Wanna get into a hobby to relive stress....?

Question

i thought maybe getting an aquarium and raising some fishies. can anyone give me an estimate on how much it would cost and what to start out with?

Answer 1

I'm guessing you want to start out easy. try getting a 5 gallon tank with a filter let it cycle one day. before adding any fish. if you add fish take some thing easy and small like neon tetras or cardinals. they live in schools so get like 5. then you can add decorations and all that. weekly water changes. it will cost about 60 -70 dollars in the end

Answer 2

nobody can answer that question with the information provided.

Your best bet is to start looking into fish and figuring out which ones you like and want.  There's plenty of info on the web about it, start going to pet stores and checking them out.  (hint:  usually the little locally owned pet stores have better info and better selection than the big PetCo type).

Here are some things to think about first:

Saltwater, Freshwater, or Brackish water?

Fish tank, breeding tank, planted/reef tank, crustacean tank?

What type of fish do you want in the tank?

Large aggressive Species Only, Larger community, small community, lots of bright obnoxious colors, muted colors, highly active, lethargic, breeding?

How much time do you want to invest into your fishtank?

How much can you afford and how much room do you have?

What I can tell you is that fish keeping is an excellent stress reliever.  I love watching my tanks and creating a little underwater environment.  I can also tell you that it becomes highly addictive and that you never get a tank that is big enough nor do you ever have enough tanks.

Also, don't just "try it out" and get a 10gallon aquarium.  This is where most people shoot themselves in the foot.  They think that smaller is easier, then they try to cram as many fish as they possibly can in this tank without knowing how to properly care for a tank.  The small size of the tank not only makes it next to impossible to get a little self-sustaining ecosystem going, but the inexperience of the owner and the load put on these tanks makes it very volatile and the fish end up dying and the new hobbyist thinks that the hobby is too hard for them when infact, they just don't have the right setup.  Think about it, fish produce toxic amonia which will poison them if it's not removed in time.  There's only 10 gallons of water in the tiny aquarium full of 5 goldfish.  You can't change the water fast enough or grow the beneficial bacteria in big enough colonies to handle that kinda bioload.  However if you had a 55 gallon tank, the toxins are diluted with the additional 5.5x the water volume.

My suggestion is to find a couple fish you like, research them, figure out what they need, then come back and ask us what we think and we'll be able to give you much better responses.  I also advise that if you're just going to "try it out" and want to start affordably.  Do you self a favor and start with AT MINIMUM a 20 gallon LONG tank.  IMO the best beginner tanks are the 35 or 45 gallon tanks.  Oh yeah, and stay away from "high" tanks in favor of the length/width since fish don't really swim vertically, those tanks don't make much sense. :)

Answer 3

its a great hobby

$300 will get you a nice setup and fish

ask lots of questions when you need help

larger tanks are easier to care for and give you a better choice of fish  

Answer 4

For all the equipment I would say about 78 to 100 dollars for a 10 gallon tank. For a betta tank or a 1 gallon tank it would cost about 30 to 40 dollars. You need a tank, filter, fish, gravel, plants, airpump, decor, test kit, gravel vacuum, fish net, hood with light. Don't put a goldfish in a bowl!!! Put them in a 20+ gallon tank. Also b4 you get the fish cycle your tank. Goodluck!!!

Answer 5

This is a really loaded question because there are so many different varieties of fish as well as some really different costs associated with that.

Do you want freshwater or saltwater? Freshwater is a lot cheaper to set up for the most part, and the fish themselves are usually a lot cheaper than the saltwater fish.

Do you want aggressive fish or a community tank?

Do you want small active fish? Larger fish? Do colors matter to you?

You can get something as small as a 5 gallon tank with a single betta and spend around $100 for everything.

Or you can get a more elaborate setup - say a 55G tank with a setup for a big community tank - you'll probably spend around $800 or so for that setup.

If you're going saltwater, add another $1000 to the cost of the setup for a 55G tank, and you'll be somewhere closer to the actual cost to set up saltwater.

There are a TON of varieties of setups, so more info on what you're really looking for, or what kind of money you're willing to spend would be helpful in pointing you in the right direction.

Good luck.

Read up on it! You'll save a lot of $ and headaches by reading up about the hobby before diving in.