Budgeting your hobby

Aquariums can get expensive if you are new and do not know how to budget. This is from my experience in the past year restarting the hobby. I try to stay away from the BOX stores unless I see a great sale or an emergency. Check Craigslist in your area for larger equipment. Many people moving or just lost interest need to get rid of equipment fast. I bought a 55, 20,10, 10 fully equiped with 3 huge boxes of "junk" (Whisper 60, Aqua Clear, 3 double air pumps and tons of food unopened) Everything was brand new still seal wrapped in their boxes. The guys brother put the stuff in his garage and he just wanted it gone. Gave him $50 and he gave me everything. Also check the forums buy - sell items . Many hobbiest expand so quickly that they need to get rid of older supplies, stock, plants etc...., You never know what you'll find in the threads. DIY projects are a great way to save money and create an unusual tank. Now with the internet you can find all kinds of DIY projects. My usual budget is around $75 a month for 7 tanks but I usually don't spend more than $30 and that's usually in Prime and food. I have fun with my hobby on a low budget. Hardware store, Dollar stores are my friends. All I can say is have fun and enjoy.

great info. thank you for sharing./

Yes great info.

Thanks

And only take CASH with you no matter where you're shopping. That way your eyes don't get bigger than what you can afford.

For me that's a given. ONLY CASH!

Good advice

Well said!!

Good read for those of us new to the hobby. Especially the ones that want to buy everything they see like me,

Hey Vamp that's why I started doing DIY projects.

yes nice, the only problem with me is going on aquabid and buying a large sum of betta and the exotic fish in my lfs but i can control myself with that but not the bettas.

sounds like someone needs to discontinue their paypal acct until their control is better. LOL I'm the same way.

ya well if karen stops putting good bettas theni would be really good bout budgetting but of course i gotta get some nice bettas. once they breed tho i can sell them at lfs so in the long run i would be making money and this is the last shipment since this one is going to be 135 and i owe my bf 132 and then i got my horses board which is 180 and then my car insurance which is 104 lol so im broke.

Hey try living on Social security. Really have to be tight with a budget. I don't own a car so that saves quite a bit, but this 100 degree weather isn't helping the electric bill. LOL

lol tell me bout i work 3 jobs to keep everything going and i hav a pick up truck to boot hate that thing but got a new transmission in and that wasnt cheap.

Yes Credit Control issue is a BIGTIME issue in the US today ...CL is a great way to save money ...when you need other things (live stock,food ect) throw a add on here ..Someone will have it

thats a good point.., sometimes i go crazy spending money for fish supplies and fish lol..

I don't know about you, but I use this site:

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/

Their stuff is so much cheaper than buying in Petco or Petsmart. You can buy in larger quantities, what I do is buy all my supplies at once, and pay ONE shipping and handling charge of 8.99, no matter how much you buy its one rate shipping.

Also they have 'Bill me Later" which is awesome cause I can pay off the total in two months instead of all at once. They finance charge is like nothing, a few dollars that's it!

And their customer service is unmatched!

I get foster and smith catelogs. Great deals!

...

OMG yea, the first time I successfully bred Fronts. was like 4 months ago. I grew them to a little over 1 inch. I brought them to a nice fish store called Uncle Ned's fish Factory, and he gave me $15 for each of them. I had 56 of them!!!!!

I came out of that store with over 800 bucks in my hand!!!!!!!! OMG IT WAS GLORIOUS!!!!!

I went there the other day and he still had all of them, not one died. They almost 2 inches now, he wants to grow them to like 2.5-3 inches then prob. sell them for 40-60 bucks each, even he will make a good profit. But yea Vman I totally agree!

Niceeee work both of you

Now that's working the budget!

Wat to go!

Budget?!?! We don't need no stinking budget!!!

We get most of our stuff at little or no cost. It's just a matter of cleaning, and sometimes resealing. With a little imagination and effort, you can use just about anything for decoration.