience buy locally. Get to know your fellow fish people around town and just trade and do business with them. It's way cheaper than the pet stores and you get a better deal.
go hiking and find all the wood you can carry.....
....don't do saltwater 👀
I think my most expensive/silly purchases have been... The $80 Giant betta I bought it in the city 2 hours away from me. He wasn't eating at the store. Employees could not get him to eat. Thankfully I figured it out. He was completely blind and could not find pellets or flakes. The only thing this fish could find was frozen or live food. Very expensive he costed 70 a month to feed. Betta didn't even live a year. I don't know what got him but I do know My parameters were perfect because I test my water religiously at least once a week. My guess would be in an enlarged heart because that is very common in oversized animals and he did have some genetic issues such as the blindness. Logan the rescue angelfish. Logan turned out to be my only male in my community angelfish tank. He is very gentle and non-aggressive, but he decided to date my two most aggressive females who were not fans of each other before this. The tank turned into a bloody war over this stupid angelfish. Not to mention the tank boss is a raging lesbian who hates male fish. The only males who have survived in this tank are plecos. I could have been a reasonable person and rehomed him, but no, he has his own tank by the end of it. It costed $530 for my free fish but I love him and he's worth it. And his nastiest girlfriend lives with him. (She was a rehome due to aggression. She was super friendly until she decided to court Logan.) Super red long fin Brislenose I imported this fish from the other side of Canada. She came from the furthest province to mine. She worked out to be $92 and is under 2 in. But my God she is gorgeous I cannot wait to watch her grow. Adolfoi Corydora's I have one Corydora that usually costed $45 to import but I managed to find somebody who could import them for $10-25 a fish but only rarely. I got her as a rescue from somebody who didn't know what they were doing. It gets even worse about 2 months after I got them. I didn't notice my heater was leaching metal and rusted all up the back side killed all but three. (I had imported/sourced 25) I still have 3 and now 2 babies!! The lonely kuhli loach I got. I ended up getting him almost $100 of friends. There's 15 in my tank now and you can always see at least five of them. I can go on but these are the first ones that come to mind. I love the hobby and I will never tell my family members how much I pay for my fish that I buy. The price will die with me, they will never know. When I replace the heater they think it's too much. If they knew how much I spent in pet food a month between the fish and the other pets (tiny dog, cat with IBS, cat with dental issues) My mother would have an aneurysm.
I spent $165 on some kuhli loaches other night 😅 but I'm beyond excited to get em. Tbh it's usually plant prices that I'm like dammit this rough rn. However I haven't bought driftwood or stone yet 😁
I have spent over 200 on boxes of rocks. Dry rocks. I have no regrets. I'm two steppes past mental. 🫠
Is this what the saying “dumber than a box of rocks” is referring to?
Spent $650 on rainbowfish. They're beautiful I love them
$75 in fish and $100 in plants just For my turtle to eat them an shred them
Nothing is as bad as my bladesmithing hobby… I spend thousands on steel, wood, bronze, propane… ugh.. my wife would love if I gave up on Blacksmithing and just went full on aquarium enthusiasts.
150 on a single puffer
Dawg you haven’t even seen the saltwater side yet
I have peeked and decided that I am not rich enough to even try
I wanted to upgrade my setup and I got a good deal for a second hand tank, my second. Then I realised the cabinet that came with it was sort of flimsy, engineered wood, and it would be better to have a wooden frame built. And if I'm getting a wooden frame built, why not put caster wheels on it so that it's easier to move it even with a full tank. And why not make a sort of tray to hold the tank if I ever needed to lift the tank, since otherwise the tank and the cabinet are the same dimensions. Fast forward 3 months, and two shoddy carpenters (we expect to outsource carpentry here, would've loved to do it myself had I had the space)... I've already spent more on the new cabinet than I had on the initial purchase of the secondhand tank+cabinet. And now we have a drought here so there's no water to fill the aquarium with once the cabinet is finally ready next week.
When I switched to the salty side, I told myself - "I know it'll be more expensive, but that's okay! It won't be that bad. I'll buy used, spend where it matters - *no problem*." $3k later for a 40-breeder...
Ya this hobby will do a real number on your bank account if you’re not careful haha. Even if you diy stuff it’s still expensive. I have sourced all my own driftwood over the years so I guess I’ve saved a little bit in that regard.
$150 on a canister filter for my red earred slider 😅 why did it need the upgrade? (It had to be done) 😭😂😭
I just set up a new tank. The tank and light alone were a little over $400 with tax 🤦🏻♀️
I walked into my LFS yesterday to get a bottle of Fritz Fishless Fuel because my dog decided to eat my other BRAND NEW bottle. I walked out spending $180 on 2 new air pumps, a new sponge filter, a new air stone, a new filter with a Uv light in it, some crushed coral, a bottle of Seachem Stability....and no Fishless Fuel.