Tips for reducing costs of fishkeeping...
- Thread starter STONEDFISH
- Start date
you guy's rockMy fishroom is self contained. The heat from the tanks heats the room. I
do use heaters in every tank, but the room is warm enough to don't come
on very often. When I started going bigger, I only had a 30k a year income
to do it on, and I have 4 kids. I bought used tanks, used gravel, whatever
else I could find cheap. I resealed old tanks, I made my own lids, and to
this day I don't bother buying aquarium strip lights. I use cheap Walmart or
home depot undercabinet flor strips. I have some older strip light that used
the incandescent bulbs, I put in the little flour screw ins now. I save alot
on power that way. I painted my main fishroom glosswhite, so I don't need
a whole lot of light to make it bright. I made all of my own stands out of
wood, I made all of my own ponds out of other materials my partners
business has access to. I buy cheap slate, clean it up and cut to size,
make my own 'furniture'. I buy large packs of everything, food and
chemicals. As far as fish go, I shop around but I try not to be too cheap,
because you get what you pay for. I buy from breeders when I can, or
stores I know and trust. Buying good stock is not cheap, but they are
more likely to do well. One of your best investments, is knowledge. If
you get the basics down and you know what you need and how to run
the tanks and look after the fish, then when you get around to the buying
the fish part your investment is protected. Saving money is easy, but you
have to know what you are doing to make it work well.
do use heaters in every tank, but the room is warm enough to don't come
on very often. When I started going bigger, I only had a 30k a year income
to do it on, and I have 4 kids. I bought used tanks, used gravel, whatever
else I could find cheap. I resealed old tanks, I made my own lids, and to
this day I don't bother buying aquarium strip lights. I use cheap Walmart or
home depot undercabinet flor strips. I have some older strip light that used
the incandescent bulbs, I put in the little flour screw ins now. I save alot
on power that way. I painted my main fishroom glosswhite, so I don't need
a whole lot of light to make it bright. I made all of my own stands out of
wood, I made all of my own ponds out of other materials my partners
business has access to. I buy cheap slate, clean it up and cut to size,
make my own 'furniture'. I buy large packs of everything, food and
chemicals. As far as fish go, I shop around but I try not to be too cheap,
because you get what you pay for. I buy from breeders when I can, or
stores I know and trust. Buying good stock is not cheap, but they are
more likely to do well. One of your best investments, is knowledge. If
you get the basics down and you know what you need and how to run
the tanks and look after the fish, then when you get around to the buying
the fish part your investment is protected. Saving money is easy, but you
have to know what you are doing to make it work well.
Fish without the proper, natural decor are stressed fish. Stressed fish have lowered immune systems, get sick & are short-lived. Then you have to replace them sooner--waisting $$$. I have 2, 18 year old elephant-noses, so I guess they are happy with all the decor. They also feel safe knowing they have lots of places to hide, if necessary, so they are out all the time.
We cut our own particle filter media out of large sheets purchased at the lfs. We cut open the used (emperor 400) filters that came with them and save the hard plastic and use rubber bands to hold the media on and use charcoal in stockings in the gray filter housings. Saves alot of money on just filters since we have several 400s
A flowerpot is decor.Scorponok;1388018; said:
Would you by any chance live where there is a great supply of maggots? You seem to know a fair bit about these cheap alternatives.
Yeah, flowerpots are vey eye pleasing to me. I place them right in the center of my main display tank.
If you had a fish that recently died, and not by disease, cut it up as fish food.
If you had a fish that recently died, and not by disease, cut it up as fish food.
Hmmm... I think if I started raising maggotts at home to save money I think I would soon be losing money to alimony. Although I have considered starting up a worm bin again . I use to just use them for bait but I have fish now that would eat them as well.
Scorponok;1386619; said:
Dude, Fish thrive under lights... Decor DOES provide safety... and Fish get stressed if they have nothing to hide in. My fish Love chasing feeders through teh decor, it's like a sport, there's no fun for them if they can get away. Unlike you, from the sounds of things, I provide my fish with the best...
