Surprised at cost of having fish as pets?

[marylee]

lol i hav to laugh my friends go out on fridays and i stay home to care for and watch my fish. the cost to care for my 2 bettas is astronomical. granted they are spoiled beyond belief and most likley dont care nor notice but i fear they are bored and feel guilty they had such terrible beginnings in the tiny cups i try to make up for it some how. i honestly think my two fish are nor expensive than any other pet well, unless u have an exotic lynx or something between meds chemicals water tanks decor filters heaters trial errors were u as surprised as i. what do u do when u need to leave town i dont like the fish tablets they make a slime coat in the tank ive only gone for two days and i get to much anxiety and must return. i had a car accident and my mom had to care for my bettas for 2 weeks and i literally only asked about my fish as i knew my mom was not cleaning the tanks and just tossing in a few pellets and i had 8 broke ribs and hobbled out the hospital so fast anyone else as weirdly overly concerned about their fish as i am. perhaps if i found a boyfriend or something id be more normal but the gene pool here is slim trust me and id rather just chill with my fish lol thanks for listening to my tangent

 

[A201]

This hobby isn't cheap but with experience and advice from old timers, like most of us (Lol)
the expense can be greatly reduced.

Generally speaking, most aquarium fish can go for at least five or six days without eating, while on a trip, or while searching the gene pool for a satisfactory specimen. Lol.

 

[RayClem]

Costs are relative. Pets, like human children tend to cost money, lots of it at certain times.

If you think keeping a couple of bettas is expensive, talk to someone who has a marine aquarium with fish. corals and anemones, each of which can easily cost $100 or more. At one time, I was spending $ 500 or more per month.

All hobbies can get expensive. Think about boat owners who spend several thousand dollars to purchase a boat and then spend hundreds of dollars each time they take it out on the water. Think about those who play golf and spend hundreds of dollars to purchase golf clubs and then spend thousands for golf club memberships. Those who are musicians spend hundreds of dollars on music lessons and thousands on instruments.

I got into the fish keeping hobby when I was 10 years old. I had a 10 gallon tank with minimal equipment and livestock. Over the next 65 years, I have spent thousands of dollars supporting my hobby. However, it is the only hobby that I have continuously maintained for the past six and a half decades. It has given me enormous satisfaction over those years.

 

[marylee]

well, now that you both put that into perspective lol . i concur. my folks have a boat and its expensive. i used to live in los angeles and it was 250 just to have an underground parking spot. just to park where i lived. so cost is relative when you think of the satisfaction the hobby gives. thanks gentlemen

 

[Redshark1]

I spent £1,000 to keep my cat alive. Not spent that on any fish.

I was like you but after a while I extended the gene pool to foreign countries and struck gold there.

Bettas always struck me as fish that should have an interesting environment to explore so that's what I gave them.

 

[ruud]

Only recurring costs these days:
- electricity
- artemia eggs
- spirulina to feed the critter (fish food) tank
- tap water and RO water

I've buckets with all kinds of dry salts (plant food, sea salt for artemia) that last me a lifetime.

Given all the tanks I have, about 5 ...euro/USD/pond a month ...?

Used to be different in the early days...

 

[marylee]

I spent £1,000 to keep my cat alive. Not spent that on any fish.

I was like you but after a while I extended the gene pool to foreign countries and struck gold there.

Bettas always struck me as fish that should have an interesting environment to explore so that's what I gave them.

lol

 

[bgarthe]

Money is a mere tool to provide us the means to be happy. Last year, my sick and old dog cost more in vet bills than my wife and me combined. When I had discus fish, the ones I ‘had’ to get were $200-300 a pop. Even now, our puppy has cost us lots. I consider all these $ well spent. I don’t do the bar scene, drugs, or various club memberships as the dog and fish give me many times the return on the $ spent……pleasure.

 

[kansas]

Once yr tanks are set up as you like them, the ongoing cost goes down.

 

[tinylostwine]

A friend's new born foal needs eye surgery - only $20,000.

 

[TClare]

A friend's new born foal needs eye surgery - only $20,000.

I hope they had insurance??

I would rather not think how much we have spent on dogs and fish over the years, but as others have said it’s worth it. Electricity is the biggest expense as far as the fish are concerned.

 

[tinylostwine]

I hope they had insurance??

I don't think there is insurance for such a thing. What he told me is that it was a birth defect that is not uncommon but can be fixed with surgery without she will be mostly blind for life.

 

[A201]

I used to keep a couple of horses. That was over 25 years ago. My aunt & uncle raised race horses. I learned a thing or two about the horseman culture.

Unless that poor colt or filly has a pretty good pedigree, it's not worth anything near $20,000 dollars.

If it's a handicapped registered filly, she could be used as breed stock. Registered or not, s handicapped stud colt is really worthless.

I know that sounds heartless but that's reality.

A $20,000 surgery might fail. There are no guarantees. If your neighbor has that much disposable income that's great. He's got a big heart.
Unfortunately. most horseman would probably elect not to spend the money.

 

[Redshark1]

I've never had insurance for my six cats so although I had to swallow a big bill to successfully save one cat I've saved much more on insurance overall.

Now the picture is different as the type of vets that had the animal's and owner's best interests in mind and that I relied on have been replaced by private equity companies who have bought them all out. These companies need to extract as much money as possible out of owners who try to protect themselves with insurance policies.

In my case a private equity company took over my well established family vet by offering him "a vast sum massively in excess of what I was going to ask for" so he took the money and retired.

I have now gone a different route as I found that I qualify for a different model for people on low incomes. These organisations are charities that raise money to provide subsidised care. This is working out for me so far.

 

[Archtop]

Dropped $2.7k at the vet for a collie with a skin condition the past two weeks. Probably what I spent the past decade for my aquarium.

 

[bgarthe]

Did the same w my Collie 25 years ago with a major skin issue as well. Big bucks at U of I Vet School Clinic, but he was family. Had to shave his rough collie coat off…so sad.
Glad to see/read you love your dog tons. Some of my friends think I’m nuts for spending the $ I do on dogs.
My current Collie has had the $ spent too with being spayed, teeth cleaned, training classes, and meds.
She is worth every cent spent

 

[Archtop]

We have two collies and they are the best dogs we ever had. Quiet, yet protective. Taking care of her was money well spent.

 

[bgarthe]

This is our sixth Collie (we always just do one at a time) we’ve had since 1986. Her name is Danica…meaning “morning star” and ‘hopefulness’. We got her two weeks after our Forte of 12 years past last June.

 

[Archtop]

Danica is GORGEOUS.

 

[bgarthe]

Yours are pretty/handsome too.

 

[Angelfish1977]

Everything costs money no matter what it is.