What ways do you save money with fishkeeping?

[mshill90]

DIY as much as possible.

Find ways to cut corners, and be wise about it: example- many people use ceramic rings in their canisters- I use broken chunks of ceramic/clay pots.

I buy used tanks online. Use GE1 Silicon for sealer, and not that expensive sealer the fish store sells.

When I buy my puffer food, I buy it on sale in bulk, and freeze it in bags- 1 bag = 1 day of feeding.

I am actually going to start couponing so that the money I save on myself, is money I can spend on my fish.

 

[JK47]

Breed your fish.. (let em get a little lovin' while their in that glass box) and trade the LFS fry for food/supplies. Saves a lot in the long run.

 

[Bderick67]

I just save money other places so I can spend it on fishkeeping


Biggest savings is buying bulk food or supplies online.

 

[janiners305]

I use quilt batting from my craft store for my wet-dry.
Keep the lights off unless people are coming over or I'm doing a water change.
Buy almost all my supplies from Amazon.com, unless I'm in a pinch and need it now.




*For those of you who use the dollar store pot scrubbies, can you pm me with info about them (prep before using, amount of scrubbies, etc)?? I dont wanna hijack the thread too much Thanks in advance!

 

[skiptomyzoo]

I don't know how much cheaper it is/if it is than quilt batting, but I just use pillow stuffing. Also if you run carbon just buy the big one and take pantyhose and throw it in there.
I haven't done it yet, but if you do planted buy miracle gro and mix that with gravel. And then what I did do was buy omnicide it has glutaraldehyde which is pretty much what seachem excel is made of. (don't use the activator bottle though with it) and make sure it doesn't have a surfactant if you go this route.

Buy fish small and growout, and keep what you want not just what others find trendy.
I'm about to start breeding fish too.

Another thing I find that people frequently overcomplicate this hobby with stuff they don't need and extreme over the top maintenance that doesn't need to be done. I just do what works and don't always go by the textbook.

DIY sumps will pay off too (I'm still avoiding them till the end lol)

Also hobby shop for clay pots and hardware stores for pvc and airline tubing and siphon tube/python extender.

 

[Morledzep]

I agree silversides are a pita but they don't come individual either, bloodworms and brineshrimp I just use a hammer.. lol.. and break off peices that i need and thaw them in a cup. I have bought smelt.. frozen it on an old cookie pan in seperate fish. then used bakeing paper and a tupperware container to store them. worked pretty good to use what I needed.

I get a 16oz flat pack of bloodworms for 10.99$ or a 4.5oz cube pack for 5.49$

i realize that in some areas in the USA the Asian grocery stores are few and far between. but here in CA i am able to find, quite regularly, silversides in IQF packs. they don't call them silversides though, but all ya have to do is look at them. and my fish seem to like them better than the ones you get at the LFS.

in fact.. i believe i'm gonna take a short drive out to 99 Ranch Market in Chino Hills this weekend because the 4 legged badness is in need of some fish too. and they have great deals on produce i can't get anywhere else, and nice sized shrimp for people too.