Tips on how to get an inexpensive tank setup.

[raecarrow]

Hey everyone,

I am looking into getting two larger tanks and I want to see if anyone has any ideas on how to do this without having it cost too much.

I currently have a 10 gallon with a zebra, a yoyo (I will get friends for these guys when I upgrade. I didn't know they needed friends when I bought them), 3 black kuhlies and 3 dwarf oto cats. I also have a 5.5 gallon hospital tank containing a few guppies (I recently had a massive die off in my guppies but whatever they had didn't affect my loaches. I wanted to sparate them from the loaches so I could more easily and less expensively medicate them). The guppies are better now but I don't want to put them back into the tank with the loaches as I am afraid that I may overload the filter and both tanks are stable and healthy so I figured it would be better to leave well enough alone. I know the 10 gallon is too small for the loaches but I am going to remedy the situation.

I am looking into getting two long and low tanks between 30 and 45 gallons. One for the yoyo, zebra and the friends I will be getting for them and the other for the black kuhlies and the guppies. I will have dwarf oto cats in both tanks. I don't want any larger tanks because I am currently moving into a leased condo and tanks that are larger will be more of a hassel. Ideally, I want to have a stand that holds two tanks, one over the other.

I have looked for used tanks on sites like craigslist. However, most of the tanks being sold are either too big, taller then they are long, or the seller wants more then half the original price tag for used equipment.

I know that keeping fish is generally a very expensive start up, but I want to do this as cheaply as possible while still getting what is good for my fish. What type(s) of set ups are best, and how to do it while not breaking the bank?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Rae

P.S. I live just North of Washington DC in Maryland. If anyone knows of any local (i.e. within 30-40 miles) gems such as great supply stores, breeders(for guppies), fish stores that are known for selling healthy fish, etc, that would be awesome as well.

[cloudgodd]

on craigslist did you post what you were looking for in the wanted section? I did that and found what I was looking for, when after searching craigslist for 2 month with no luck...you could also check your local flea market, and garage sales.

[mickthefish]

if you have a local fish club near you there's always someone with spare tanks or they might know where to pick some up.

mick

[raecarrow]

How would I find a local fish club?

[mickthefish]

ask at your lfs if there's any around where you live.

mick

[raecarrow]

Sorry, I'm such a noob with fish keeper lingo. What does LFS mean? I'm assuming local fish store?

[mickthefish]

and you are right, it is.
they might have heard of a club near you.

mick

[random2]

Best thing is to use google -
few things I found in the first few results for - "fish clubs in dc area"

http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/Local_ ... shingtonDC

Since you seem to be a Guppy lover - http://www.chesapeakeguppyclub.org/

Im sure you will find lot more information if you spend some more time on searching.

[raecarrow]

Thanks for the info on the clubs!

[raving_wayne]

another thing you may be able to do

over here in the uk alot of our LFS keepers are mor elike friends and i have been so lucky in alot of ways as i frequent the same shops regulary, i have managed to buy 3 tanks and pay weekly for them one of which was my juwel 450 (100gallons) for a measly £200 whicxh is about $400 usd i think, if you have a local LFS and he gets to know you personally you may also be able to get credit or even put down the cash each week/month till paid off, there are some decent LFS's about just have to look and become friends with the keepers, in all now i have prolly spent about £3000 on equipment and such like UV's, tanks and various other things and i have never spent more then £30 on it in 1 week

hope it helps and i wish you all the luck m8

Rave