when my friend gifted my son a betta fish i thought it was gonna be a cheap easy pet right
wrong the fish is like the cheapest thing on the shopping list once i got the tank
decorations gravel et cetera et cetera i think i spent at least 150 to 200 dollars and then when
i got into aquarium plants and started getting multiple tanks well now i know why people try
to hide their receipts from their spouses so let's talk about how to save money when you got no money
hi I'm Irene with Girl Talks Fish and for tip number one i actually made a previous video
on building a budget planted aquarium where i talked about using or getting used equipment
but did you know also that you can buy used fish so in a lot of my pet stores and local
fish stores they have an adopt-a-fish aquarium where you can get fish as cheap as a dollar
and if you look on Craigslist or other classified ad websites I've seen betta fish and their whole
betta fish aquarium kit for sale as well but my favorite place is to go to my local fish
club or aquarium society where they have these auctions and there you can find these amazing
fish that have been bred or kept by fellow fish keepers like me that are passionate in the hobby
tip number two is you can pretty much buy cheap substitutes for anything so for example if you
need a ton of bio media I've heard of people using shower scrubbies lava rock from home depot
even gym socks i personally use a quarantine aquarium that is just a plastic tub that i got
from Walmart um for scraping algae you can use toothbrushes and razor blades
that's really effective in my opinion sometimes more effective than normal algae scrubbers
and then honestly i am not the best bargain hunter there is out there so i would recommend going
to Prime Time Aquatics where Jason and Joanna actually have two great videos on finding aquarium
supplies at dollar tree as well as home depot i believe so check it out link in the description
tip number three is to buy in bulk to save money now i don't do this a lot because i only have
three tanks so it doesn't really make a lot of sense but what i do buy in bulk includes
airline tubing i don't know why but I'm always running out of this stuff aquarium root tabs
got hungry hungry plants that always need feeding especially when i had that
huge aponogeton as well as the trio of quarantine medications because I'm always getting new fission
i don't tend to buy a ton of food in bulk because again it doesn't make sense for me but
if you have a whole fish room or tons of aquariums go for it tip number four is to wait for sales
so if you are patient and willing to wait for those holidays such as Black Friday Labor Day
many companies have their biggest sales then i know Petco does like a one dollar per gallon sale
when you're buying a grams which is really nice and that happens three to four times a year so
I'm always on the lookout for that and then again other companies such as Petco they will also do
price matching so you can bring in your screenshot of Walmart Amazon PetSmart Chewy.com and show them
a better price they will match it for you now the company i work for Aquarium Co-op they do not
offer sales because they we just want to have the best price possible for you guys at all times of
the year but if you are a member they do offer a five percent discount so make sure to check it out
tip number five is actually to save on electricity so if you have many many aquariums you might
consider heating the room they're in versus having heaters in each individual tank maybe run your
aquariums at a lower temperature so for example in this aquarium i actually don't necessarily
run it at 78 but it kind of ranges from 74 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit take a look at your
filter you know maybe you can downgrade to a less powerful filter for example the USB nano air pump
that i use is only i think a third of a watt and then finally lights i often tell people to
put them on a timer for algae reasons because if you have it on too long it'll start to grow algae
but when you set your schedule consider turning it on when you're going to be around to enjoy it
so for example on my 10-gallon aquarium i actually turn it on in the morning
when I'm around making breakfast for the kids and then i have it turn on again
and in the evening when I'm making dinner so there's kind of a middle of the day siesta
tip number six is to go DIY make it yourself now be careful on this one because sometimes
the project can end up costing the same if not more than buying the product but
you know it's fun so I've seen lots of people make their own aquarium stands uh brine chip
hatcheries as well as their own DIY aquarium lights using led strips which is pretty cool
I'm not the best at building things but i have successfully made stuff like my own air pump
silencer box as well as a fry siphon for cleaning areas where you have tiny fry you're trying to
avoid some projects in the past that haven't gone so well would be i tried to make my own fish trap
to catch my dwarf chain loaches with bait and that was completely a failure as well as i used
to cut test strips in half so that i would have twice as many and that sometimes worked but other
times when i would swish around the strip in the water the pads would fall off so take it or leave
it give it a shot if you want to tip number seven might seem a little counter-intuitive
but basically i recommend buying spending the money to buy a better quality product
with a good warranty so for example if you buy a cheap aquarium light off of Amazon for 25 dollars
and then after a year it breaks it has no warranty and then so the next year you buy another one and
then the next year you buy another one versus what if you spend 75 dollars to get a better light that
has a three three-year warranty and it comes with more features such as being more water resistant
or having that UL rating so it doesn't burn down your house something to consider this does
require more patience because you have to spend the time to save up the money but essentially
you're trading in time for money and in my opinion it's a good trade to get a much better product
nowadays i do work for Aquarium Co-Op so i get that sweet, sweet employee discount but
i don't think that's really a money-saving hack because i definitely find myself perusing the
Aquarium Co-Op website much more than i should and thinking to myself what plant should i get next
for more money-saving hacks that are geared toward you plant lovers gotta check out this video
over here and then if you miss the rest of my aquarium hacks i have the full playlist over here
take time to enjoy your aquariums and I'll see in the next video