The Puffer Forum

We all know how expensive this hobby can be. Share your best money-saving tips!

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If you have a friend nearby who is also into animals, order together and share the shipping expenses.

i use coupons like a mad woman lol

theres a local feed supply store that sends out $5 off coupons in the local junk mail ads from time to time, so i collect them from the paper bin at my apartment so i have like 10 of them... they dont have very much fish stuff and their prices are sky high, but petsmart takes competitor coupons... so i spend like $6 bucks and only end up paying a dollar lol... after using those 10 coupons, you buy 50 bucks worth of stuff for 10 dollars thats when i stock up on air stones, air line tubing, frozen food, a small decoration, some plant bulbs, whatever is cheap... sometimes i dont need the stuff at the time, but eventually i know it will come in handy.

i also buy ridiculously cheap tanks on craigslist, then i clean them up, buy them a filter or whatever it needs... with coupons of course lol (i usually try to stick with the complete tanks tho) then i turn around and resell it on craigslist for more money than i spent, that brings in more money to spend on my fish as well.... i bought a complete 55gal with stand and everything for 50 bucks, cleaned it up, turned around and sold it for 200 its worth the effort

Do all PetsMarts take competitor coupons? That's great!

I save money by spending it - which is not as irrational as it sounds. Long ago I realized I was in his hobby for life, and never again bough anything "cheap". My filters are all quality,and all have indefinite lifespans. I use no disposable media - my biomedia will be here when all of us are long gone, my mechanical media is good for 10-20++ years.

And I only buy fish that I am reasonably confident that I can keep, and never buy anything bred commercially in SE Asia. I also keep some fish and a number of plants that are effectively self-propagating - providing high quality trade goods regularly. I QT everything neurotically and very rarely have any disease issues - I have not had any infectious disease in a display tank for significantly longer than we have lived in this house. When you don't lose fish other than from age, unfortunately you don't get to buy many fish, but that too saves money. Oh yes, and I do keep mainly species tanks - so I only very rarely have any compatibility issues.

I do spend money on water and power.

Water changes, don't overstock and Qtine..these things mean healthy fish which means no expensive medications, replacements, treatments, etc.

And the stress it saves is priceless.

Otherwise, I make do, and think twice about every impulse purchase. I cut back on tanks when I moved and its a heck of a lot nicer just having a few, though I still do want to keep more species of course.

Shop online.. you can save a ton of $$ buying your equipment online, lighting and filters especially. Even salt, shipping on salt can really get you good, but if you catch the right sale, its still a lot cheaper than buying locally.

I always buy salt online. I kept the old buckets, from before they started selling it in boxes & they get refilled from the boxed/bagged salt. I try to do group orders with my reef club to save on shipping online items.

Lets bring this post back up so we can all get more bang for our buck! If I had known some of this before my tank would be further advanced cause I'd have more saved money to buy stuff.

1. Check all your pet stores. Today I found out things like the LED bubble wand I bought at one store was $19.99, and at the other it was $24.99. The air pump I got at one store was $21.99 and at the other it was $25.99. The coral banded shrimp I got at one store was $13.99 and $29.99 at another store (the more expensive one was smaller and less healthy looking!) This counts for trading a fish in! Check how much each store would give you for a fish, but keep in mind that the store who will give you more might have more expensive fish so it doesn't really get you anywhere. In that case trade it into the one that has a better selection.

2. Check online! I found out the heater I paid $40 for is $21 online (make sure you observe the shipping price!) I paid 7.99 per lb for some of my fiji live rock and you can get it for $2-3 per lb online (maybe not fiji) and its probably better than what I got.

3. Don't buy meaty fish food at the pet store, they are making money off it big time! I went to Maines (try any bulk warehouse) last night to see if I could get a seafood mix. Found a bag of mixed scallops, clams, mussels, shrimp and squid. Thought "oh boy this bag is probably $10. Look at the price tag "Holy S..." $2.99! And this is enough to probably feed my puffers for a month, its a 1lb bag. (hint, don't feed them the flaky scallop stuff, it basically shreds up and floats around your tank, ammonia anyone?)

4. See if your pet store has a promotion deal. One of the stores here every $10 you spend, you get 1 fish buck. These can add up if you gotta buy a few things. Even if you only get a few, get a few hermit crabs or something to clean your tanks.

5. This one isn't really saving money, but buy things like food, filter refills, spare things in advance so when you need them it doesn't seem like its money out of your pockets, its more like oh I have a spare! yay!

6. Make your girl/boy friend / relative work at the pet store for a discount (been trying to get my girlfriend to do this for months!) Or become good friends with someone there and see if they can get you anything. Tom at my LFS gets me the light bulbs when they throw theirs out and replace them. He says he can't just throw them away so he takes them home and uses them. Getting a friend at the pet store can get you a good deal sometimes, update on new arrivals/deals and even help you get more for trading a fish in.

7. If you buy a plant that spreads or fish that multiply, see if the pet store will take them and give you some credit. This way your plant/fish pays itself off and you can make some money to fuel your hobby.

Quite a bit I have learned in the last 3 months. Though most of it is probably common knowledge to some of you. Hope it helps the others! Thanks for reading.

Make your girl/boy friend / relative work at the pet store for a discount

That's it, Hubby's coming out of retirement!

It's only true! That is one good method!

Make your girl/boy friend / relative work at the pet store for a discount

Or perhaps work at one yourself?

LOL, works for me The only problem with getting most things at cost is that when you need something that none of your distributors carry, it hurts like he** to pay retail!

Or perhaps work at one yourself? [/quote]

Petco's triweekly ads. They have a few good deals ocassionallys besides them 5 for 5 fish deals. Other than that..

Craigslist and Ebay and Amazon, also friends that have given up on fish and have all their stuff in their garage.

EBay is great, I got a refractrometer for 21 bucks.

Craigslist is a great place to find deals. I look for good deals on equiptment and run my own want ads. I have noticed a lot of people don't list fish stuff but when you ask for it they remember the nice set up cluttering their basement. Garage sales are awesome if you have the patience to look at 10 to find one with someting you need. I found a 29 and 20 long on a stand for $20 last week.

Another great way to save is build a good relationship with the LFS. I go visit, talk fish with everyone, and spend most of my money in one store. Now they actually give customers my number if they are trying to sell aquarium supplies back to the store. I got a 29 for a pan of brownies once! haha Now that I have good contacts at the store if I know someting is available far cheaper online I just ask them to come down in price. It turns out they would rather slim the margins a bit than loose my business on those items.

Use cushion/toy stuffing in place of the expensive fine filter floss - £8 for 100g of filter floss or £2.65 for 450g of cushion stuffing.